WARF
FoundationMadison · Pre-Seed–Seed · 6 people tracked
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Investment thesis
WARF serves as the patenting and licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, formed by university visionaries to translate academic research into solutions for global problems. For roughly a century it has helped advance transformative university discoveries into the marketplace, managing a cycle that spans research, discovery, commercialization and investment. Its focus is on supporting and commercializing innovations emerging from UW-Madison research rather than acting as a conventional sector-focused venture fund.
Source: firm website, verified Oct 17, 2026.
Team · 6 people
from the firm's website & public directoriesGreg Keenan is Senior Director and Partner at WARF Ventures and the WARF Accelerator at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, where he leads early-stage investments from a $150M venture fund and directs the accelerator's translational gap funding for UW-Madison faculty and student innovators. He has led 20 startup investments that have collectively raised over $650M in venture capital. Earlier in his career, he led business development and engineering teams at Virent, LiquiGlide, and Air Products.
Physician-scientist and drug discovery leader appointed to lead the next phase of WARF Therapeutics' translational medicine program.
What they invest in
from 1 of 1 portfolio companiesDeep Tech ×1Quantum Computing ×1Semiconductors ×1
HQs:United States×1
Investments · 1 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathQolab applies advanced semiconductor fabrication and integration to build superconducting quantum hardware, addressing scaling bottlenecks such as qubit yield and component integration.
Deep TechQuantum ComputingSemiconductorsMadison, US
Alan Ho(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)inJohn Martinis(CTO)inRobert McDermott(Director)
BoardMichael Kim(Director)
Co-investorsOctave Ventures LlcPhoenix Venture PartnersApplied VenturesDevelopment Bank of Japan
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companies
Qolab · independent.com · Jul 15, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does WARF invest at?
- WARF invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
- What sectors does WARF focus on?
- WARF focuses on Biotech, Deep Tech, Sector Agnostic.
- Where is WARF located?
- WARF is headquartered in Madison, US.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
from their channelHappy Holidays from WARF!
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Targeted eye therapy could improve treatment for vision loss
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ecofriendly herbicide offers targeted weed control
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Recyclable protein degraders could boost cancer immunotherapy
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
New light-extracting structure could boost quantum device performance
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Smart scheduling over composable GPUs
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Images
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