DURHAM, NC – The Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity firm, will donate $3.63 million to fund a project in partnership with the North Carolina universities anchoring the state’s Research Triangle to identify 30 startup teams a year and connect them with mentors.
Blackstone chair and CEO Stephen Schwarzman disclosed the project at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham Monday morning. NC Gov. Bev Perdue, and chanellors from the four Triangle universities involved were also present.
The Blackstone Charitable Foundation will team with the NC CED, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, North Carolina State University, and North Carolina Central University on the project.
By mentoring the 30 startups a year – drawn from university or corporate sources – the effort is expected to create 17,000 jobs over the next decade and bring in $800 million in investments. The idea is to provide the startups with experienced entrepreneurial mentoring that will help them succeed as businesses.
The foundation said, “These investments will strengthen regional entrepreneurship ecosystems by forging partnerships between universities, accelerators, angel investors and government that accelerate the translation of innovations from lab to marketplace and bring significant secondary benefits to local economies.”
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