MIT Proto Ventures: Building Companies from the Heart of the Lab

In the world of venture creation, few places blur the line between research and entrepreneurship quite like MIT Proto Ventures. Operating from within MIT itself, the studio is pioneering a new kind of startup model — one that turns latent, world-changing research into commercial reality. Launched in October 2019 under the MIT Innovation Initiative, Proto Ventures is the first-ever startup studio within a university.

The startup studio is led by three key figures. Andrew Inglis serves as the Lead Venture Builder for the Geothermal channel, while David Cohen-Tanugi leads the Fusion & Clean Energy channel as Venture Builder. Gene Keselman is the Managing Director of Proto Ventures, as well as a lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Executive Director of Mission Innovation Experimental (MIx). Together, they help the startup studio run smoothly, translating bold ideas into impactful ventures.

A Different Kind of Studio

Unlike traditional startup studios that invest capital and take equity, Proto Ventures operates as a philanthropic and catalytic engine. Funded through philanthropic sponsorships, foundation grants, and strategic partnerships, the studio focuses on solving “Holy Grail” challenges, from fusion energy to scalable geothermal systems and AI in healthcare.

Rather than building from the outside in, Proto Ventures builds from the inside out. Its Venture Builders are embedded directly into MIT labs for two years, uncovering overlooked ideas and assembling teams around promising technologies. As the studio’s founder explains, “Our job isn’t just to spin companies out of research — it’s to create the ones that never would have been built without us.”

Bridging the Gap Between Lab and Market

For most universities, the journey from lab to marketplace, often called the “valley of death,” is where innovation stalls. Proto Ventures exists to bridge that gap. By pairing deep-tech research with entrepreneurial talent and strategic capital, it transforms underutilized intellectual property into scalable companies.

This deliberate approach has already borne fruit. Vertical Horizons, for instance, emerged from dormant research into GaN transistor power devices and is now tackling energy efficiency in data centers. Another venture, American Fusion Instruments, built a business around plasma diagnostics for fusion power plants, addressing a key bottleneck in the clean energy transition.

A Framework for Building from Within

Proto Ventures follows a structured, five-phase framework — Define, Discover, Explore, Build, and Launch — designed specifically for the deep-tech ecosystem. Each phase carries tangible milestones, from market mapping to IP navigation and term sheet negotiation. The result is a repeatable, disciplined process that blends academic rigor with startup agility. Below is a breakdown of the five-phase framework. 

1. Define: A channel is defined through sponsorship.
2. Discover: A Venture Builder is recruited specifically for this channel to discover, source and select new venture opportunities inside MIT. Then, the Venture Builder pursues approximately 6 months of opportunity searching.
3. Explore: Venture Builders form teams with Venture Fellows, faculty, and collaborators to quickly develop low-fidelity technical and market solutions to selected problems (proto starters), then solve with the most promising fits.
4. Build: The best need/solution combos are subjected to technical and market de-risking. Venture Fellows begin work on the projects (Proto Ventures).
5. Launch: The best Proto Ventures survive and become independent ventures launched from MIT.

But the real differentiator is collaboration. Teams at Proto Ventures aren’t formed by chance; they’re deliberately assembled through months of joint exploration between Fellows, researchers, and Venture Builders. This ensures alignment, shared purpose, and strong co-founder dynamics before incorporation ever begins.

Redefining Success in Academia

While the startup studio tracks traditional metrics like startups launched and funding raised, its true north star is what it calls “additionality” — measuring whether a startup exists because Proto Ventures existed. This lens reflects a deeper mission: to activate the hidden 90% of the research iceberg and unleash ideas that might otherwise never leave the lab.

The Future of the Studio Model

Looking ahead, Proto Ventures sees a growing wave of universities adopting the studio model. As the founder notes, “No life-changing technology should languish in a lab.” The studio’s success proves that startup studios can do more than accelerate ideas — they can become essential engines of innovation in academia, building ventures that serve both market and society.

To learn more about Proto Ventures, and how their studio is helping transform the industry, visit their website here: https://protoventures.mit.edu/