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Venture Partners capped off its third Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator with the 2025 Ascent Deep Tech Community Showcase, where research-based startup teams pitched innovations to an audience of investors, entrepreneurs and fellow researchers. The showcase featured ventures developing breakthrough solutions in health, energy, aerospace and more.

Fierce Biotech—Illumina is expanding its proteomics research capabilities with a $425 million plan to acquire SomaLogic, including its protein analysis platforms and certified lab services business. Founded by ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ Professor Larry Gold in 2000, SomaLogic revolutionized protein measurement by developing a faster, cost-effective process to monitor the vast number of proteins in the human body.

Big Blue Technologies—The Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) announced that Big Blue Technologies (BBT), a ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ spinout based in technology developed in Alan W. Weimer's lab (ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ Chemical and Biological Engineering), has been awarded $1.5 million to scale up process technology to make magnesium metal.

BusinessWire—Infleqtion, a ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ spinout and global leader in quantum information technologies, announced a second grant from the UK government to further accelerate the performance of its neutral atom quantum computing platform, Sqale. The project aims to increase gate execution rate by 10–100x, a major advance in the scalability and capability of quantum hardware, critical for making quantum systems commercially viable.

The Global Business Development division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) announced that 22 Colorado companies and 13 researchers have been awarded Proof of Concept and Early-Stage Capital and Retention grants through OEDIT’s Advanced Industries Accelerator Program, including seven CU Denver and ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ ventures.

Innosphere has announced the 2025 cohort of its Life Sciences Incubator, featuring 33 startups advancing solutions in biopharma, digital health, diagnostics and medical devices, including three ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ startups: Kioga, Endios Bio and IntraLumenus.

ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ Chancellor Justin Schwartz, Forbes—Since World War II, the U.S. research and development (R&D) enterprise has driven an era of prosperity and innovation, fueling breakthroughs in space, medicine and technology while empowering our national security and international trade.

Venture Partners at ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ bridged a historic investment gap to move a deep tech spin-off a step closer to the marketplace by awarding $100,000 in pre-seed funding to PrecisionTerra, founded by CEO Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan (alum, ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ Physics). Gopalakrishnan went on to win $144,000 in additional funding for the company in the 2025 New Venture Challenge.

ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ Today—In a major step toward accelerating Colorado’s climate innovation economy, ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ has launched Boulder Climate Ventures, a new interdisciplinary program that equips students to develop and launch high-impact startups focused on climate solutions.

ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative—The 2025 New Venture Challenge (NVC) culminated in a final showcase on April 23 with a live audience cheering on the ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ’s next exciting innovations. At an event filled with big ideas and even bigger entrepreneurial spirit, six teams competed for a record $325,000.