Miami University grads launch $10M venture fund aimed at alumni

Miami University’s Tim Holcomb was initially skeptical when prominent alumni Jim Ryan, then-chairman and CEO of Fortune 500 W.W. Grainger, pitched in 2014 a seemingly fanciful idea for a new venture fund.

Ryan, he said, was looking for opportunities to potentially invest in Miami-alumni startups as he neared retirement from Grainger, a $10 billion Chicago-based industrial distribution company, where he spent the entirety of his career. Holcomb, who had just landed in Oxford that fall, was concerned largely about deal flow, or the rate such a fund would be able to make investments.

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Story excerpt provided by Dayton Inno.

Written by Liz Engel.

Originally published February 22, 2022.