NEW HAVEN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Garren Givens, former Executive Director of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows, joins Bulldog Innovation Group as Managing Director today. Givens brings extensive technology and entrepreneurial experience to this startup venture capital fund. In his previous role, Givens helped the White House recruit dozens of the nation’s top innovators to tackle the nation’s biggest tech challenges. As Managing Director of Bulldog Innovation Group, Givens will lead all aspects of operations and fundraising.
Bulldog Innovation Group (“Bulldog”) represents the only venture capital fund focused entirely on supporting entrepreneurs with ties toYale University. By focusing on promising startups within the Yale community, the firm hopes to leverage the school’s vast alumni network to produce better outcomes for both entrepreneurs and investors.
“I am excited to be leading Bulldog Innovation Group. The firm offers a simple but powerful thesis of Yalies supporting Yalies. I was drawn to it immediately, and I expect the concept to resonate with other founders and alums,” says Givens, who holds a B.A. from Yale College ’04 and an M.B.A. from Yale School of Management ’07. “Aside from providing friendly capital, we are helping founders tap into the broader Yale community, including access to advisers and potential partners in almost every major market and vertical.”
Companies like Pinterest, Honest Tea, Rent the Runway, and Thumbtack represent just a few of the breakout startups that have emerged from the Yale community in recent years. In Bulldog’s first year of operations, it has already made six investments and seen many more fundable opportunities. Current investments include Ancera, Eli Nutrition, Lettrs,Thunder, Ufora, and WorkAmerica.
“We are incredibly excited about the companies in which we have invested,” says Rob Quartel, Chairman of the Board of Managers. “We are getting great traction from entrepreneurs and current and potential investors. In hiring Garren to manage the fund, we know we are getting a proven entrepreneur and social innovator who is passionate about our community and our mission.”
About Bulldog Innovation Group
Bulldog Innovation Group is a community of Yale University alumni investing in early stage companies with connections to Yale University. The fund’s goals are rooted in the history and tradition of the school itself – to engage and support fellow Yalies and to bring new technologies and innovations to a global marketplace by helping build new companies and industries from the ground up. To learn more or get involved, contact Bulldog Innovation Group atwww.bulldoginnovationgroup.com.
