Our story
Why the labs built a venture program.
COMPASS adds venture building to the work of lab technology transfer, so more of the science inside America's national laboratories can become companies. Here is the opportunity we saw and the model we built around it.
The opportunity
America's national labs produce some of the most advanced science in the world. But turning a discovery into a company takes more than a patent. It takes validation, the right team, and capital that understands the work. The opportunity is to convert more of that science into new products, high-quality jobs, and durable competitive advantage for the United States.
What a startup needs
Lab technology transfer offices license technology, build industry partnerships, and support researchers who want to start companies. A venture-backed startup also needs a founding team, early evidence of customer demand, and investors who know the work. COMPASS brings those pieces together alongside the labs.
Venture capital has changed
The best venture firms now build companies alongside founders, with deep technical diligence and hands-on help on talent, go-to-market, and the science itself. COMPASS connects that capability to the labs.
Structured engagement with investors
Researchers and investors get the most from each other when meetings are prepared and focused. COMPASS gives investors a structured way to review lab technologies and meet research teams, so researchers hear the market questions that matter and investors see each opportunity with the context they need.
A new model
COMPASS is a new engagement model that connects the national labs and the venture ecosystem. Working with each lab's technology transfer office, we build and launch ventures from promising technologies developed at the national labs, with diligence underway, a founding team in place, and investors who have already reviewed the technology.