Cube Ventures

We facilitate the growth of emerging companies by providing not only financial investment but also strategic guidance driving ideas to real businesses.

We believe Latinx founders bring remarkable ingenuity, incredible determination, and rich life experiences to their startup companies - yet they receive a tiny fraction of the funding and opportunities available to other groups. Inicio Ventures was formed to help close that gap by ensuring that Latinx founders can build equity and wealth in the startup economy. To complement our investment work, we build and manage Latinx startup ecosystem programs, including our pitch competition series focused on growing the talent pipeline, a Venture Fellows program for grad students interested in being the next generation of Latinx investors and an industry convening and collaboration that creates opportunities for Latinx leaders and their organizations to work together.

Our vision is to be the leading Mid-Michigan Venture Fund providing economic impact for the region and the state with new jobs, new companies, and value-added partnerships. Who we are As the premier land grant university, Michigan State University has a presence in every county within the state of Michigan. To complement MSU’s land grant mission, the MSU Research Foundation formed and supported the first Mid-Michigan Venture investment organization, Red Cedar Ventures. Our team supports 4 funds. Pre-Seed Fund Opportunity Fund I Opportunity Fund II Michigan Rise Pre-Seed Fund III Supporting Michigan Startups The focus of these funds is to support early-stage entrepreneurs throughout the state of Michigan. Our funds have significant partnerships and collaborations to assist in its vision. Its close relationships with Michigan State University Technologies and Spartan Innovations provides a robust pipeline of early-stage technologies for cultivation and assessment. Red Cedar Ventures also partners with Spartan Innovations in the facilitation of Conquer Accelerator program. When possible, working with Spartan Innovations, Red Cedar Ventures assists in bridging Industry and Statewide Commercial entities in innovations and partnerships around startups with the vast and talented resources surrounding Michigan State University. The Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation empowers students to learn through action by providing programs, courses, and resources to foster an entrepreneurial mindset, develop empathy, and create new ventures – another pipeline created for student startups in search of funding and support. As a member of the Michigan Venture Capital Association, our team works in concert to support startups in Michigan in coordination with Invest Detroit, Invest Michigan, Renaissance Ventures, and other ecosystem partners looking to impact Michigan's economy. Red Cedar Ventures portfolio companies and startups, throughout campus and the Mid-Michigan region, can rent office space at The East Lansing Technology Innovation Center or VanCamp, and access essential resources made available by the MSU Foundation. Our team provides many resources to help launch entrepreneurial ventures including funding, mentorship and coaching, board participation, commercial/market assessment, startup advising, business documentation and support services, partnership opportunities related to MSU, and consulting on overall strategy and execution.

We are here to help Latin American tech entrepreneurs build transcendental companies from an early stage. We want to accelerate the creation of value in our region by partnering with passionate founders, thus bringing new and better local opportunities. What are we looking for? We are looking for exceptional founders in Latin America that are currently at an early stage in their company.‍ Tech entrepreneurs that have the drive, product mindset and integrity to make a difference in the region. How can we help? We invest in early stage startups between $100k-$1M usd. In addition to funding, we provide our expertise to help you build and grow. We've helped build one of the largest tech companies in LatAm from scratch and we're here to help you too.

We’re here to back individuals who dare to be different and in innovation that pushes the boundaries of possibilities. Our story from seed to treeThe seed: In 2011, Aly El Shalakany and Hossam Allam founded the Cairo Angels, which was Egypt and Africa’s first angel investment network. The idea was simple - to bring together a group of mission driven investors to invest and support founders to build technology businesses right here in our region in order to have a positive impact on our societies The sprout: It was tough going at first and there were plenty of naysayers. There were too few of us trying to do too much. The seedling: Once you have a few wins under your belt, belief can be quite infectious. As the number of our investments grew, so did the number of founders building exciting new startups, which brought more and more investors to our community. Before we knew it, the perception of startups and investing in startups was changing all around us and a virtuous cycle began to take hold. The sapling: As we started making returns for our investors, we started to think to ourselves - what more can we be doing? How can we have more impact? Programs. Check. Partnerships. Check. Events. Check. Launch of our first fund. Check. The tree: Today, we look back at the last decade and think to ourselves - that was fun, where did the time go? But ten years is nothing in the life of a tree; we’re just getting started. We have places to go and people to see. We are the Acasia tree. Our PhilosophyFirst believers: We love to be the first folks outside of friends and family (and fools!) to back exceptional founders to build enduring companies. Founder-focused: The founders are at the heart of everything we do. We want to be partners for life in this exciting journey, through thick and thin, come what may. We’re in it for the long haul. Collaboration: It takes a village to raise a child. We’re happy to pay it forward, because we’re all in this together. That’s what ecosystem building is all about. Impact-driven: We believe that, given the possibility, we have the talent to build enduring technology firms right here in our part of the world. For Us By Us: We believe that, given the possibility, we have the talent to build enduring technology firms right here in our part of the world. Enabling People We empower people with big ideas to go the distance, and aspire to understand the humans behind the ideas. Sustaining Growth We commit to long-term, hands-on support in all aspects of a startup to facilitate personal and business development. Fueling Innovation We connect visionaries of the region by converting interest into investment.

Mila Ventures is building the Venture Scientist platform: an integrated venture-creation engine designed to translate frontier AI research into world-class companies - rooted in Canada, built for the world. Mila Ventures operates within Mila, a prestigious AI research institute based in Montréal, founded by Yoshua Bengio, one of the godfathers of modern artificial intelligence and a pioneer of deep learning. The platform brings together: Mila Venture Studio (co-creating companies with professors, students, and entrepreneurs) Mila Accelerator (early company building and scaling) Venture Scientist Academy (training researchers to become venture builders) The Mila Venture Fund (in formation) We operate at the intersection of AI research, venture creation, and capital, working closely with Mila's globally renowned researchers, students, founders, investors, corporate partners, and public institutions.