Hartford Business Journal

16 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MAY 4, 2026 Josh Geballe, managing director of Yale Ventures, in the organization's office at 101 College St. in New Haven. HBJ Photo | David Krechevsky Spinout Engine Yale Ventures reshapes university's tech transfer efforts, expands startup pipeline Yale spinout Quantum Circuits being acquired by California-based D-Wave Quantum Inc. for $550 million. "What's really great about both of those stories is those startups stayed in New Haven," Geballe said during a recent interview with Hartford Business Journal. "They grew in New Haven, and even after being acquired by large public companies, they're staying in New Haven." Geballe recently sat down with Hart- ford Business Journal to discuss Yale Ventures' growth and outlook. 'High-utilization atmosphere' While the organization's office footprint is small — Biolabs, the bioscience incubator across the hall, occupies 41,000 square feet and is expanding by another 9,000 — it doesn't feel cramped. The layout includes an open break area, a small library stocked with business and management books — many by Yale authors — and a collaboration space with couches and lounge seating. That area sits next to a conference room with a glass wall that can fully open or close as needed — a feature that earned Yale Ventures a Blue Ribbon Award in April from CREW CT, a statewide commercial real estate group that recognizes excellence in design and development. A distinctive element of the office, which Yale Ventures has occupied for about a year and a half, is its design collaboration with the Yale School of Art. Outside the entrance, a colorful installation visualizes the university's entrepreneurial "neural network," using metal markers to highlight key moments in its innovation history. Inside, walls feature drawings by Yale innovators, reproduced from original notes and depicting what Geballe described as their "seminal inventions." The space also includes glass-en- closed offices used by staff and startup entrepreneurs. "There's no assigned offices," Geballe said. "Everything is shared. It's really a high-utilization atmosphere." Still growing Meantime, Yale Ventures continues to expand its programming. The office, funded by the university and donations, now hosts more than 70 events annually, including the Yale Inno- vation Summit, Life Sciences Pitchfest and Startup Yale. The Innovation Summit, set this year for May 27-28 at the Yale School of Management, draws more than 2,400 attendees, showcases about 300 ventures and awards roughly $400,000 in startup grants. By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com G iven how much Yale Ventures has grown in its first four years, its physical footprint is surprisingly small. The organization's headquarters at 101 College St. in New Haven spans just 6,100 square feet — about 1% of the recently built 525,000-square-foot life sciences building. But its reach extends far beyond that space. Launched in April 2022 by Yale University, the organization helps faculty and students turn research into startups while overseeing technology transfer, intellectual property licensing and industry partnerships. It has already spun out 51 bioscience compa- nies that have secured more than $15 million in grants and leveraged that funding to raise more than $600 million. Shepherding the organization is Josh Geballe, who has served as managing director since Yale Ventures' launch. He previously spent two years as the state's chief operating officer under Gov. Ned Lamont. Before that, Geballe, a Yale alum and former lecturer, served three years as commissioner of the state Depart- ment of Administrative Services. His private-sector experience includes 11 years at IBM, four years as CEO of Branford-based data management firm Core Informatics, and a year as vice president and general manager of the digital science business unit at Thermo Fisher Scientific, also in Branford. Geballe, who holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, describes his background as science "adjacent." "Before I went to work for the state, I ran a software company that did scien- tific informatics," he said. "So we were selling into the biotech industry." At Yale Ventures, he said he has built a team with deep technical expertise, including staff who work closely with faculty researchers and others with Ph.D.s. "We've assembled a team that has domain expertise in all the different areas of research at Yale," Geballe said, "so we can deploy people from the team as needed to provide the right level of technical depth." Like other U.S. research institutions, the office receives an equity stake when it licenses new technologies to the private sector. It also is reimbursed for patent expenses and can earn milestone payments and royalties if products reach the market. Net proceeds are reinvested in research, Geballe said. The model has been producing results. In the past year, two Yale startups were acquired in major deals. In December, pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson acquired New Haven-based cancer drug developer Halda Therapeutics for $3.05 billion. That was followed in January by AT A GLANCE Yale Ventures Industry: Bioscience Top Executive: Josh Geballe, Managing Director HQ: 101 College St., New Haven Funding awarded: $15.25 million Employees: About 60 ACCELERATORS AT A GLANCE Yale Ventures supports six accelerator programs that provide funding to startups: BLAVATNIK FUND FOR INNOVATION (life sciences): $3.5 million ROBERTS INNOVATION FUND (engineering): $1 million COLTON CENTER FOR AUTOIMMUNE & ALLERGIC DISEASES: $800,000 PLANETARY SOLUTIONS IMPACT ACCELERATOR (climate tech): $700,000 HEALTHTECH WORKS (digital health, medical devices, diagnostics): $500,000 CULTURAL INNOVATION LAB (arts): $350,000 annually through a five-year, $1.76 million state grant

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