Venturium ’25: Fueling the Future of Academic Innovation
Venturium ’25, held virtually this Spring 2025, marked a dynamic evolution in the way early-stage academic ventures connect with funders and commercialization support. Organized by Northeastern’s Center for Research Innovation (CRI) in partnership with the Technology Transfer Venture Consortium (TTVC), this year’s showcase brought together over 120 participants to spotlight twelve standout spinout companies from eight leading institutions, including Northeastern University.
Backed by more than 200 registrants, the event provided carefully vetted startups with a platform to pitch directly to venture capital firms, accelerators, and other supporters of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Each company was actively raising a pre-seed or seed round to accelerate the development and commercialization of technologies that originated in university labs.
The result was not just a series of compelling presentations—it was a launchpad for meaningful follow-up conversations, second meetings, and momentum-building industry connections.
“This year, Venturium evolved into an exciting forum for pre-seed and seed spinouts to meet funders and entrepreneurial ecosystem supporters,” said Katie Hemphill, Director of Technology Ventures and Talent Network at Northeastern. “Presenters pitched to an engaged audience, followed by dynamic discussions in breakout sessions. The majority of presenters converted Venturium connections into contacts that they are keeping informed outside of the event, which is the primary purpose of the showcase—growing interest in our spinouts and support for our founders.”
A Premier Platform for Startup Success
Venturium is the flagship event of TTVC, a growing collaboration of over 20 academic and industry organizations that meet regularly to strengthen connections between academic innovation and venture capital. Member institutions include Northeastern University, Cornell University, Rutgers University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Louisville, the University of Pennsylvania, Washington University in St. Louis, and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures, which supports seven Kentucky-based schools.
The goal of Venturium is to give the most ecosystem-ready academic ventures a national stage, while simplifying access for investors who would otherwise need to navigate each institution independently. With curated presentations, intentional networking, and collaborative promotion, the showcase facilitates easier connections between researchers and funders, fosters trust, and encourages exploration of potential partnership opportunities.
The energy of the 2025 event reflected just how effective that approach has become. Attendees heard directly from founders whose technologies are backed by rigorous science and university support, and who are ready to raise capital, launch products, and drive measurable impact.
Northeastern’s Growing Venture Footprint
For Northeastern, Venturium is part of a larger effort to fuel venture creation and scale the impact of research. In the past three years alone, the university has funded $260 million in research, launched 18 new spinout companies (with more than 60 total), and raised $194 million for its spinouts.
Two of those ventures—DeepCharge and zTouch Networks—took the stage at Venturium ’25 to showcase their technology, traction, and vision for growth.
DeepCharge: Solving Device Downtime in Logistics
DeepCharge (deepcharge.io) has developed an AI-powered uptime platform that addresses a $3.2 billion problem: the high cost of mobile device failures in warehouse and logistics operations. In environments where every minute of scanner downtime can cost thousands, DeepCharge delivers predictive maintenance and power optimization that keeps devices charged, tracked, and operational.
By analyzing unique device signals, DeepCharge predicts failures before they occur, reducing downtime by more than 60%. Their technology has already been adopted by Fortune 500 clients, delivering a return on investment (ROI) in under six months and saving millions annually. Unlike traditional Mobile Device Management (MDM) systems, which only respond after devices fail, DeepCharge proactively prevents disruption, making it an essential tool for supply chain resilience.
zTouch Networks: Simplifying Private 5G with AI
zTouch Networks (ztouchnet.com) is transforming mobile network automation with its proprietary platform, zTouch.OS—the first O-RAN network slicing application designed for AI-native performance. With support from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Department of Defense, the company has secured $2 million in contracts, completed three deployments, and secured its first commercial customer.
zTouch.OS automates and optimizes private 5G deployments, using natural language commands and AI to manage resources like spectrum, CPU/GPU, and radio access networks (RAN). The result is fully autonomous performance that reduces operational costs, accelerates time-to-market, and enables infrastructure monetization through edge computing. With six patents and strong institutional backing, zTouch is positioning itself as the future of enterprise connectivity.
Looking Ahead: Expanding the Impact of Venturium
The impact of Venturium extends beyond a single day. Participating institutions continue to collaborate throughout the year, sharing insights, co-developing programs, and streamlining support for spinouts. The strength of this network enables the production of high-quality showcases, such as Venturium, while also paving the way for future programming.
“It takes a village to support our early-stage spinouts,” Hemphill said. “Venturium has proven an impactful platform for educating funders and entrepreneurial supporters about exciting academic spinouts from across several institutions and growing support for all of our spinouts.”
A fall 2025 event is already in the works, and future iterations will depend on the readiness of founders and the continued collaboration of participating universities.
Learn more about Northeastern CRI’s Venture Support Programs here.