How much equity universities take in start-ups for a license of intellectual property? It is sometimes not to say often a hot topic and information is not easy to obtain. Howeever there are some standards or common practice.
See the 2,456 pharmacies on the National E-Pharmacy Platform
University Equity in Start ups for IP Licensing - Lebret - nov 2013
1. How much Equity Universities
take in Start-ups from IP
Licensing?
Historical data
Hervé Lebret
November 2013
2. NB: this was not an easy exercise and I would not claim it is mistake-free.
You should read it as indicative only, hopefully it is accurate!
Indirectly related with Equity sharing through 200+ start-ups - October 2013
www.slideshare.net/lebret/startup-equity
3. Lessons learnt
Assuming the data are accurate:
Universities own about
10% at creation or
5% post –series A (average: $5M)
Universities keep a 1-2% equity stake at exit,
Worth a few $M (Median is $1M)
With an average of $70M VC investment,
And market value in the $1B range (Median is $300M)
Royalties are in the 1-4% range.
Median values are as important as Averages.
All this is consistent with information in Appendix
5. General concept
“The license issue fee typically ranges from $10,000 to $50,000, but can be as high as
$250,000 for an especially promising technology that is close to market. Royalty rates
are typically 2% to 5% but can go as high as 15%.” […]
“Recently, licensing managers have begun to take equity in start-up companies in
combination with, or in place of, license issue fees or royalties. In a typical arrangement
the university takes a 5% equity position in the company in place of the license issue
fee.”