Investor profile

UPNY Ventures

Micro-fund

USDeep TechAI/MLHealthtechClimateEnterprise

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Investment thesis

UPNY Ventures backs incubated Deep-Tech startups emerging from New York State universities and incubators with Pre-Seed Capital combined with a hands-on GTM Engine, deploying capital only after demonstrating real commercial traction. The firm targets the structural gap between research validation and market validation — where founders have proven the technology but lack the customer discovery, commercialization strategy, and early go-to-market execution needed to become investable. Through a phased program (free GTM strategy course → 100-Day Commercialization Challenge → $50–100K pre-seed check → $100K follow-on), UPNY guides top-performing founders from lab to early revenue and a fundable path to a Seed round, supported by a network of micro-angel advisors ($10K–$50K) and strategic ecosystem partners across Upstate New York.

Notable quotes

I'm launching a fund that brings together people with real-world experience who are interested in being angel micro-investors & advisors to drive research-driven founders turn breakthrough technologies into real market traction.

Allan Von Schenkel · https://www.linkedin.com/posts/allanvonschenkel_im-launching-a-fund-that-brings-together-activity-7465737889708986368-zISH · 2025

Upstate New York is producing extraordinary deep-tech innovation, but too many startups struggle to bridge the gap between technical validation and commercial traction. UPNY Ventures thesis is centered on helping university-incubated founders move from research to real-world adoption — combining Pre-Seed Capital + GTM execution to drive early validation, pilots, customer traction, and a fundable path to growth.

Allan Von Schenkel · https://www.linkedin.com/company/upny · 2025

The last 6 months has been a time of observation, reflection, and planning. I turned my attention toward the startup ecosystem here in Upstate New York — listening, learning, and spending time with founders emerging from university & nonprofit incubator/accelerator programs. What I discovered was remarkable! Next-Tech is being built here: #deeptech #quantum #toughtech #hardtech #energy #fintech #healthtech #semiconductor #agtech. With that in mind, I also identified a major gap in the ecosystem.

Allan Von Schenkel · https://www.linkedin.com/in/allanvonschenkel · 2025

Team

Allan Von Schenkel

Founding Partner

Deep TechAI/MLHealthtechClimateEnterprise

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