IBD Ventures

IBD Ventures is a product-development funding initiative of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, whose mission is to cure Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. The program is intended to accelerate the discovery and development of research-based products with potential for positive impact for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. It is not structured as a traditional research grant mechanism. Instead, the Foundation seeks organizations that can benefit from a partnership focused on advancing a specific product opportunity. Research-based product concepts may include therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, imaging approaches, software, services, and other technology-based products addressing unmet needs in IBD. Research and development projects are expected to advance the discovery or development of a specific product candidate and generally should be approximately 12 months in duration, with defined intermediate and final milestones. Funding of up to $500,000 per project per year will be considered, inclusive of direct and indirect expenses. Indirect expenses may not exceed 10 percent. Approximately 50 percent of project funding is expected to be provided up front, with funding otherwise paid on a milestone basis. Additional annual increments of up to $500,000 may be considered when milestones are achieved and the applicant submits a proposal for renewed funding. Projects requesting lower amounts are encouraged. Cost sharing through additional funding sources is encouraged but is not stated as mandatory. The Foundation does not request equity or intellectual property ownership, although financial return provisions apply if funded technology is commercially successful. Eligible applicants include companies and investigators at academic or research institutions. Company applicants may include for-profit biotechnology companies and qualifying nonprofit organizations and must demonstrate an independent organizational focus and commitment to product development, a business plan, sufficient operating funds, full-time personnel, appropriate infrastructure, and qualified project personnel. Academic applicants at universities, research institutes, and medical centers must demonstrate commercialization-oriented commitment and experience and access to appropriate product-development resources. Basic research is not eligible unless the proposed work directly supports a product discovery or development objective. Collaborative academic-industry projects are permitted, and one organization must be identified as the primary applicant responsible for contracting with the Foundation. International applicants are welcome. Core intellectual property needed for commercial development must be assigned or licensed to the primary applicant. Applicants begin by submitting a Letter of Intent through proposalCENTRAL. The current program page states a Letter of Intent deadline of September 18, 2026. In proposalCENTRAL, applicants navigate to Grant Opportunities and filter by grant maker for Crohn's & Colitis Foundation to locate IBD Ventures. The LOI questionnaire requests information about the applicant organization, principal investigator and personnel, R&D infrastructure, operating resources, proposed product, unmet need, preliminary data, development activities and milestones, requested funds, partnerships, product category, commercialization path, intellectual property, and related development experience. An investor-oriented slide presentation of no more than 20 slides and a one-page executive summary are also required with the LOI. Multiple LOIs for separate projects may be submitted by an organization. LOIs are reviewed competitively by Foundation staff and review committee members. Applicants selected through this process are invited to submit a detailed full proposal; full proposals generally will not be reviewed without a prior LOI except for resubmissions specifically permitted by program staff. Full-proposal materials include a research plan, commercialization-plan summary, key personnel and R&D resources, milestones and timeline, milestone-driven budget, lay and scientific abstracts, slide presentation, and executive summary, with additional materials applicable to resubmissions or supplied optionally. Review considers the target product profile and unmet IBD need, validation of the proposed product, intellectual property, R&D team, resources and funding, research plan, development plan and milestones, and commercialization potential. The eight scorecard parameters are rated on a 1-to-4 scale, and in general an average score below 2 on an individual parameter prevents a proposal from being considered fundable. Full proposals are reviewed by a multidisciplinary committee that may include industry and academic scientists, commercialization-oriented professionals, IBD clinicians, and IBD patients and caregivers. Programs should present scientifically rigorous, feasible, milestone-driven critical-path development activities, explicit success metrics and go/no-go decisions, risk mitigation and alternative approaches, and a credible commercialization strategy. Following full-proposal review, applicants selected for funding are generally notified in mid-June or mid-December, after which funding terms are negotiated and the Foundation may conduct due diligence, including verification of contractual relationships and intellectual property filings. Funded programs also may receive accelerator resources such as scientific and strategic advising, collaborator identification, IBD Plexus access support, and presentation opportunities. Questions may be directed to entrepreneurship@crohnscolitisfoundation.org; the program materials do not provide a telephone contact.

Clearly define a specific product and important unmet need in IBD; address every review scorecard element because incomplete LOIs may be rejected; provide preliminary validation evidence and prioritize critical-path product-development activities; specify six- and twelve-month milestones with explicit success metrics, costs, go/no-go decisions, risks and alternative approaches; demonstrate appropriate IP and access to core IP; show that the team, infrastructure and operating resources can execute the plan; keep the lay abstract and presentation accessible to non-specialist and patient/caregiver reviewers; explain differentiation, regulatory and go-to-market strategy and major commercialization risks; use cost sharing where available because supplementation of Foundation funding is encouraged.