Rady Social Venture Accelerator Inspires Students to Give Back
Responding to a recent rise in social entrepreneurship, the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego has opened the Social Venture Accelerator, a new business development hub focused on companies that both raise profits and address social issues.
Rady School Invests in an Alumnus’ Company Cloudbeds
The Rady School of Management at the University of San Diego is down to invest through its Rady Venture Fund. Sometimes, the San Diego-based school even invests in companies founded by graduates—like Richard Castle.
The 2013 alum co-founded Cloudbeds, a cloud-based hotel management software, alongside Adam Harris in 2012. This is the first time Rady’s invested in a company started by a graduate, according to a press release. The investment was part of Cloudbed’s Series B $9 million fundraising, which investment firm PeakSpan Capital led. This new development will help the company become more competitive as it provides services to hotels, beds and breakfasts, and vacation rentals. It currently employs 109 people in 22 countries with offices in San Diego, São Paulo, and Dublin. Its software, however, is used in more than 120 countries.
Castle started the company while still at Rady. He took part in its FlexMBA program, and he says his experience at the school greatly influenced him—and helped him succeed with Cloudbeds. “I chose to come to the Rady School for my MBA because I was drawn to starting a company, and Rady has a strong focus on entrepreneurship,” he said in the press release.
He’s not the only Rady man at the company either: The hotel and tech company hired 2006 graduate Colin Slade as its VP of Customer Success, 2013 graduate Matthew Parry for Director of Marketing, and 2009 graduates Andre Sovgir and Marshall Knauff as product managers.
The Rady Venture Fund invests money in “educational opportunities and hands-on learning experiences for Rady MBAs and other UC San Diego graduate students,” per the press release. The fund invests just one to two investments a year, led through Venture Capital Management courses MGT496A and MGT496B. There, students get to learn about the investment process hands on.
“We’re thrilled to have Cloudbeds as part of our investment portfolio,” said Lada Rasochova, Rady Venture Fund Managing Director, in the press release. “With Cloudbeds, we are not only investing in a great company with solid fundamentals, we are also investing in UC San Diego and the greater San Diego startup community.”
Rady Partners with Athena San Diego to Mentor Female Entrepreneurs
At UCSD’s Rady School of Management, developing women in business has always been a priority. In fact, just this year, the full-time MBA class welcomed 39 percent female students. And now, they’re taking their work one-step further. In partnership with Athena San Diego—which has worked for 20 years to connect and support women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)—Rady is offering mentorship to female founders and leaders as part of its mystartupXX accelerator. Continue reading…
