The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board are partnering to launch a venture fund that focuses on IT companies, the organizations announced today during the Wisconsin Innovation Network luncheon at the Sheraton Hotel.

4490 Ventures is the culmination of 18 months of planning and will have $30 million to invest in companies located primarily in Wisconsin and the Midwest. It is set to launch this fall, after a managing general partner is hired.

“This is one way for WARF to bring value to companies who normally wouldn’t be ‘WARF companies’ [those that need patents and a large amount of capital],” Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of WARF, said.

Gulbrandsen hopes the new fund will increase the number of startups coming out of the University of Wisconsin, most of which typically face challenges such as lack of capital and an unsophisticated entrepreneurial culture.

The $30 million is funded equally by SWIB and WARF and is not meant to compete against the proposed state venture capital bill.

“We are looking at total return instead of economic development (as the State of Wisconsin is),” Michael Williamson, executive director of SWIB, said. “4490 Ventures will complement the efforts of the state’s proposed $25 million.”

Examples of the types of IT companies in which the fund would invest include enterprise, gaming, data management and education that need seed-stage money in the $500,000 to $2 million range.

The name 4490 is derived from the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of Madison.