The group is expected to include Netscape, America Online and the Georgia Institute of Technology, among others. Many of the above partnerships are acquiring venture capital. This is usually defined as money invested through private partnerships in start-up companies, which, after developing for a few years, sell stock to the public. Venture capital has given a boost to many high-tech companies until they could make it on their own. For-profit companies and institutions turn to venture capitalists for seed money once they have developed a business idea, researched the market to determine the visibility of the concept and created a strategy for how to make their business work.
Venture capitalists believe they are investing much more than money.
They become advisors and mentors and can be quite involved with the running of the company. A number have received venture capital by forming for-profit institutions. The for-profit entities created with venture capital by the universities are designed to protect the integrity of the academic program. Free from some of the rules governing the university, these for-profit entities are allowed to operate in a commercial, unrestricted environment. After 20 years of successful operation, NTU needed additional capital.