Tulane Ventures Names Two Advisors to Louisiana Seed Fund

Dain F. DeGroff (left) will serve as a Fund Advisor, and Jane Cooper (right) will serve as a Portfolio Advisor.

Tulane Ventures has appointed Dain F. DeGroff, an investment professional with extensive expertise in venture capital and growth equity firms, and Jane Cooper, a healthcare entrepreneur and angel investor, to advisory roles as the New Orleans-based fund strengthens its efforts to support early-stage Louisiana companies.   

"These appointments reflect exactly where we want to take Tulane Ventures — building a fund that is meaningfully engaged with founders through every stage of growth with a talented and experienced team," said Kimberly Gramm, managing partner of Tulane Ventures. "We’re building a fund defined by excellence, engagement, and impact. With Dain and Jane joining our advisory team, Tulane Ventures is even better positioned to identify outstanding founders, support their growth, and strengthen the innovative future of Louisiana.” 

Dain DeGroff, co-founding partner and chief executive of Triangle Peak Partners LP, a venture capital and private equity firm focused on technology, alternative energy and energy, will serve as fund advisor, working alongside the fund's investment committee to evaluate new deals, analyze term sheets and cap tables, and stress-test financial models and valuation assumptions. His background spans investment banking roles at Hambrecht & Quist and J.P. Morgan, where he led mergers-and-acquisitions and capital markets transactions in the technology sector, and he previously served as a managing director at Fort Mason Capital. He also serves on the Stanford University DAPER (Athletics Department) Investment Fund committee. He earlier served as a nuclear-trained submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. 

 
"Tulane has done a remarkable job in quickly building out the Innovation Institute and associated entrepreneurship programming to support the Louisiana and Tulane communities.  The Tulane Venture Fund is one example of those efforts. Louisiana founders are building ambitious companies, and they deserve a partner that brings both rigor and real support. Tulane Ventures is doing exactly that, and I’m excited to help ensure every investment decision positions founders for meaningful growth.” DeGroff said.

Cooper, who founded Louisiana-based health plan Advantage Health and later built Patient Care — a national healthcare advocacy and transparency company serving more than 500 employers and 1.6 million members before its 2017 sale — joins as portfolio advisor. She will lead Tulane Ventures onboarding for newly backed companies and provide operational counsel to founders navigating the early stages of growth. She currently leads JLC Company, a national healthcare consulting practice, and teaches entrepreneurship at Loyola University. She is a co-founder of Flamingo Funders, an angel-investing group based in Louisiana. 

Cooper, who has mentored dozens of Louisiana founders through the Idea Village accelerator and Flamingo Funders, said the role is a natural extension of her work over the years. “I am very excited to be involved with Tulane Ventures, offering support for local start-up businesses and early-stage ventures,” she said. “Tulane Ventures provides measurable impact on the ecosystem here, and I look forward to contributing to its growth and continued success.” 
 
Tulane Ventures manages a $10 million seed fund, backed by Tulane University and the Louisiana Economic Development Corporation, that targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies in Louisiana across health care, climate and energy, and artificial intelligence. The fund has deployed $1.8 million across nine portfolio companies and aims to make between 20 and 30 investments statewide, with individual investments ranging from $25,000 to $250,000. Its current portfolio includes Informuta, Exactics, Hilight, Hello Gravel, ARIX, CampusKnot, Civilized.ai, Nest Health, and Beken Bio. 
 
Beyond capital, portfolio companies gain access to the Tulane Innovation Institute's Green Wave Innovation Network, a roster of more than 100 industry experts available for mentorship and support. Companies may also receive educational programming on intellectual property, entrepreneurship, and funding, as well as pro bono business assistance through the Tulane Innovation Institute Startup Clinic. 
 
The fund also integrates students from Tulane's A.B. Freeman School of Business into its investment process through a venture capital course now in its third semester. Students review founder applications, conduct due diligence calls, and prepare investment memoranda under the instruction of Professor Dave Thompson and Tulane Ventures analyst, Marco Melero, offering students experience in deal evaluation, term negotiation, and exit planning. 
 
The appointments extend Tulane Ventures' efforts to build a fund defined not only by the capital it deploys but also by the expertise it brings to the next generation of Louisiana entrepreneurs — reflecting Tulane University's long-standing commitment to strengthening the communities it serves and accelerating economic opportunity across the region.