Science Fair Fund
3× the unicorns. Half the zeros.
The Opportunity
The founders of OpenAI, Robinhood, Midjourney, Rippling, and Stripe were all science fair winners. So were the founders of Freenome, Ginkgo Bioworks, and Athelas. This isn’t coincidence—it’s a pattern hiding in plain sight.
14.19% of science fair alumni founded startups become unicorns (vs. 1–2% industry baseline). 67% graduate to Series A. Yet only ~15 finalists per year raise VC, from a pool of 1,750 global winners (ISEF/STS). No dedicated fund exists for this community—until now.
The Structural Moat
| Edge | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Tribal Access | Science fair is formative identity (age 14–18). Alumni told Society for Science they’d “save space” for affiliated investors. This isn’t networking—it’s kinship. |
| Information Asymmetry | Proprietary database of 39,405+ alumni. ML model (55 features) identifies founders before launch. LinkedIn triggers catch “stealth mode” → first-ticket SAFEs before Sequoia/YC sees the deck. |
| Proven Alpha | Among funded alumni, Tier 1 (top 40% by score): 15% unicorn rate, 26% $100M+ outcomes—2× baseline. Cohort baseline: 14.19% unicorn rate, 21% $100M+ rate (vs ~5% / ~15% industry). |
| Insider Credentials | ISEF 1st Place (’04) + multi-year judge. The only comprehensive dataset on this cohort, built since 2006. |
Returns Profile
Monte Carlo validated, 10K simulations. Historical outcome rates applied to scored pipeline with position-level modeling.
Downside protection: Even if ML fails completely, baseline cohort delivers 14.19% unicorn rate, 15× gross MOIC. Loss ratio: 7% (vs. 30–40% typical seed).
Current Pipeline (Proof of Access)
eGlint
Real-time proteomics diagnostics
Founder: Denis Malyshev, PhD (ISEF ’03), founding scientist at Synthorx (acq. $2.5B Sanofi). Illumina committed $4–6M; $14M cap SAFE, Series A imminent.
NeoSplice Therapeutics
RNA splicing for drug discovery
Founder: Evgeny Kiner, PhD (3× ISEF finalist), founding scientist at Immunai ($300M+ raised). Pharma SOW pending (~$300K); JPM Healthcare meetings scheduled.
Apacendo Health
Nephrology EMR + predictive intelligence
Founder: Jonathan Lin (ISEF + STS dual alumnus). Revenue from design partners; 25 nephrology practices day-one distribution.
Fund Terms
The Manager: Anthony Atlas
- ISEF 1st Place Winner (2004)—I’m one of them
- Multi-year Grand Awards Judge—deep community relationships
- Raised >$75M in venture capital as an operator
- Supported 3 deep-tech companies through ~10× valuation step-ups (seed → Series B)
Why This Works Now
Capital is commoditized. Geographic moats have dissolved. The edge is now signal extraction + proprietary access.
Science Fair Fund isn’t competing on capital or brand. We’re competing on identity and information asymmetry—a structural arbitrage generalist funds cannot replicate.
Fund II expansion: The thesis is portable. Fund II expands to Math/Physics Olympiads (the Collison brothers won Irish Young Scientist before building Stripe).