UM6P Foundry is the Venture Studio of University Mohammed VI Polytechnic. We partner with ambitious cofounders and committed business partners to build market-leading deep-tech and AI-native startups. We provide end-to-end operational support to de-risk, launch and scale the companies we co-build.
Strategy
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We identify meaningful business problems expressed by a co-build partner and unmet market needs that we pursue on a standalone basis. From there, we put together the right founding team and provide them with the financing needed to lead the venture.
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Through our offices in Morocco and the United States of America, our venture studio provides resources in AI compute, IT tools, and infrastructure, as well as a pool of talent in AI and software engineering, BD, HR, legal, and finance to build and validate the product with initial customers.
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Once the venture is de-risked from both a market and technical standpoint, we spin it off, incorporate it in Morocco and/or the United States of America, and continue supporting cofounders in their fundraising cycles and growth.
Portfolio
Expert Data Annotation for AI Models
Real-time Commodities Tracking
Specialty Chemicals Formulation and Production
Sovereign Legal AI
Sovereign AI for Knowledge Management
Crop Yield Forecasting
Rapid and Reagent-Free Pathogen Identification
Accurate and Reproducible Mineral Sampling
Partners
You have a scientific breakthrough, disruptive idea, compelling insight or expertise? UM6P Foundry co-builds the startup with you, from ideation, market validation, and cofounder matching to product and business development, sales and marketing, legal structuring and incorporation, strategy, fundraising, and beyond.
Explore the Cofounders page
VCs, CVCs, PE firms and other investment institutions can access our portfolio of de-risked startups, each built with a competitive moat and a hard-to-replicate technology. Explore investments from pre-seed to Series A and beyond across our diverse verticals to fund the companies that fit your investment thesis.
Explore the Investors page
Private and public organizations, large or small, can engage with UM6P Foundry in two ways: by co-building new ventures with us, starting from their own strategic pain points, in exchange for equity; or by becoming customers of our startups to gain a competitive edge while solving their most pressing challenges.
Explore the Business Partners pageVenture model
Equity ownership is central to our model, with Cofounders retaining the majority of the equity and building their venture through the Partner-Backed or Standalone Venture Model.
Cofounders collectively retain majority equity and gain immediate access to the Foundry’s assets. A budget and a fixed-term employment contract with UM6P Foundry during incubation provide the runway to build, validate, and launch within 24 months.
A business partner brings the underlying challenge and funds venture development. The Foundry provides the assets, expertise, and operational support required to build and launch the company.
The Foundry finances venture development with its own capital. No external partner is required to get the venture off the ground.
While VCs primarily provide capital, Venture Studios provide cofounders with multidisciplinary teams spanning technical and commercial execution, along with the tools and infrastructure needed to de-risk and accelerate the path from idea to deployment.
Studio startup: ~2 years vs. Traditional startup: ~4.5 years
Studio startup: 72% vs. Traditional startup: 42%
Studio startup: 53% vs. Traditional startup: 21.3%
Everything a founding team needs is already in-house.
Dedicated software and AI engineering talent help you turn your idea into a real product.
Supports your sales and marketing efforts by putting you in front of your ICP and helping you build your sales pipeline to scale your product.
Experts guide you from business planning and startup incorporation in Morocco and the USA through contract negotiation and fundraising.
NVIDIA H200 GPUs installed locally are shared among cofounders to help them build, train, and run AI models on-premises.
Pilot production plants for specialty chemicals and materials help you move from formula to small-scale production.
Matching you with the right team and hiring the talent you need as you expand.
Ecosystem
UM6P Foundry is a 100% subsidiary of UM6P, giving cofounders access to leading university research, intellectual property, and scientific expertise, while its connection to OCP Group provides a large-scale industrial environment where ventures can test use cases, gather feedback, and rapidly iterate on their products.
Cofounders gain access to laboratories, researchers, scientific expertise, patents, university IP, emerging technologies, and research infrastructure.
About UM6P
Foundry ventures gain direct exposure to OCP's strategic business challenges, enabling them to pilot and deploy products at small and large scale across corporate and industrial divisions to accelerate technology and market validation.
About OCP GroupOur Venture Studio team brings technical, operational, and venture-building expertise to every portfolio company.
Whether you bring subject-matter expertise, a strategic challenge, or investment perspective, we would like to hear from you.
