# Bruce N. Barron

> Bruce N. Barron is a grant investor at Origin Ventures backing Education and Higher Education. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Origin Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/origin-ventures)
- Location: Chicago, United States
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: May 2018
- Lead investor: 100%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-barron-2711741

Bruce N. Barron is a partner and co-founder of Origin Ventures. He is an observer to, or member of, the Boards of Directors of DialogTech, MyAlerts, Bound, and Tock. He previously served on the GrubHub Board of Directors. In addition, he serves on the boards of the American Cancer Society, the Illinois Venture Capital Association, the ChicagoBaseball Cancer Charities, and Israel Cancer Research Fund Chicago and International Chapters. Bruce was named a Crain’s Chicago Business Tech 50 member in 2013. He also provides funding for the Origin Ventures Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Illinois.Since 1985, Bruce has been involved in the management of several start-up medical technology companies. From 1995 – 2007 he had served as a member of the Board of Directors of Applied NeuroSolutions, Inc. (APNS), a public biotechnology company developing a diagnostic to detect, and therapeutics to treat, Alzheimer’s disease. He also served as CEO of APNS from 1995-2004, and as Chairman of the Board from 1999-2006. From 1988 to 2001 Bruce also served on the Board of Directors of Trimedyne Inc., a public manufacturer of surgical lasers used to treat diseases and other medical conditions.He has served as President/Chairman CEO and/or CFO, from time to time, of the following companies: Gynex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (sold to what is now known as Savient Pharmaceuticals in 1993), Pharmatec Inc. (merged with Pharmos Corp. in 1992) and Xtramedics, Inc. (merged with Athena Medical Corp. in 1994). Bruce assisted in guiding these entrepreneurial, public companies through their early stages to their ultimate sales or mergers with larger companies.Bruce received a B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1977. He earned his C.P.A. certificate and worked as an accountant in the Chicago office of Touche Ross (the predecessor of Deloitte & Touche) and other medium-size public accounting firms. He left the practice of public accounting in 1985 to begin his entrepreneurial career.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Education | 1 | 100% |
| Higher Education | 1 | 100% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Gies College of Business - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | The College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has programs in accountancy, business administration, and finance. The College enrolls approximately 2,800 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students (MBA, masters & PhD). The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is dedicated to building upon its tradition ofexcellence in education, research, public engagement and economic development. | $5M | Grant | May 04, 2018 |  |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## About Origin Ventures

VC Fund · Chicago, United States

Origin Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in high-growth software, marketplace, and consumer businesses shaping the 'Digital Native Economy'. Founded in 1999, the firm has the unique distinction of having multiple funds in the top 5% on realized performance. Typical check size is $500K to $8M. Select exitsinclude Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB), BacklotCars, Tock, Ahalogy, and Teem.To learn more, visit www.originventures.com.

5 contacts available at Origin Ventures.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Angela Smith | Senior Associate and Investor | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/angela-smith-d555 |
| Bruce N. Barron | Co-Founder and Founding Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bruce-n-barron |
| Jacquie Marshall Siegmund | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jacquie-marshall-siegmund |
| Jason Heltzer | Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jason-heltzer |
| Prashant Shukla | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/prashant-shukla-79ad |

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## FAQ

### What does Bruce N. Barron invest in?

Bruce N. Barron invests primarily in Education and Higher Education startups, most often at Grant stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Bruce N. Barron last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Bruce N. Barron closed in May 2018. Shizune tracks 1 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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