The Future Is Created by Optimists
Who Can See It — and Build It Together.
The most powerful amplifier of entrepreneurs isn’t a fund or an accelerator.
It’s an ecosystem.
Welcome to Acorn Capital Partners
Which best describes you?
The Future Is Created by Optimists
At universities, you can find the futurists, inventors, laboratories, students, and alumni networks.
What’s missing are partnerships with corporations and capital aligned by a shared vision of the future,
and the architecture that turns them into a self-sustaining ecosystem.
That architecture is The Factory — built to remove the structural and cultural barriers that have long kept
universities, corporations, and capital from working as one system of innovation.
Agile. Efficient. Transformative.
At Acorn Capital Partners, we begin with the first practical steps.
Through Acorn Applied, we help universities identify high-potential technologies,
develop SBIR and STTR commercialization plans, and build corporate partnerships to accelerate their path to impact.
This is where the architecture begins to take shape.
Every movement begins with a few who can see what others can’t — and decide to take the first steps.
This is where yours begins.
ACORN APPLIED
Acorn Applied brings The Factory methodology to universities as a hands-on commercialization partner. We work shoulder-to-shoulder with faculty innovators, partnership offices, and research leaders — doing the work, not just advising — to transform discoveries into fundable ventures, investable IP portfolios, and sustainable corporate partnerships.
IP Portfolio Optimization
We analyze your technology disclosures through The Factory methodology — applying the discipline of early-stage investors to identify opportunities that merit continued investment in patent protection and commercialization.
Service #1: Invention Analysis
Review and rank new invention disclosures using venture-capital criteria.
Service #2: Portfolio Review
Initial analysis to identify high-potential technologies that justify further investment.
Service #3: Investment Plan
Create the plan to accelerate a specific technology toward commercialization.
Service #4: Executive Summaries
Develop investor-grade summaries for corporate and venture partners.
Outcome: Clear prioritization of high-potential IP.
SBIR/STTR Studio
Working alongside the university team — we serve as the provisional Business Lead, doing the work, not just mentoring.
Service #1: Commercialization Plan
Using The Factory Methodology, analyze plan and recommendations to strengthen.
Service #2: SBIR Studio Workshop
Hands-on workshops with Innovators to learn-by-doing the business-related content of SBIR proposals.
Service #3: Full Commercialization Support
Working with Technical team, create the commercialization plan.
Service #4: Cohort Program
Cohort-based “Lab to Market” hands-on workshops; Acorn serves as Business Lead.
Outcome: Fundable, market-aligned SBIR proposals that demonstrate both technical merit and commercial potential.
Corporate Partnerships
Collaborate with your Corporate Partnerships team — we deliver the research, framing, and narratives that empowers them to secure more industry partnerships.
Service #1: Partnership Diagnostic
Using secondary research to identify high-potential corporate partners.
Service #2: Partnership Alignment
Validate alignment of a center’s value proposition with corporate priorities.
Service #3: Engagement Methodology
Build an outreach package that enables the Partnerships team to establish corporate interest.
Service #4: Facilitate Pilot Investment
Support the university team to structure a pilot corporate investment.
Outcome: Structured, evidence-based partnership strategies that convert research relationships into revenue-generating collaborations.
The Factory I — Built and Proven at Scale
Before Acorn Capital Partners, our team co-founded HARDS / MOA Ventures — Brazil’s first accelerator / fund to invest in hard-sciences startups — where we designed and implemented The Factory methodology at institutional scale.
Over five years, this system screened more than 1,500 ventures, invested in 29, and helped founders raise over $70 million — primarily in non-dilutive funding. Portfolio companies achieved an aggregate 7× growth in revenue, validating the discipline and replicability of our methodology.
The Factory I — Financial & Strategic Validation
Capitalized by multinational corporations, we co-created the fund’s investment thesis with their executives to align with corporate strategy, and the corporate leaders participated in venture selection and acceleration.
In 2024, HARDS / MOA Ventures reached breakeven on a mark-to-market basis, demonstrating that The Factory is not just a strategic framework — it’s a financially sustainable venture-acceleration engine that aligns institutional strategy with measurable investor returns.
View Portfolio HighlightsThe Factory II
Built on the Factory I, designed to address the challenges faced by research universities, the Factory II is a framework that aligns universities, corporations, and capital around a shared vision of the future
The Factory II architecture — connecting ideas, partners, and capital through a shared vision.
The Foundation of The Factory II
Built with Experience
2025
The Moment of Chaos
Tipping point created chaos, and the opportunity on the other side.
2025
Revenue Concentration
Creates an existential threat — and opportunity.
2025
Built to Repeat
Large organizations are a collection of systems that are not designed to innovate.
Ask for These and Other White Papers
Mentorship & Acceleration
“Alan has made a huge difference at Favo Tecnologia in a short time.
He’s always pushing us to accelerate our growth in an inspiring way, answering our calls regardless of the day or time, and doing exceptional work in networking and market intelligence.
Every meeting is a different learning experience; for me, it’s truly an honor and a privilege to have him as my mentor, advisor, and board member.”
— Raissa Yamasaki, Co-Founder & COO, Favo Tecnologia
Strategic Execution & Growth
“Alan possesses decades of experience and unparalleled vision in business, venture capital, strategic partnership structuring, and Product Development Roadmap.
As an advisor to Neokohm, through strategic planning he helped us identify market extensions, which enabled a tenfold increase in recurring revenue in just 12 months.
Alan also structured Neokohm’s advisory board and participates in our corporate decision-making processes, focusing on exponential growth, always with a strategic outlook and calculated risks.”
— Allan Carniel, Founder & CEO, Neokohm
Portfolio Highlights
Recent news from our portfolio companies represent the proof of impact — innovators transforming industries through vision, discipline, and collaboration.
2025
Corsync
Deep Tech of the Year — pioneering cardiac technology
2025
Neokohm
Monitors 20% of Brazil’s refrigerated cargo
2025
Ubivis
FINEP Innovation Award — Industrial IoT
2025
Vammo
Raised $45M Series B — electric mobility ecosystem
Let’s build the future together.
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