Three institutions — two local and one based in Seattle — have partnered to create a $500,000 seed fund to improve access to capital for minority entrepreneurs in Philadelphia.

Drexel University and the University City Science Center collaborated with the Raynier Institute & Foundation to establish the fund. While the foundation is based in Seattle, it was founded by James Widener Ray, of the Widener family of Philadelphia. It supports projects in animal welfare, arts and culture, education, the environment and health care and human services in both cities.

The new pool of capital, which will be called the Raynier Seed Fund, will go toward candidates from the Science Center’s commercialization programs, Drexel’s Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship and the Drexel Office of Research & Innovation. A three-person committee from Drexel and the Science Center will build a working group that will evaluate applicants who are seeking capital and connect them to entrepreneurial resources.

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