Stanford University and Stanford Hospital and Clinics have pledged $3.6 million over three years in grant funding to support student-initiated startup accelerator StartX, in a move accompanied by the creation of a venture fund that will invest exclusively in StartX firms.

“Our grant program and investment in early stage companies is in keeping with Stanford’s mission of sharing knowledge and fostering innovation, and is another way we can play a role in accelerating the future development of Stanford students, alumni and scholars,” said President John Hennessy in a press release.

The grant program — which will significantly augment StartX’s fundraising total of $1.65 million over the past two years — will support StartX functions including staff and programming development . The Stanford-StartX fund has already approved commitments to six companies, including Knotch, which aims to connect like-minded people online through shared interests, and Cytobank, a big data analytics platform.

Since its founding in 2009, StartX has seen 10 startups acquired and 136 companies graduate from the program. On average, the program’s startups have raised more than $1.8 million from investors apiece.