Bill Gates, VCs Invest $35M In ResearchGate To 'Open Source' Science - Forbes

"Startup ResearchGate, a social network for scientists, has raised $35 million in Series C financing led by Bill Gates and Tenaya Capital for its goal of making scientific research more transparent. Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital and existing investors Benchmark and Founders Fund also participated in the round ... Madisch wants scientists to publish raw data from their research on ResearchGate, including 'positive results' that match their hypotheses as well as 'negative results' that don’t. Scientists could also get feedback in real-time to their research, instead of waiting months or years for research to be published in top journals. It’s the type of mindset that open source programmers use, but is still nascent in other fields of science. 'We want to change how scientists think about research,' Madisch says. 'We want to be the leader in open science–like open source' ... Madisch, who met with Bill Gates to pitch him on the company, says Gates’ interest in the eradication of disease and science generally–in addition to his obvious tech background–made a good fit for the company.  The company hasn’t focused heavily on generating revenue yet, but Madisch says there are a number of possibilities such as paid job listings–free job listings are already on the site–as well as a marketplace for products and services for scientists. Says Madisch: 'Making money with ResearchGate is the easier part compared to creating a complete total mindset change of all the scientists in the world.'”