Local venture capital firm Draper Triangle Ventures said yesterday that it planned to open a Cleveland office by year's end, spreading its recently announced $40 million venture fund over at least 25 technology and medical device start-ups in the region and in northeastern Ohio.

Pittsburgh remains the Downtown firm's primary focus, but Draper wanted to tap into Cleveland's fledgling technology community, too, said managing director Tom Jones. Cleveland "has the attributes that make early stage investing work -- very strong universities, very interesting and innovative technologies," he said.

Jones specifically cited Case Western Reserve University and The Cleveland Clinic medical center, which have developed technology commercialization offices in recent years to capitalize on their research and to grow northeastern Ohio's tech sector.

Draper has yet to iron out the details for the Cleveland office, including whether staff in Pittsburgh will be transferred or new staff hired. Jones said the firm had no plans to cease investing in Pittsburgh or to shutter its offices. "It will not be that we are diverting resources from Pittsburgh."

Mark Coticchia, the vice president for research and technology management at Case Western who formerly ran a similar tech transfer office at Carnegie Mellon University, helped persuade Draper to expand its outreach. He said Draper had a track record for understanding how to do deals with universities.

Draper's Cleveland office will share space with the city's tech-based economic development engine JumpStart Inc. That organization, alongside its biotech counterpart BioEnterprise Corp., is expected to graduate companies to Draper's investing portfolio, which is why Draper decided to open a Cleveland office instead of making a regular two-hour commute there. "You need to be close to your investments," said Jones.