Alumni Ventures Reaches $1 Billion Raised and 1,000 Investments

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July 28, 2022

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4 min

In just eight years, Alumni Ventures has grown from a single-fund startup to become one of the most active venture firms in the world.

How Alumni Ventures Achieved Key Growth Milestones

When CEO Mike Collins founded Alumni Ventures (AV) in 2014, the firm was a single-fund startup for the Dartmouth community. Since, we’ve raised over $1 billion across 20+ Alumni and Focused Funds and invested in more than 1,000 unique portfolio companies. In this video, Collins and CIO Anton Simunovic discuss how AV’s unique model has helped us earn our place as America’s largest venture capital firm for individual investors and the third most active VC firm in the world (PitchBook 2021).

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In just eight years, Alumni Ventures (AV) has grown from a single-fund startup into one of the most active venture firms in the world. Recently, AV achieved two critical milestones: 1) raising more than $1 billion from individual, accredited investors, and 2) investing in 1,000+ companies since our founding. These achievements reflect the success of AV’s disruptive business model — leveraging a robust network of individuals to democratize access to venture capital for individual investors and entrepreneurs.

Raising $1 billion is a significant milestone for any VC firm, but this is especially true for AV with its unique customer base of accredited individuals and low-commitment minimums — as little as $10,000 for a portfolio of diverse companies. . The model stands in stark contrast to that of conventional VC firms who raise capital almost exclusively from institutional investors and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

Proving the Network-Powered Model

As Alumni Ventures’ Founder and CEO Mike Collins explains the company’s value proposition, “The idea is pretty simple: By working together as a community, we can all do better in this very important asset class. The quality and diversification of the portfolios we help our customers create is quite remarkable. We think many more people should have a large and diversified venture capital portfolio. Our belief is that a high-quality venture portfolio has historically offered better returns than public equities as well as sensible diversification.”

"Through our world-class network and the experience of our investment teams, we’ve been able to source opportunities that have propelled Alumni Ventures to become one of the most active venture firms in the world."

Anton Simunovic
Chief Investment Officer

From One Fund to Over Two Dozen

Since the firm’s humble origins with just one fund, AV has grown to over two dozen funds and reached a second milestone of investing in 1,000 unique portfolio companies. Leveraging ~50 full-time professional investors located in key venture hubs across the country, AV has backed companies that are fundamentally transforming their respective industries. With its emphasis on diversity, AV has invested in industries from quantum computing to protein replacement to cancer treatment — alongside the most notable names in VCs.

“Through our world-class network and the experience of our investment teams, we’ve been able to source opportunities that have propelled Alumni Ventures to become one of the most active venture firms in the world,” said Chief Investment Officer Anton Simunovic. “As a co-investor, we leverage the expertise of the VCs leading the round as well as conducting our own thorough due diligence. We do this in a way that is simple and additive to the entrepreneur, acting as a good aunt or uncle with connections, customers, and capital when asked.”

Tremendous Portfolio Diversity

Given that most of AV’s funds emphasize provide investors with diversified portfolios to offset risk, it’s no surprise that AV’s portfolio companies represent a broad range of sectors, stages, and regions. A small sample of that portfolio reflects its overall breadth:

Freshly – Startup with D2C prepared meals acquired by Nestle
Upstart – AI-powered lender fintech, which gained 1,000% after its 2020 IPO

Global Presence: AV has invested in companies across six continents

Deal Diversity: Investments span 20 distinct sectors and industries

Investments by Stage:

47% Seed
22% Series A
14% Series B
12% Series C+
5% Other

Despite the significant growth and wins, Alumni has even higher expectations for the future. As Collins remarks, “We’re still in the early innings for our company. We think our next chapters will be even more exciting and rewarding for all our stakeholders.”

About Alumni Ventures

Alumni Ventures offers accredited individuals access to network-powered venture capital — a key asset class missing from the portfolios of many sophisticated investors. Since launching its first venture fund in 2015, AV has raised more than $1 billion across two dozen Alumni and Focused Funds, serving a growing network of 8,000 investors and 600,000 community members and subscribers. AV evaluates hundreds of opportunities every year and has invested in 1,000+ unique portfolio companies. In 2021, PitchBook ranked AV as the third most active VC firm in the world. AV funds are private, for-profit, and not affiliated with or sanctioned by any school. For more information, visit av.vc.