5 Things to Know About Alumni Investing
Laura Rippy, Managing Partner - Green D Ventures
Archie has educational links to Dartmouth, Yale and Northwestern, schools that are part of Alumni Ventures, the New Hampshire-based venture firm that connects alumni of Ivy League and equivalent schools and lets them pool their money to invest in proprietary and unique VC deals. Alumni Ventures has raised more than $900 million in capital and invested in nearly 1,000 companies. The firm’s portfolio companies raised more than $25 billion from investors in 2021. Dartmouth alumni fund Green D Ventures’ Managing Director Laura Rippy shares how her fund, and other alumni funds, work.
Green D is for Dartmouth alumni, Blue Ivy is for Yale grads and Purple Arch is for Northwestern—just three of the 18 funds operating independently within Alumni Ventures. But collaboration is fierce: “Often there are multiple alums of our schools in one company. Maybe there is a Dartmouth CEO, a Stanford VC, a Penn CFO, an MIT CTO, and a Northwestern CMO in one company. We leverage the network-connections to get engaged with the startup team however we can.” See the Alumni Ventures job board.
Alumni Ventures is only six years old and is the third most active venture firm in North America, per Pitchbook. ”We have nearly $1 billion assets under management, close to 1000-plus portfolio companies, 50 investing professionals, and 600,000 community members. Our vision is to democratize investing in venture capital, which was historically the purview of endowments and pension funds.”
The minimum commitment is $50,000. “Individual accredited investors who join us can invest in a portfolio of venture-backed startups led by a full-time investment team of fellow alumni.” (Alternatively, a $25,000 investment lets investors co-invest with Alumni Ventures in specific funds, like a Blockchain Fund, alongside established venture firms.)
The firm raises annual fund vintages. “Green D Ventures is launching Fund 9 this year to the community (it’s currently open to existing Green D investors) and we will have another one next year. The same with Blue Ivy.”
Green D generated a 31x return on one company. “We just exited Upstart (UPST) from Green D Fund 3 and Blue Ivy 2. It was a 31x return in less than 5 years. Not every exit is positive; the nature of venture is a mix of returns.That’s why our strategy is a portfolio approach every year.”
To get involved in Alumni Ventures, explore more at https://www.av.vc
Editor’s note: Alumni Ventures reached a settlement in 2022 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission concerning the company’s marketing disclosures. The issues were corrected to comply with SEC requirements. Read more from Mike Collins here.