Alumni Ventures Group Launches Four New Venture Funds

MANCHESTER, N.H., Sept. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Alumni Ventures Group, the second most active venture firm in the world (Pitchbook), has announced the opening of four new funds for accredited investors, increasing AVG's offerings to 25 funds. Effective today, the Elite Engineers Fund, the B-School Fund, Little Ivy Ventures, and the Midwest Value Fund are available for investment. Like most of AVG's products, the funds will offer accredited investors a portfolio of 20-30 diversified companies with deals led by top co-investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, and similar firms.

Three of the new funds are open to all accredited investors: Elite Engineers invests in ventures led by alums of top engineering schools, the B-School Fund invests in top business school grads, and the Midwest Value Fund creates venture portfolios in opportunities outside California, New York, and Massachusetts. The fourth fund, Little Ivy Ventures, pools capital from alumni of Bowdoin, Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, and Tufts to back startups founded by fellow alums from those ecosystems. Each fund is targeting an annual raise of $5-10M.

Michael Collins, CEO of Alumni Ventures Group, explains that the new funds will be offered to address a common request.

"Since we started in 2014, we've served the alumni of a small group of very exclusive universities. We have private venture funds for grads of schools like Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, MIT, UPenn, Yale, and Dartmouth. But we kept hearing from other investors, who'd ask, 'I went to Penn State. What about me?' These new funds address that need."

Collins notes that AVG continues to build on its core mission of making venture capital accessible to the millions of accredited Americans who have been largely shut out of the asset class.

"There are 13 million accredited investors in the United States," he said. "I'd estimate at least 95 percent of them don't own a material venture portfolio. We make venture accessible to folks who own mutual funds, bonds, real estate, but don't own private market equities — where the greatest upside can be realized. Our family of funds also gives us tremendous leverage in delivering diverse portfolios to those customers, allowing us to efficiently share deal flow, best practices, and back-office resources."

That formula has worked for Alumni Ventures Group. In addition to hitting a milestone of 25 funds, in four years, the company has reached nearly 2200 investors; a portfolio of 200+ unique deals; and more than 150,000 supporters who subscribe to AVG's newsletters, forward deals, and socialize the fund.

Said Collins, "We're proud of our effort to democratize venture capital. These new funds open the door even wider for investors wanting to own this key asset class."

About Alumni Ventures Group
Alumni Ventures Group offers accredited investors a smart, simple way to invest in venture capital—a key asset class missing from the portfolios of many sophisticated investors. Since launching its first venture fund in 2014, AVG's global referral and expert network has grown to 25 alumni and focused funds and 150,000 supporters. AVG is now one of the most active venture investors in the world, evaluating hundreds of opportunities every year and typically delivering fund investors a portfolio of 20-30 diversified deals. With offices in five locations and more alumni and specialty funds in development, AVG continues to expand and deliver on its core value proposition: offering a way for individuals to easily access venture assets. AVG funds are private, for-profit, and not affiliated with or sanctioned by any school.

SOURCE Alumni Ventures Group