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Alumni Ventures Group
Alumni Ventures Group, founded by Michael Collins, aggregates capital from 600K+ accredited alumni investors to co-invest alongside top-tier VCs.
Alumni Ventures Group
Michael Collins founded Alumni Ventures Group in 2014, launching a venture fund that aggregated capital solely from Dartmouth alumni to invest in early-stage companies. The model replicated quickly: AVG created sibling funds branded for graduates of MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and dozens of other universities, building a proprietary community of over 600,000 accredited investors (per the firm, 2021). AVG operates from Manchester, New Hampshire — not Sand Hill Road — and its structure effectively transforms alumni affiliation into a distribution channel for venture access. AVG deploys capital as a co-investor rather than a lead, participating in rounds set by firms such as Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, and Founders Fund. The strategy covers seed through late-stage venture, with confirmed positions in Coinbase Global, Hims & Hers, Calm, and Lyra Health. Sector exposure spans enterprise software, AI/ML, digital health, fintech, and consumer technology. The firm does not take board seats or architect deals; it provides follow-on capital through a diversified, fund-of-funds-style approach that relies on top-quartile lead investor selection. Its geographic footprint concentrates on the United States, with every major startup hub represented across portfolio company rosters. By early 2022, AVG had deployed more than $1 billion into venture deals since inception (per Crunchbase, 2022), a figure that placed it among the most active venture investors in the US by deal count. The firm operates a central management company that runs back-office functions for each university-branded fund — a shared services architecture that drives margin efficiency across a constellation of venture products. In 2023, the firm consolidated its family of funds under a single operating brand, tightening its narrative from a collection of alumni clubs into a unified asset-gathering platform. AVG's structural differentiator is not venture selection but retail distribution infrastructure. Where traditional venture firms raise from a handful of institutional LPs, AVG has built a mass-affluent funnel — requiring minimums as low as $25,000 — and uses university affinity as the onboarding mechanism. This architecture converts alumni loyalty into a recurring capital base, making AVG less a traditional venture firm and more a vertically integrated retail alternative-asset platform wearing a venture label.
General information
Firm type
Venture Capital
Year founded
2014
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Manchester
Corporate office
Manchester, NH, United States
Principals
Michael Collins
CEO and Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does Alumni Ventures Group source deals without a traditional venture partner network?
AVG sources deals by serving as a co-investor alongside established lead venture firms. The firm does not originate or lead rounds; instead, it reviews opportunities where a top-tier fund — such as Sequoia or Andreessen Horowitz — has already committed. This follow-on posture means AVG leverages the lead investor's due diligence, term-setting, and portfolio oversight, reducing the need for a partner-driven sourcing engine.
What is the minimum investment for individual accredited investors, and how does that compare to standard venture funds?
AVG fund minimums have historically been set at $25,000, a fraction of the $250,000 to $5 million minimums typical for institutional venture funds. The low barrier is central to AVG's distribution model: it enables mass participation from alumni communities that would otherwise be excluded from venture exposure by high entry thresholds.
Does AVG take board seats or exert operational influence on portfolio companies?
No. AVG invests exclusively as a passive co-investor. It does not take board seats, negotiate leading terms, or provide operational support to portfolio companies. This hands-off posture is a structural consequence of its follow-on model — governance and board-level decisions rest with the lead investor.
How does Alumni Ventures Group manage regulatory complexity across hundreds of thousands of individual LPs?
AVG operates under the Investment Company Act of 1940 exemptions available to venture capital funds, structuring each sister fund as a separate venture entity rather than a pooled retail vehicle. Accredited investor verification is conducted at the point of subscription, and fund interests are not publicly traded or redeemable, maintaining compliance with Securities Act exemptions for private placements.
Is AVG structured as a single family office or a venture firm?
Neither. AVG functions as a venture capital fund manager that operates a multi-fund platform — originally a series of alumni-branded funds — under a central management entity. It is not a family office and does not trace to a single wealth origin. The firm registers as an investment adviser with the SEC and raises capital from a fragmented base of individual accredited investors, not a concentrated family pool.
Which sectors does AVG explicitly avoid, and what is its sector concentration?
AVG does not publicly maintain a formal exclusion list. However, its co-investment model follows lead-investor conviction, which has resulted in heavy exposure to enterprise software, AI/ML, digital health, fintech, and consumer technology. The firm rarely participates in capital-intensive sectors such as hardware, industrials, biotech drug development, or deep-tech infrastructure where traditional venture firms lead fewer rounds and follow-on co-investor slots are limited.
How is AVG compensated, and what fee structure applies to alumni investors?
AVG charges management fees and carried interest standard for venture funds: historically a 2% annual management fee on committed capital and 20% carried interest on profits above a preferred return. Individual fund terms vary by vintage and university affiliation. Detailed fee disclosures for specific funds are available in offering documents provided to prospective investors.
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