InseadAlum Ventures

Co-founders Deepak Shahdadpuri and Will Klippgen jointly lead investment decisions, with Partner Herwig Van Hove supporting operations. Shahdadpuri simultaneously serves as Managing Director of DSG Consumer Partners, his own consumer-focused venture firm. Klippgen carries his role as Co-founder and Managing Partner of Cocoon Capital alongside his duties at InseadAlum Ventures. The precise delineation of investment committee authority between the two co-founders has not been publicly disclosed.

The firm relies almost entirely on the INSEAD alumni network, which spans over 60,000 graduates globally. Deal flow originates through formal and informal introductions among alumni entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists who share the INSEAD affiliation. This network-centric model reduces reliance on competitive auction processes and bank-led fundraises, though it also bounds the opportunity set to what the alumni ecosystem produces.

It operates as a hybrid asset manager, not a single family office. The firm makes direct equity investments into startups and growth companies, using its own balance-sheet capital alongside deal-by-deal syndication with INSEAD alumni co-investors. The structure lacks a traditional blind-pool fund model, instead functioning as a flexible, deal-driven vehicle that resembles an organized angel network more than a closed-end venture fund.

Based on available information, InseadAlum Ventures focuses predominantly on direct equity investments into operating companies rather than making LP commitments to external funds. Its co-founders run separate fund management businesses — DSG Consumer Partners and Cocoon Capital — but InseadAlum Ventures itself appears structured around direct startup investing and co-investment syndication.

The firm targets early-stage startups and growth-stage companies. Its co-founders' backgrounds — Shahdadpuri in consumer growth and Klippgen in seed-stage enterprise tech — suggest coverage spanning from seed rounds through Series B or later growth checks, with stage selection likely varying by sector and geography.

Deepak Shahdadpuri, co-founder of InseadAlum Ventures, also founded and runs DSG Consumer Partners, a Southeast Asia and India-focused consumer venture firm. Will Klippgen, the other co-founder, is also co-founder of Cocoon Capital, a Singapore-based seed fund. InseadAlum Ventures shares leadership with both firms but operates as a separate vehicle, likely co-investing alongside or upstream of their respective fund portfolios on INSEAD-aligned deals.

The firm actively syndicates deals with external co-investors, particularly those within the INSEAD alumni community. Named co-investors include Jani Rautiainen (PropertyGuru co-founder) and Aloke Bajpai (Ixigo founder). This suggests a welcoming posture toward co-investment alongside both individual angel investors and institutional venture funds, so long as the participants share the INSEAD affiliation or are introduced through that network.