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Y Startup Index Fund
The Y Startup Index Fund operates as a diversified investment vehicle designed to blanket the Yale startup ecosystem.
Y Startup Index Fund
The Y Startup Index Fund operates as a diversified investment vehicle designed to blanket the Yale startup ecosystem. Founded by serial entrepreneurs Sean Glass (Advantia Health), Sam Hendel (Dataminr, Chord Music Partners) and Paul Singer (FleetWorks), the fund makes early-stage investments in companies where at least one founder is a Yale undergraduate, graduate, professional school student, or faculty member. The model is built on exhaustiveness — investing in every high-potential Yale-affiliated startup that meets its capital and runway thresholds. To qualify for investment, a company must have a Yale-affiliated founder who is a major shareholder working full-time on the business, a minimum fundraise of $450,000 with at least half from non-family investors, and a minimum of 12 months of operating runway post-financing. The fund provides direct capital and also facilitates access to Yale-affiliated investors and top-tier venture firms. The strategy spans early-stage venture, startup growth, and follow-on SPV co-investment opportunities. Co-investors include Kevin Ryan, founder of Gilt and MongoDB, and Noah Glass, founder of Olo. The fund is deeply integrated with Yale's entrepreneurial infrastructure. It operates under the banner of Yale Angels, an affiliate of the Accelerate Yale professional network — an alumni-led organization for Yale entrepreneurs. The fund's founders bring operating backgrounds from venture creation and company scaling across multiple sectors. Adjacent holdings include a historic Georgetown rowhouse in Washington, DC, and a global music rights catalog. The fund does not publicly disclose total assets or deployment figures. What distinguishes the vehicle structurally is its carry waterfall: 100% of the index fund's carried interest proceeds are donated back to Yale-affiliated nonprofits. This cycled-capital design effectively turns fund profits into a university entrepreneurship endowment, creating a permanent financial feedback loop between alumni venture success and campus innovation funding.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Seattle
Corporate office
Seattle, WA, United States
Principals
Sean Glass
Founder
Sam Hendel
Founder
Paul Singer (Yale '16)
Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does the Y Startup Index Fund structure its carried interest, and where does the profit go?
One hundred percent of the index fund's carry proceeds are donated back to Yale-affiliated nonprofits. The donations are directed to organizations that support innovation, fund new ventures, and aid future generations of founders within the Yale ecosystem. This creates a non-profit reinvestment loop from the fund's venture profits into campus entrepreneurship programs.
What are the minimum criteria for a startup to receive funding from the Y Startup Index Fund?
The company must have a Yale-affiliated founder who is a major shareholder and dedicated full-time to the business. It must have raised a minimum of $450,000, with at least 50% coming from non-family investors. The startup must also have at least 12 months of operating runway remaining after the financing closes.
What is the relationship between the Y Startup Index Fund, Yale Angels, and Accelerate Yale?
The Y Startup Index Fund operates as an affiliate of the Yale Angels angel investing network. Yale Angels itself is an affiliate of Accelerate Yale, an alumni-led professional network for Yale entrepreneurs. Together they form a layered alumni infrastructure that sources deals, pools capital, and provides mentorship for startups emerging from the university.
Does the Y Startup Index Fund invest in every Yale-affiliated startup that approaches it?
By design, the fund aims to invest in every high-potential Yale-affiliated startup that meets its qualification criteria. The approach is systematic and index-like, screening for the required ownership, funding, and runway benchmarks rather than selecting deals on a discretionary basis. However, the fund applies a minimum quality and viability threshold through its operating-runway and non-family-capital requirements.
Who runs investment decisions at the Y Startup Index Fund?
The fund is run by its founders: Sean Glass, Sam Hendel, and Paul Singer. Each has an operating background as a serial entrepreneur — Glass founded Advantia Health, Hendel co-founded Dataminr and Chord Music Partners, and Singer is CEO of FleetWorks. Co-investors in the fund include Kevin Ryan, founder of Gilt and MongoDB, and Noah Glass, founder of Olo.
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