Alumni Ventures Review: Fees, Minimums, and How It Works

What Alumni Ventures Is and How It Works

Alumni Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Manchester, New Hampshire, founded in 2014. Mike Collins is its CEO. It raises money from individual accredited investors and spreads it across startups, and it describes itself as strictly a co-investor: other venture firms lead the rounds and set the terms, and AV does not take board seats.

Investors reach it two ways:

• Diversified funds. AV picks the companies. Each fund typically holds 20 to 30 startups across stages, sectors, regions and lead investors, and AV says it reserves 20% of capital for follow-on investments. Alumni funds are branded to a university, focused funds concentrate on a sector or theme, and Total Access funds are open across communities.
• Syndications. Investors choose individual companies, one opportunity at a time. AV launched its AV Syndicate program in April 2025.

The school names are branding, not sponsorship. AV states that neither it nor any of its funds is sponsored by, affiliated with or endorsed by any school. Its alumni funds are for a school's community and friends, aim to invest in companies with a connection to the school, and have no minimum number of school-related investments. You do not need to be an alumnus to invest.

On its website, read in October 2026, AV describes itself as having more than $1.6 billion in committed capital, 25,000-plus investors and syndicate members, and roughly 120 employees. These are the company's own undated figures.

What Alumni Ventures Charges

AV's standard management fee is 2% a year for a fund's ten-year term, collected in full when you invest: 20% of your commitment. AV's own fee policy says the manager usually draws the entire amount when a fund launches, and that this means the fee is generally paid earlier than other investment funds' fees. Only the remaining 80% is invested in companies.

Source: Alumni Ventures, Fees and Profit Sharing policy (F01-X0009-241203.01), read October 2026. Before any fee reductions. Calculations are illustrations, not projected outcomes.

Measured against the money that goes into companies, the fee is larger than the headline. On a $100,000 commitment, the $20,000 fee equals 25% of the $80,000 that goes into companies. If a syndication ends before ten years, AV returns part of the fee, on a schedule in its offering documents that returns less than the per-year rate.

Source: Alumni Ventures, "How Fees Work in a Typical Alumni Ventures Fund" (September 17, 2024) and Fees and Profit Sharing policy, read October 2026. Terms vary by fund; each fund's offering documents govern.

The per-investment carry deserves the closest look. AV's fee page notes that under it, AV may receive a profit share even when your total investment and fees have not been returned, because one strong company can earn carry while others lose money. Ask which version applies, and ask for a worked example with both winners and losers.

Fee Reductions for Early and Larger Investors

AV reduces the fee two ways, and the two can combine on the same investment. Investors who join a fund's first or second close pay less, and investors whose lifetime commitments across AV pass $500,000 pay less on each new investment.

Source: Alumni Ventures, Loyalty Rewards, Performance, and Fees brochure (commitment tiers as of January 1, 2024), read October 2026. Selected tiers shown. Timing rewards apply to alumni, foundation, focused and community funds, not to syndication, opportunity or Apex funds. AV may change rewards without notice.

Read the percentages carefully. A 10% reduction in the fee moves it from 20% to 18% of your commitment, saving $2,000 on a $100,000 investment. The lifetime tiers start small: crossing $500,000 cuts the fee from 20% to 19.8%. A discount is a reason to choose a close date, not a reason to commit more than you planned.

The 2022 SEC Settlement

On March 4, 2022, the SEC settled charges against Alumni Ventures Group and Mike Collins. The order covers June 2016 through February 2020 and makes two findings:

• Fee descriptions. AV described its fee as the "industry standard '2 and 20'" while collecting ten years of management fees upfront. The SEC found that some investors could reasonably have expected a 2% fee charged each year.
• Fund transactions. AV made loans and cash transfers between its funds, and loans to certain funds, in violation of the funds' operating agreements.

The sanctions and the repayment are different things. AV was censured and paid a $700,000 civil penalty, and Collins paid $100,000. Separately, the order treats the early fee collection as an interest-free loan from the funds to AV, and AV repaid the affected funds $4,791,401, the interest they would have earned. That was neither a fine nor a general refund of fees to investors. New Hampshire and Massachusetts securities regulators settled at the same time.

The firm and Collins neither admitted nor denied the findings. In accepting the settlement, the SEC noted that AV had created a chief compliance officer position, required that officer or the general counsel to pre-approve any written description of fees, and added an independent member to its board. AV's own summary says the loans were fully repaid and that it has since strengthened its compliance controls and disclosures. Its current fee policy now states the upfront structure plainly.

Minimums and Who Can Invest

You must be an accredited investor, which for an individual generally means $200,000 of income in each of the last two years ($300,000 with a spouse or partner), $1 million of net worth excluding a primary residence, or certain professional credentials. AV's diversified funds start at $10,000, and its syndications start at $10,000 per company. AV lists a range of $10,000 to $3 million, with a typical investment of $50,000, and says minimums vary by fund and circumstance, so confirm the figure in the subscription documents. AV accepts investments through trusts, entities and IRAs, subject to each offering's terms.

Liquidity, Reporting and Tax

Plan on the money being locked up for a decade or more. Funds run a ten-year term that can be extended, and cash comes back only when portfolio companies are sold or go public. There is no redemption right to rely on, and an IRA wrapper does not change that. Do not use money you may need for taxes, spending or a near-term purchase.

AV's loyalty brochure says investors who join a first close are more likely to be eligible for qualified small business stock treatment on some investments, because eligibility can depend on when you invest relative to the fund's purchase. It describes the benefit as potential, not guaranteed. Have a tax advisor confirm it for the specific investment, and ask how many tax documents your commitments will generate and when they typically arrive.

Is Alumni Ventures Regulated and Audited?

The SEC's adviser database lists Alumni Ventures as an exempt reporting adviser (CRD 170562, SEC file 802-112318), the status open to advisers that manage only venture capital funds, and the 2022 order describes it the same way. An exempt reporting adviser files an abbreviated Form ADV rather than the full registration and client brochure a registered adviser files, so less of its business is on public record. SEC filings are not an endorsement of any investment.

AV says it is independently audited each year by Withum. That statement does not specify which entities are covered, so ask for the audit opinion for the fund you are considering.

How Venture Fits a High-Net-Worth Portfolio

Venture is a common but small holding for this group. In our 2026 asset allocation study, 26% of members held venture capital and 23% held angel investments. Among members whose wealth does not come from their own company, venture made up 5% of the average private and alternative portfolio, and angel investments another 6%.

Source: Long Angle 2026 High-Net-Worth Asset Allocation Report, 233 respondents, fielded December 2025 to January 2026. Portfolio shares exclude founders, owners and employees holding private company equity. These are averages for calibration, not a target allocation.

Size a commitment from the top down. Set a ceiling on illiquid assets for the household, then a venture budget inside it, then a pace across years. As an illustration, $100,000 a year for five years is $500,000 of commitments, 5% of a $10 million portfolio before any distributions, and at a 20% fee it includes $100,000 of management fees. The fuller picture of what members hold is in our study on how high-net-worth investors allocate.

Who Alumni Ventures Fits

AV is worth evaluating if you want venture exposure spread across 20 to 30 companies, do not have the time to diligence startups yourself, and would rather write one check than manage capital calls. How it fits depends on the job you are hiring it for:

• Building a private-market allocation. Compare AV's terms against managers you can already reach through existing relationships, on fee timing, carry and term.
• Optimizing cost. Build a written comparison of invested dollars, fees and carry for the same commitment across every option you are weighing.
• Founders and executives. If your wealth already sits in a technology company or your own business, check how much a venture fund overlaps with what you own before calling it diversification.

It fits less well for an investor writing large checks, where the upfront fee is a large sum, or for someone who wants a say in which companies are chosen beyond the syndication route.

Questions to Ask Alumni Ventures Before Investing

• What exactly is the vehicle and the security I am buying?
• In dollars, what are my commitment, the fee after any reductions, and the amount invested in companies?
• Does this fund use fund-level or per-investment carry, and is there a preferred return, loss netting or clawback?
• Which costs fall outside the management fee for this vehicle?
• Who can extend the term, can I transfer my interest, and are distributions ever made in shares?
• Can I see a look-through of companies, sectors and stages so I can check overlap with what I already own?
• What are the net returns, after all fees, of funds at least eight to ten years old?
• What are the current policies on transactions between funds, and is this fund's audit opinion available?

Alternatives to Alumni Ventures

The closest alternative depends on whether you want a firm to pick investments for you, peers to vet them with, or both. Compare like with like: AV's fee is a one-time share of your commitment, while other options charge annually or by membership.

Source: longangle.com; 10 East Partners LLC Form ADV Part 2A (August 2026) and Form D filings; 3i Members CEO Teddy Gold (Allocate Podcast, July 2025; WealthTech on Deck, September 2025); Alumni Ventures fee policy and loyalty brochure. Read October 2026.

For the detail on each, see our 10 East review, our 3i Members review, and how the two compare. Long Angle is a vetted, vendor-free community where members compare notes on investing, taxes, advisors and family decisions, free to join with more than $3 million in household assets, excluding a primary residence.