How Syndications Work
Venture Capital Fundamentals (VC 401) | Class 4
Syndications give investors the opportunity to evaluate and invest in individual venture-backed companies alongside Alumni Ventures. In this lesson, you’ll learn how syndications work, how opportunities are selected, and how investors can participate while building their venture knowledge and confidence.
- Home
What Is This Lesson?
An introduction to venture capital syndications. - Home
Who Is It For?
Investors interested in evaluating individual companies,
See video policy below.
Or Read or Listen at the buttons below.
Prefer reading?
We’ve included the full lesson below so you can explore the material at your own pace.
Prefer listening?
We’ve linked an audio version of this lesson below so you can listen and learn on the go.
What You’ll Learn
- HomeHow venture capital syndications work
- HomeHow Alumni Ventures selects syndication opportunities
- HomeWhat information is included in a syndication data room
- HomeHow to evaluate a syndication opportunity
- HomeHow the allocation and investment process works
Prefer Reading?
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
Venture capital syndications provide investors with the opportunity to evaluate and invest in individual companies alongside Alumni Ventures. Joining our Syndicate is free, and investors can choose whether and when to participate in an individual syndication. For many investors, syndications offer a way to learn about venture capital while gradually building confidence and experience evaluating opportunities.
Every syndication offered by Alumni Ventures represents an investment that the firm is actively investing in through one or more of its funds. These opportunities have gone through the firm’s investment process and reflect investments in which the team has high conviction. While Alumni Ventures evaluates thousands of opportunities each year, only a small percentage ultimately become investments, and an even smaller subset is made available through syndications.
Each syndication includes access to a data room containing diligence materials prepared by the investment team. Investors can review detailed reports, company information, financial materials, and videos explaining the opportunity. These materials highlight what the team finds compelling about the company, key risks, market dynamics, competitive positioning, and the management team’s experience.
When evaluating a syndication, investors are encouraged to review the due diligence materials, consider the lead investors, and assess the opportunity’s potential risk and reward.
Syndications provide a practical way to see how venture investors analyze companies and make investment decisions.
The syndication process is designed to be straightforward. Investors review available opportunities, submit a reservation request, and receive confirmation regarding their approved allocation. Once approved, they can complete the subscription process and fund their investment. Opportunities are communicated through email notifications and the Alumni Ventures investor portal.
For many investors, syndications are more than an investment opportunity — they are a way to actively engage with venture capital, learn how deals are evaluated, and gain firsthand experience reviewing companies alongside professional investors.
Ready to Move Forward?
About Your Instructors
Meera Oak
PartnerMeera Oak is a Partner at Alumni Ventures with a background spanning institutional finance, product, and early-stage venture. Before joining AV, she managed a $1B P&L and led M&A at Yale University, then sourced and launched ventures in enterprise SaaS and infrastructure at firms including Create Venture Studio and Polymath Capital Partners. She holds a BA in Economics from Swarthmore and an MBA from Tuck at Dartmouth.
Mike Peri
Managing PartnerMike Peri is Managing Partner of Alumni Ventures' HealthTech Fund and Purple Arch Ventures. He brings more than a decade of experience as a venture investor and operator, with previous leadership roles at CVS Health Ventures and Distributed Ventures. Mike's background spans venture capital, healthcare technology, product strategy, and analytics. He holds a Master of Science in Applied Data Science from the University of Chicago, as well as degrees from DePaul University and the University of Iowa.
Hilary Ncala
EVP of Investor RelationsHilary Ncala is EVP of Investor Relations at Alumni Ventures. She brings more than 15 years of experience in financial services and has helped build and scale the firm's investor relations function since joining Alumni Ventures in 2016. Her background in investment planning and portfolio management informs her perspective on long-term investing, asset allocation, and supporting investors throughout the lifecycle of their venture portfolios. Hilary graduated summa cum laude from Fisher College and is pursuing her MBA at Boston University.
Matt Caspari
Managing Partner, Strawberry Creek Ventures, Deep Tech FundMatt is a two-time venture-backed founder/CEO with a decade of startup operating experience. Before joining Alumni Ventures, he was an Investing Partner at Spike Ventures, where he participated in over twenty investments. Matt holds an MBA with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a BS in Biochemistry from Georgetown University.
Ryan Musto
Senior AssociateRyan Musto is a Senior Associate at Alumni Ventures, where he focuses on HardTech, DefenseTech, and industrial innovation investments. Prior to joining Alumni Ventures, Ryan co-founded Cityline Technologies and served as Chief Operating Officer. He brings experience across venture investing, company building, and operations. Ryan holds an MSc with Distinction from the University of Oxford and a BA from Cornell University.
Mike Collins
CEOMike Collins is an experienced operator across nearly every facet of venturing—from angel investing and venture capital to new business and product launches, as well as innovation consulting. He is a serial entrepreneur who has founded multiple companies, including one partially owned by WPP, and began his career at the venture capital firm TA Associates.
Alumni Ventures and its personnel provide investment advice only to affiliated venture capital funds. AV Academy is not personalized advice for any participant.
Syndication funds invest in a single portfolio company and, unlike diversified funds, do not benefit from the risk mitigation that diversification across multiple investments may provide. As a result, syndication funds carry a higher degree of concentration risk, and investors may lose their entire investment.
This communication is from Alumni Ventures, a for-profit venture capital company that is not affiliated with or endorsed by any school. It is not personalized advice, and AV only provides advice to its client funds. This communication is neither an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any security. Such offers are made only pursuant to the formal offering documents for the fund(s) concerned, and describe significant risks and other material information that should be carefully considered before investing. For additional information, please see here. Achievement of investment objectives, including any amount of investment return, cannot be guaranteed. Co-investors are shown for illustrative purposes only, do not reflect all organizations with which AV co-invests, and do not necessarily indicate future co-investors. Example portfolio companies shown are not available to future investors, except potentially in the case of follow-on investments. Venture capital investing involves substantial risk, including risk of loss of all capital invested. Diversification cannot prevent investment loss; it is a strategy to mitigate investment risk. This communication includes forward-looking statements, generally consisting of any statement pertaining to any issue other than historical fact, including without limitation predictions, financial projections, the anticipated results of the execution of any plan or strategy, the expectation or belief of the speaker, or other events or circumstances to exist in the future. Forward-looking statements are not representations of actual fact, depend on certain assumptions that may not be realized, and are not guaranteed to occur. Any forward-looking statements included in this communication speak only as of the date of the communication. AV and its affiliates disclaim any obligation to update, amend, or alter such forward-looking statements, whether due to subsequent events, new information, or otherwise.