Webinar
An Introduction to Castor Ventures
Watch an on-demand, 45-minute webinar to learn about Castor Ventures, Alumni Ventures’ MIT-focused venture capital fund, and meet the investment team responsible for building the portfolio.
See video policy below.
Post Webinar Summary
The webinar, hosted by Chris Sklarin, Managing Partner at Castor Ventures, began with a brief introduction and an overview of Castor Ventures and its parent company, Alumni Ventures. Clarin highlighted the firm’s mission to help accredited individuals become successful venture investors and described the session’s agenda, which included team introductions, a portfolio update, and a Q&A segment. Key points covered were the importance of venture capital, examples of successful portfolio companies like Status Pro, Excision Biotherapeutics, and RapidSOS, and the diverse investment strategy by stage, sector, and geography. The session also touched on the mechanics of fund performance, investor engagement, and the benefits of a strong alumni network for founders. The webinar concluded with a call to action for feedback and a promise to address unanswered questions via email.
This is an excellent opportunity to meet the team and hear about their approach to investing in private-stage companies. This presentation will be led by Managing Partners Chris Sklarin.
During this session, we will discuss:
- HomeThe goal and structure of the fund
- HomeThe team and management behind the fund
- HomeThe Castor Ventures and Alumni Ventures approach to investing
- HomeExamples of current portfolio companies
- HomeThe benefits of investing in venture capital
- HomeOpen Q&A
About Alumni Ventures
Top 20 VC Investors in North America (2024)
#1 Most Active Venture Firm in the U.S. (2023)
#1 Most Active Venture Firm in the U.S. (2022)
World's Most Innovative Companies (2022)
Note: You must be accredited to invest in venture capital. Important disclosure information can be found at av-funds.com/disclosures.
About your presenter
Chris has 30+ years of experience in venture capital, product development, and sales engineering. As an investor, he has deployed over $100 million into companies across all stages, from seed to growth/venture. At AV, Chris has built Castor Ventures from Fund 2 – 7 to over 150 portfolio companies. Prior to Castor, Chris was a Vice President at Edison Partners, where he focused on Enterprise 2.0 and mobile investments. Previously, Chris served as Director of Business Development at a biomedical venture accelerator and at an early-stage venture firm. Earlier in his investing career, as part of JumpStart, a nationally recognized venture development organization, Chris sourced and executed seed-stage investments. Chris received his SB in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1988 and his MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.