--- title: "Alumni Ventures Funds Explained: Strawberry Creek, Spike, Castor, Green D and Purple Arch" description: "Which Alumni Ventures fund belongs to which alumni community? Five university-linked fund brands, how syndicates work and why their portfolios must not be double counted." date: 2026-10-29T00:00:00.000Z source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/alumni-ventures-university-funds-strawberry-spike-castor-green-d --- # Alumni Ventures Funds Explained: Strawberry Creek, Spike, Castor, Green D and Purple Arch > Which Alumni Ventures fund belongs to which alumni community? Five university-linked fund brands, how syndicates work and why their portfolios must not be double counted. **Strawberry Creek Ventures, Spike Ventures, Castor Ventures, Green D Ventures and Purple Arch Ventures are all Alumni Ventures-managed investing communities.** They are associated with alumni networks from different universities, but they should not be mistaken for five wholly unrelated venture-capital management firms—or for investment funds operated or endorsed by the universities themselves. ## Which Alumni Ventures fund matches which university? | Alumni Ventures brand | Community | VCT profile | | --- | --- | --- | | Strawberry Creek Ventures | University of California, Berkeley | [Strawberry Creek](/fund/strawberry-creek-ventures) | | Spike Ventures | Stanford University | [Spike](/fund/spike-ventures) | | Castor Ventures | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | [Castor](/fund/castor-ventures) | | Green D Ventures | Dartmouth College | [Green D](/fund/green-d-ventures) | | Purple Arch Ventures | Northwestern University | [Purple Arch](/fund/purple-arch-ventures) | Each has its own product page and published portfolio selections on Alumni Ventures' website. The company describes the offering as an alumni-oriented investing community with both **diversified venture funds** and **deal-by-deal syndications**. Importantly, **the school itself is not the fund manager**. Alumni Ventures' website explicitly says the firm and its funds are not sponsored, affiliated with or endorsed by any school. The school names describe the member network, not the institution's financial sponsorship. ## What is the difference between an alumni fund and a syndicate? A **diversified fund** typically pools eligible investor commitments and allocates them to a portfolio of venture investments. On its Green D product page, AV describes an annual fund holding roughly **20–30 investments** across sectors, stages, geographies and lead VC firms; investors select the fund rather than making every single company decision. A **syndicate** offers specific opportunities one at a time. Eligible members can review a deal memo, consider the terms and independently decide whether to participate in that company. Signing up to see deal opportunities is not itself a commitment to invest. Both involve high-risk private securities, and individual offerings can differ in minimum investment, fee schedules, distribution policies and terms. For a detailed look at the broader manager's fee model, see [our independent Alumni Ventures review](/alumni-ventures-review-2026-fees-portfolio-sec-risks). ## Does a Stanford or MIT alumni fund invest only in founders from that university? **No.** The official product pages explain that the communities invest across geographies, stages and sectors, co-investing alongside a variety of lead venture firms. The school relationship is an alumni connection among the participating investor community, not an exclusive rule requiring portfolio founders to have studied there. For example, the public Castor Ventures portfolio names companies including **Ayar Labs, Cohere and Groq**. The public Purple Arch portfolio includes **Circle, Bluesky and Axiom Space**. A company can legitimately appear in several Alumni Ventures-managed community portfolios or in the parent manager's marketing material. ## Why the portfolio names can overlap This is an important data-quality issue. The [main Alumni Ventures profile](/fund/alumni-ventures) represents the **manager's historical exposure**. The subfund pages represent **specific marketed fund/community portfolios**. A startup can be affiliated with the parent and one or more subfunds. Seeing **Bluesky** under both Purple Arch and Spike, for example, does not necessarily mean it raised two distinct priced rounds from the same manager or that every Alumni Ventures fund investor owns those exact shares. A reliable venture database should therefore distinguish: - **Company-level portfolio membership:** the manager or fund lists a company as a holding. - **Round-level participation:** a dated fundraising announcement identifies the investor in a specific financing. - **Fund-vehicle exposure:** an identifiable vehicle and its legal interests, where documents support that level of detail. VCT should not sum all subfund portfolio listings into an aggregate number of **unique venture deals**. ## How much are these funds worth, and what are their returns? Their product landing pages do not publish consistent audited returns, AUM and individual-fund valuations for easy apples-to-apples comparison. Accordingly, VCT leaves these fields blank rather than substituting Alumni Ventures' overall historical capital commitments or manager-level AUM. For comparison, request the current private placement memorandum, management fee timing, carried-interest waterfall, net return metrics by vintage, cash distribution history and rules on reserves and follow-on investments. School connection or a popular portfolio brand does not establish investment performance. ## Which fund should a reader research first? Start with the **actual intended exposure and offering documents**, not the university name. If the goal is exposure to companies highlighted by a particular community, examine that community's independently sourced portfolio list and its current fund or syndicate terms. VCT's individual fund profiles provide the official links. The [Alumni Ventures parent profile](/fund/alumni-ventures) provides broader manager context and related investment announcements. **Bottom line:** These are useful portfolio research entry points, but their common management is the crucial fact. They should be shown as **distinct branded investing communities within Alumni Ventures**, without double-counting the same underlying deal or implying school sponsorship. **By:** [Venture Capital Tracker](https://venturecapitaltracker.com/editorial-policy) **Editorial note:** AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.