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Purple Arch Ventures

Smart, Simple Venture Portfolios with Community

Neither Alumni Ventures Group nor any related funds are sponsored by, affiliated with, or otherwise endorsed by any university.

What Is Purple Arch Ventures?

 

A smart, simple way for Northwestern alums and friends of the community to add venture capital to their portfolio. We are also…

  • A full-time alumni investment team. Meet our Managing Partner, David Beazley NU ’96 ’98 in his recent podcast
  • An Investment Committee with broad professional, investing, and entrepreneurial experience
  • 26k subscribers and community members
  • Private, for-profit, and not officially sanctioned by the university

 

Follow the Fund

“I’ve been very impressed by my experience investing with Purple Arch Ventures. The management team is constructing a compelling portfolio with a high level of intelligence, due diligence, and professionalism. In addition, the investment committee is experienced and diverse, drawing from a wide range of perspectives including industry, geography, age, and gender. And as an investor, making the investment in PAV was clear and well-organized, using state-of-the-art digital communications and platforms. I highly recommend investing with Purple Arch Ventures as a professional way to diversify your investment portfolio with venture funded companies.”

Kristin McDonnell

“I have been involved investing in entrepreneurial endeavors for 16 years, and have been very impressed with the effectiveness of the processes at Purple Arch. Every deal they brought to the IC has been more than appropriate, and in fact we have invested in all but 1. They have also been very conscientious about diversifying the portfolio, to increase the likelihood of success. Plus, they’re just good people to deal with, both personally and professionally.”

Mary Jo Potter

“Purple Arch provides opportunities to invest in rounds that would be difficult to access and offers a seamless diligence and investment process.”

Andrea Jackson

Why You May Want to Add Venture Capital to Your Portfolio

 

Benefits of Venture Investing

  1. VC returns have been strong over many periods1
  2. VC returns are largely uncorrelated with other asset classes2
  3. A great way to be an impact investor

Footnotes:
1. Cambridge Associates, Venture Capital Benchmarks
2. Top Tier, The Inverse Correlation Between Venture and Public Markets

Investment Strategy

Smart, Simple Venture Investing

Diversified Venture Portfolio

~20 – 30 deals per fund, diversified by stage, sector, and geography

Co-Invest with Strong Lead Investors

We exclusively invest alongside established VC investors

Deal Access via Alumni Connections

Entrepreneurial teams desire our investment because we are a meaningful check, low friction, and have a large rolodex

Co-Invest Alongside Top Venture Firms

Invest In Deals Most Individuals Never Know About or Get Access To

  • 3M New Ventures
  • 500 Startups
  • Accel Partners
  • Accomplice
  • Alsop Louie Partners
  • Andreessen Horowitz
  • Arena Ventures
  • Aspect Venture Partners
  • Atlas Ventures
  • Benchmark
  • Bessemer Venture Partners
  • Bezos Expeditions
  • BlackRock
  • Blockchain Capital
  • Borealis Ventures
  • Comcast Ventures
  • CrunchFund
  • DFJ Capital
  • Drive Capital
  • Flybridge Capital
  • Elephant Partners
  • Founder Collective
  • Foundry Group
  • F-Prime Capital (Fidelity)
  • General Catalyst Partners
  • Golden Seeds
  • Goldman Sachs Ventures
  • Google Ventures
  • Greylock Partners
  • Highland Capital
  • Javelin Partners
  • Khosla Ventures
  • Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
  • Lightspeed Venture Partners
  • Link Ventures
  • Maveron
  • Menlo Ventures
  • ML Capital
  • New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
  • Nokia Growth Partners
  • Norwest Venture Partners
  • NXT Ventures
  • Obvious Ventures
  • OrbiMed
  • Pelion Venture Partners
  • Relay Ventures
  • Resolute Ventures
  • Sequoia Capital
  • Summit Partners
  • Space Angels
  • SV Angel
  • Thiel Capital
  • Venrock
  • Winklevoss Capital
  • Y Combinator

AVG has invested alongside the firms listed above, but they are listed for illustrative purposes only. There is not guarantee that a particular fund or deal will invest alongside one of the firms listed above.

How does Purple Arch Ventures assemble a great portfolio for me?

  • Full-time investment team wakes up every morning dedicated to delivering a diverse portfolio to investors
  • An Investment Committee with broad professional, investing, and entrepreneurial experience
  • We use our Northwestern alumni and broader Alumni Ventures Group network to access deals that simply are not available to most individuals
  • We only invest in deals with a strong lead investor, often combining their due diligence with our own
See Purple Arch Portfolio

“Having been on the investing side for nearly two decades, I’ve learned the returns created for investors are directly correlated to sourcing quality deal flow, a process that is highly inefficient as it is based largely on the relationships a few partners have at a VC/PE firm. Purple Arch Ventures has institutionalized this process by wisely recognizing the power of utilizing the networks of tens of thousands of alumni rather than depending on a small handful of people. This powerful network allows Purple Arch to see many more opportunities and be more selective in finding their next investment.”

Vamsi Yadlapati

“As an Investor and Investment Committee member, I have been extremely impressed with the quality and quantity of viable investment opportunities presented. The review process has been seamless and extremely professional. A high level of diligence is performed upfront and information is provided in a very thorough and timely manner. The overall communication has been outstanding and I feel highly confident with PAV’s investment strategy and execution.”

David Muson

“Purple Arch Ventures provides an amazing avenue for Northwestern alums to support Northwestern entrepreneurs while strengthening the alumni network and bond. The level of commitment, sophistication of due diligence, and strategy to tap a diverse set of alumni experiences to evaluate opportunities enable an extremely smart & systematic evaluation process. As an IC member, deals are presented to the committee in an extremely well-thought out manner including initial analysis of the deal, market/domain context, and an opportunity to engage directly with the CEO. The overall experience has exceeded my expectations and look forward to future Purple Arch Fund opportunities.”

Grant Gochnauer