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Key people at 116 Street Ventures.
116 Street Ventures is a New York City-based venture capital fund that invests in early-stage startups and pre-IPO companies connected to the Columbia University community. Managed by the parent firm Alumni Ventures, the organization pools capital from accredited Columbia alumni and affiliates to co-invest alongside established venture firms. The fund's leadership includes Managing Partner Rob Adams and investors with prior experience at firms such as Mithril Capital. The firm recently marketed its sixth investment vehicle, Fund 6, to its network in late 2024. The organization engages its limited partners through events featuring prominent alumni, such as a 2021 virtual conference with financial executive Sallie Krawcheck. In March 2022, the fund's parent company, Alumni Ventures, was fined by the SEC for misrepresenting management fees and executing improper inter-fund transfers. The specific founding year and original founders are not publicly disclosed.
Key people at 116 Street Ventures.
116 Street Ventures is not an independent company but a specialized venture capital fund family operated by Alumni Ventures, designed specifically for the Columbia University community and its extended network. Its mission is to democratize access to high-growth venture capital investing by enabling Columbia alumni and accredited individuals to co-invest alongside top-tier venture firms in early- to growth-stage startups. The fund’s investment philosophy centers on diversified, network-powered venture exposure: it builds portfolios across stage (pre-seed to later-stage), sector, and geography, always co-investing alongside leading VCs such as Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, and NEA. This approach allows individual investors to benefit from institutional-grade deal flow, negotiated terms, and portfolio support while spreading risk across hundreds of venture-backed companies.
116 Street Ventures focuses on cutting-edge, venture-backed startups across a broad range of sectors, including enterprise software, fintech, health tech, AI, and consumer technology. By leveraging Alumni Ventures’ infrastructure and sourcing pipeline, it plays a meaningful role in the startup ecosystem as a connector of smart capital and talent, particularly within the Columbia alumni network. It helps founders access not just capital but also a vast community of 850,000+ alumni and entrepreneurs, while giving individual investors a structured, low-minimum way to participate in the highest-performing alternative asset class.
116 Street Ventures was created as a branded fund family within Alumni Ventures, America’s largest venture capital firm for individual accredited investors. While Alumni Ventures itself was founded earlier to enable alumni communities from top universities to invest collectively in venture, 116 Street Ventures emerged as the dedicated vehicle for Columbia University’s network, named after 116th Street, the location of Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus in New York City. The fund reflects a broader trend of “alumni-powered” venture investing, where shared institutional identity is used to build trust, generate proprietary deal flow, and create a collaborative investing community.
The initiative is led by Alumni Ventures’ senior team, including managing partners and investment professionals who bring deep venture, operating, and entrepreneurial experience. Ludwig Pierre Schulze (Columbia EMBA ’05), for example, is a key figure associated with the Columbia-focused strategy, bringing a background as a founder, Fortune 100 executive, and venture capitalist. Over time, 116 Street Ventures has evolved from a simple alumni fund into a more structured offering that includes both a diversified venture fund and deal-by-deal syndications, allowing Columbia-affiliated investors to choose between broad exposure or targeted bets on specific startups.
Network-Powered Access- Built exclusively for the Columbia University community, 116 Street Ventures taps into a powerful network of 850,000+ alumni and entrepreneurs, creating proprietary deal flow and follow-on opportunities that are difficult for individual investors to access alone.
Co-Investment with Top-Tier VCs- The fund consistently co-invests alongside marquee firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, NEA, and Union Square Ventures, giving investors access to their deal flow, negotiated terms, and ongoing portfolio support.
Diversified, Institutional-Grade Portfolio- Through Alumni Ventures’ infrastructure, 116 Street benefits from a highly diversified portfolio: $1.4B+ deployed across 1,400+ venture-backed companies, with ~250–300 new investments added annually across stage, sector, and geography.
Low Barriers to Entry- Designed for individual accredited investors, the fund offers low minimums and simplified access to competitive, early-stage deals that are typically reserved for large institutions or ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Dual Investment Model- Combines a diversified venture fund with deal-by-deal syndications, allowing investors to choose between broad exposure or targeted bets on specific startups, all with shared due diligence and vetting.
Nationwide Sourcing & Rigorous Vetting- Supported by Alumni Ventures’ 40+ full-time venture professionals across five U.S. offices, the fund sources 50–75 fresh opportunities each quarter and only presents deals that the firm itself commits to.
116 Street Ventures sits at the intersection of two powerful trends: the democratization of venture capital and the rise of alumni-powered investing networks. As public market returns have become more volatile and correlated, venture capital has emerged as a critical component of modern portfolios, especially for those seeking uncorrelated, high-growth exposure. 116 Street Ventures makes this asset class accessible to a much broader base of investors—particularly successful alumni who understand innovation but lack the scale or connections to build a diversified venture portfolio on their own.
The timing is also favorable: with more startups staying private longer, the window for early-stage value creation has widened, and co-investment alongside top VCs has become a proven way to capture that upside. By embedding itself in the Columbia ecosystem, 116 Street not only sources deals but also strengthens the broader startup ecosystem—connecting founders with talent, customers, and follow-on capital through a dense, trusted network. In this way, it functions as both a financial vehicle and a community infrastructure, amplifying the impact of Columbia’s innovation culture far beyond the campus.
Looking ahead, 116 Street Ventures is well-positioned to deepen its role as a bridge between elite academic networks and the venture ecosystem. As more universities look to replicate the alumni-powered VC model, 116 Street’s success could influence how other institutions think about wealth creation, entrepreneurship, and lifelong engagement with their alumni. The fund will likely continue expanding its sector coverage and geographic reach, while refining its syndication model to give investors even more control and transparency.
The biggest opportunities—and challenges—will revolve around performance transparency, portfolio construction, and investor education. As the venture landscape becomes more competitive and valuations more volatile, 116 Street’s ability to maintain disciplined underwriting and deliver consistent, risk-adjusted returns will determine its long-term reputation. But if it continues to leverage its network, co-investment edge, and diversified approach, it has the potential to become not just a Columbia-specific fund, but a blueprint for how communities can collectively invest in the future. In that sense, 116 Street Ventures is less about a single company and more about a new model for how smart, connected communities build generational wealth through venture.
