Generalist · VC Firm

Alumni Ventures

One of the broadest quantum portfolios accessible to individual accredited investors: a dedicated Quantum Syndicate led by Castor Ventures MP Chris Sklarin gives LPs deal-by-deal exposure to Xanadu, Rigetti, Atom Computing, Quantum Machines, Q-CTRL, Classiq, EeroQ and Qedma.

Active Manchester, United StatesFounded 2014

Investment thesis

Founded 2014 in Manchester, NH by Mike Collins; America's largest VC firm for individual investors with $1.5B+ raised from 11,000+ accredited LPs across roughly 45 alumni and focused funds.

Strict co-investor model: never leads, never takes board seats; invests only after a lead VC is secured, with $100K-$10M checks (sweet spot $1M-$3M) from Pre-Seed to Series B and selectively later.

Quantum exposure through a dedicated Quantum Syndicate run by Castor Ventures MP Chris Sklarin: 7 active holdings spanning hardware (Rigetti, Atom Computing, Xanadu, EeroQ) and software (Q-CTRL, Classiq, Qedma), plus an exited bet in Zapata AI (ceased operations Oct 2024).

Value add is the 850,000-strong alumni network, CEO Services platform and talent pipeline; not a quantum specialist, it follows the conviction of specialist leads like Georgian, GP Bullhound, Glilot and IBM.

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. Pure follower economics: AV never leads, never prices, never takes a board seat, so it adds no signaling value to a quantum round and cannot anchor it
  2. Retail-LP machine: 11,000+ individual investors across roughly 45 LLC funds means small effective checks per fund and 20-30 deals per fund year, leaving limited reserves for deep-tech follow-on cycles
  3. Quantum is 5-6 active bets out of 1,300+ portfolio companies (per Sklarin, Jan 2026): exposure is real but marginal to the platform, and the Quantum Syndicate is a distribution product as much as an investment thesis
  4. Compliance history: fined $700K by the SEC in March 2022 over misleading fee disclosures and inter-fund transfers, with $4.8M of fees returned to investors

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio
XanaduQuantum MachinesAtom ComputingRigetti ComputingQ-CTRLClassiq Technologies

Frequent co-investors