Masterclass Live! How Castor Ventures Evaluates a Deal

Overview

Chris Sklarin is Managing Partner of the Castor Fund at Alumni Ventures, where for over seven years he has led investments in transformative technology companies redefining how we compute, communicate, and cure. He has deployed more than $120 million across all stages—from seed to growth—building Castor Ventures and expanding the portfolio to over 150 companies. The Castor portfolio features industry leaders such as Algorand, Boldin, Capital RX, Enable, Groq, Ocient, Qedma, RapidSOS, Synchron, and Unlearn AI, each tackling high-impact problems with ambitious solutions.

With over 20 years in venture capital and more than a decade in product development and sales engineering, Chris has also held venture roles focused on enterprise and mobile investments, served as Director of Business Development at a biomedical venture accelerator and an early-stage firm, and sourced seed-stage deals at JumpStart, a nationally recognized venture development organization in Cleveland. Chris holds an SB in Electrical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Funds actively worked on

• Castor Ventures
• Syndications

Investment Areas of Focus:

Chris targets companies at the forefront of software, AI, data infrastructure, and connectivity, backing teams that are not just innovating but reengineering the physical and digital infrastructure powering the modern world. He believes the next generation of breakthrough companies will emerge from foundational shifts in technology and is committed to supporting the leaders driving that transformation.

A core component of Chris’s strategy is leveraging the powerful innovation engine of the MIT ecosystem. As an MIT alumnus, he taps this network to source compelling investment opportunities and connect with top-tier investors. Chris’s investment approach is informed by his early career as a software and sales engineer, with technical expertise in databases, telecom systems, and software architecture. This hands-on background sharpens his diligence and ability to assess technical complexity and market viability.

For the past 15 years, Cainon has worked with startups as an entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. Previously, he helped co-found several companies, including: Viafy (acquired by Constellation Software [TSX:CSU]), Human Design Medical (merged with Breas Medical of General Electric [NYSE:GE]), Triangle Research Labs (acquired by Lonza [SIX:LONN]), Revive Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Concordia Healthcare [TOR:CRX]), and University Laundry (acquired by a national operator, then Procter & Gamble’s Tide [NYSE: PG]). Cainon also worked at PBM Capital (a $500M healthcare-focused VC firm), Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Goldman Sachs, and NASA. He has an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a BS from the University of Virginia in Systems and Information Engineering.

Meera has 10 years of experience serving as an investor and consultant to technology startups and enterprises. Prior to Alumni Ventures, Meera was a Manager at Deloitte Consulting where she led strategy teams that advised the world’s largest technology companies. Some of her projects include optimizing a $1T global social media company’s data center operations, leading the global rebrand of a telecom provider’s cloud offerings, and building a national healthcare exchange. She led sales proposals to help a semiconductor company shift to a subscription business model and enhance AR/VR capabilities of a social media company. At Apple, Meera helped launch Apple Arcade, preparing investment materials for Tim Cook to support the acquisition of multi-million dollar games. She has also worked with several early stage venture funds focused on media, consumer technology, and health/wellness technology sectors. She has an MBA in Finance from Wharton and a BS in Management Science from SMU.