Your Window Into the Innovation Economy

Investing in a startup can be exciting and rewarding. In this article, we examine different ways you can invest in early-stage companies — and which might be the best option for you. Along the way, we’ll define some common terms and concepts that investors in startups will likely encounter, like “pre-seed,” “seed,” and “angel investor.” We’ll also share insights from experts at Alumni Ventures about ways to approach seed investing and how they evaluate investment opportunities.

Welcome to One Startup to Know. This series examines some of AV’s most impactful and innovative portfolio companies that exemplify our investment ethos. Today we’re showcasing Rwazi, which provides Global 1000 companies with rich, reliable market data to help expand their businesses in Africa’s fast-growing consumer market.

Alumni Ventures has served as a value-add partner for all 1,200+ companies we’ve invested in, whether they’re seeking their first checks or laying the groundwork for an IPO. Read about the impact we are having on our seed and pre-seed portfolio companies in their own words. In many cases, we’ve leveraged the expertise of Alumni Ventures’ ~50 investing professionals and our network of more than 600,000 community members to help them scale into promising, later-stage companies. We have since been invited by some of them to invest in additional financing rounds.

Many academics, tech luminaries, and entrepreneurs believe that we are in the midst of an unprecedented artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, some arguing that the development of AI could rival the discovery of electricity. While history and hindsight will determine the scale of this technological leap forward, established tech giants and startups alike have embraced the technology.