Adapted from the original post here by Stephen Babcock for Technical.ly Baltimore.
A-Level Capital is a student-run venture capital fund in Baltimore, Maryland with a focus on providing early-stage investment for student-run startups at Johns Hopkins University. The fund has received backing from 500 Startups founding partner Dave McClure, a notable JHU alum, and is aiming to support dozens of JHU student-run companies in the upcoming years.
Following commencement exercises at Johns Hopkins University, alumni Elizabeth Galbut and Demilade Obayomi are departing for new beginnings in New York and San Francisco respectively. But the two have left behind a legacy in Charles Village with the A-Level Capital fund, a new student-led venture fund that follows on the heels of tremendous growth by the student entrepreneurial community in Johns Hopkins and Baltimore.
A-Level Capital is the newest student-run venture capital fund in Baltimore, Maryland with a goal to support student-run startups in particular. Founders Galbut and Obayomi recognised that many student-run startups or businesses had a good business strategy and clear roadmap, but were often too early-stage to receive funding from angel investors or traditional VC funds. As Obayomi describes it, students are “not necessarily knowledgable about how to raise funding and what resources are available in the ecosystem.”
What A-Level Capital Hopes to Achieve
Similar to Philadelphia’s Dorm Room Fund, the venture capital fund will help support the first 6-18 months of a startup’s life to prepare it to pitch for accelerator programs like AccelerateBaltimore or the Blue Jay Syndicate, an angel fund focused on Hopkins founders.
Galbut – who completed a collaborative dual MBA/MA by the Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business and the Maryland Institute College of Art Design Leadership program – elaborates that the venture capital fund intends to help students at a smaller level so they can be ”much more effective once they’re a little more developed to pitch to the Blue Jay Syndicate, and get a larger investment”. As managing director of the student-run Innovation Factory dedicated to fostering entrepreneurial spirit within the wider JHU community, Galbut has had a front row seat to the rise, fall, and success of many student-run startups on campus.After being introduced to Obayomi, who co-founded a chocolate business called Jama Cocoa with fellow JHU students while in school, the venture fund began to coalesce from an idea into reality.
The fund comprises an 11-member student investment team from a variety of programs across JDU, including 6 student partners. A-Level Capital initially tapped on JHU alumni and mentor networks for support in launching their fund, with Galbut approaching alumnus Dave McClure of San Francisco accelerator 500 Startups fame.
McClure is one the fund’s first investors, and believes A-Level Capital will be a crucial catalyst in propelling and supporting entrepreneurship at Hopkins.
Current Status and Future Endeavours
A-Level Capital is aiming for a first close of $100,000, and hope to raise enough money in this initial round to support 80 student-led startups and companies at Johns Hopkins over the next 4-5 years. Most of the investments doled out by the venture capital fund will average $20,000 with the potential for follow-on investing for companies that demonstrate progress. To further enhance their support for student entrepreneurs, Galbut and Obayomi have also been sourcing for on-campus facilities where companies and startups can set up their initial offices.
While Galbut and Obayomi were the original founders of the fund, they are passing on the mantle of leadership (for now) to other members of the group. Obayomi is set for an internship in San Francisco with 500 Startups, followed by a full-time position at Goldman Sachs. Galbut will be heading to New York to continue developing and building her social enterprise startup, ergoH2O.
Both founders will remain on the fund’s advisory board, and are still deeply connected with the entrepreneurial community at Hopkins. In the long run, these illustrious and driven alumni hope the student-run venture capital fund model they have created can be beneficial for other colleges with a thriving startup community, and can be replicated to provide more resources for budding college entrepreneurs.
