About Us

Investing in Columbia University Start-Ups

Morningside Venture Fund is Columbia University's first Venture Capital Fund. Established in 2024, MVF targets student and alumni founders who are forced to look elsewhere for early support or abandon their ventures before they can put together an MVP, launch their product, or gain early traction.

MVF has built a self-sustaining student-run venture fund that:

I.Invests in Columbia-affiliated startups at the pre-seed stage while also supporting them as they mature.

II.Connects founders to mentors, operators, and alumni VCs.

Established in 2024, MVF operates under two investment buckets.

Investment Thesis Our Team

Our Vision ⚡

A Columbia Founder-Investor Flywheel

Pt II

1. Invest in Promising Student Startups

Deploy capital and mentorship into Columbia-affiliated ventures at the earliest stage.

4. Attract More Talent and Capital

More students apply, more alumni engage, and more capital flows in—fueling the next generation of founders.

2. Enable More Founder Wins

Early support helps startups grow stronger, raise follow-on rounds, and achieve real traction.

3. Boost Columbia's Startup Reputation

Successful ventures attract attention, elevate Columbia's entrepreneurial brand, and showcase homegrown success.

Columbia's campus generates great interest in entrepreneurship

CVP

Columbia Venture Partners (CVP)

45-member club educating students on VC and finance basics, while running sourcing and basic due diligence for partner VCs.

CORE

Columbia Organizing of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE)

150+ members across accelerator programs, founder schools, product management training, and startup internship pairings.

ADI

App Development Initiative's (ADI)

60-person membership supports SaaS project development for Columbia students.

Other organizations: Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization, Columbia Startup Lab, Columbia Venture Community, Columbia Build lab

MVF supports and scales startups

Guiding them throughout their journey

Alumni "Office Hours"

Connecting founders with ex-operators to solidify their ideas

Pitch Workshops

Giving fundraising guidance to founders & early deal-flow to investors

Founder Communities

Providing a space for like-minded founders to build together

Sourcing and Due Diligence

Portfolio Bucket 1 (Launch)

Deal flow will originate from internal sourcing initiatives, collaborations and events with campus communities, and inbound communication through our website and network. Selected startups will be invited to share additional info with MVF.

Portfolio Bucket 2 (Lift-Off)

Deal flow will originate from ongoing startup support programs (pitch workshops and founder office hours) and outreach to alumni founders. Due diligence and market research will be conducted by MVF student members to validate investment opportunity.

Based on collected information, an investment memo will be drafted by MVF Student Managers, approved by the MVF Advisory Board, and disseminated to all members.

Final co-investment and investment decisions

will be made via a vote with all contributing members to MVF on the PIN platform.

Investment Thesis

Three Investment Buckets

Portfolio Bucket 1

Integrate investments into your Columbia startup journey with our end-to-end funding experiences.

#B1 Investment Flow

Morningside Venture Fund

$900k

Columbia Startups

Minimum Revenue

$500k

Average Check

$TBD

Portfolio Bucket 2

Support early-stage Columbia ventures with our pre-seed and seed funding opportunities through our sourcing initiative.

Learn more about Bucket 2

Key Requirements

Invest directly in pre-seed or seed companies from Columbia Venture Partner's sourcing initiative
Startup must have raised minimum of $100k from angels of VCs
Average check size ~ $

#B2 Investment Flow