Spike Ventures

What Spike Ventures does

Spike Ventures is a venture capital fund founded in 2017 and based in Manchester, UK, that invests in B2B SaaS startups with Stanford alumni connections. The firm operates with 11–50 employees and positions itself as a founder-friendly investor, leveraging a Stanford alumni network as its primary deal-sourcing channel. The fund is led by founder Andre de Baubigny and managing partner Todd McIntyre.

Spike Ventures operates as a Stanford-focused sub-fund within the broader Alumni Ventures ecosystem, a venture platform that reports 850,000+ community members, 11,000+ individual investors, $1.4B+ in cumulative capital raised, 1,600+ portfolio companies, and 7 offices across the US, UK, and Japan. Through this affiliation, Spike benefits from shared deal flow, diligence infrastructure, and co-investment relationships with lead VCs including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Bessemer Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, and Khosla Ventures.

The fund's business model follows standard VC economics: deploying LP capital into early-stage B2B SaaS companies in exchange for equity, generating revenue through management fees on assets under management and carried interest on profitable exits. In April 2023, Vibranium.VC invested in Spike Ventures, adding a financial backer whose stated mission aligns with Spike's founder-friendly B2B SaaS thesis.

Name

Spike Ventures

Website

https://avgfunds.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Spike Ventures is a venture capital fund founded in 2017 that invests in B2B SaaS startups connected to the Stanford alumni network, operating as a sub-fund within the broader Alumni Ventures platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Micro-VC & Angel Funds (FSANAAAI), Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Venture capital funding
• Startup investment
• Venture capital firm
• Alumni venture capital
• Seed stage investing

Headquarters

HQ city

Manchester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Core offering

Spike Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in Stanford-connected companies, primarily focused on B2B SaaS startups. The fund sources, diligencing, and deploys capital into early-stage software ventures led or founded by Stanford alumni, operating within the broader Alumni Ventures network. It provides investors access to high-quality venture deals through fund vehicles and co-investment opportunities alongside leading VC firms.

Product overview

Spike Ventures is a venture capital fund associated with Stanford alumni, focused on investing in B2B SaaS startups. The company operates as an investor/fund manager rather than a technology product company, with no publicly documented product portfolio, API offerings, integrations, or technology platform described in available source materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Spike Ventures Fund A venture capital fund that invests in Stanford-connected B2B SaaS startups, providing capital to early-stage software companies with Stanford alumni ties and offering accredited investors diversified venture exposure.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Notation Capital: Early-stage B2B-focused venture fund with roots in technical/academic communities. Comparable in thesis around technical founders and B2B SaaS concentration.
• Dorm Room Fund: Student-run venture fund backed by First Round Capital, focused on founders from top US university networks. Similar alumni/network-driven sourcing model and founder-friendly positioning.
• Alumni Ventures: Multi-alumni venture platform ($1.4B+ raised, 1,600+ portfolio companies). Spike Ventures appears to operate as one of Alumni Ventures' specialized alumni-focused funds (Stanford), making AV the closest direct comparable — same network-driven thesis, same B2B SaaS tilt, same individual-LP access model.
• Anorak Ventures: Mission-driven VC focused on student and young founders from non-traditional backgrounds. Adjacent in the network-tied thesis space and comparable in fund size/stage.
• Ulu Ventures: Stanford-specific seed/early-stage venture fund. Most direct comparable to Spike on the Stanford-only thesis, with a longer track record and similar focus on Stanford-affiliated founders. Closest head-to-head competitor for Stanford deal flow.
• StartX: Stanford-affiliated startup accelerator and investor program. Operates a Stanford-only founder funnel that overlaps directly with Spike's target universe, with an earlier-stage (pre-seed/seed) tilt.
• Rough Draft Ventures: General Catalyst-backed student-focused fund. Competes in the same network-tied early-stage B2B SaaS deal flow, with similar emphasis on founder relationships and follow-on support.
• Vibranium.VC: B2B SaaS-focused, founder-friendly venture firm. Direct investor in Spike Ventures (April 2023), so explicitly comparable in thesis, and operates in the same micro-VC / B2B SaaS segment with overlapping deal flow.
• MaC Venture Capital: Seed-stage fund with strong network ties to top engineering schools (Howard, historically HBCU-focused, but similar alumni-network sourcing model). Comparable in size and network-driven thesis.
• Contrary Capital: University-student-focused venture fund investing in founders from top university ecosystems. Comparable network-driven, community-tied thesis with a similar B2B SaaS tilt, though broader than Stanford-only.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments14 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Spike Ventures