Luiss Alumni 4 Growth

What

LA4G is an investment
club targeting start-ups
Luiss-related with a “benefit” approach

Luiss Alumni 4 Growth – LA4G is the Luiss Alumni Investment Club managed with an advisory company LA4G s.r.l (100% owned by Luiss University), investing in Luiss-related startups through single club-deals.

Luiss-related startups are (i) founded or co-founded by Luiss alumni, (ii) incubated or accelerated in Luiss-related facilities (e.g. LuissEnLabs, Milano Luiss Hub, Digital Magics, and other facilities managed by Luiss alumni), (iii) sustained in the micro-seed or seed stages by “angels” who are Luiss alumni or Luiss primary stakeholders.

LA4G points of differences:

  • it is a «benefit» investment club;
  • the main purpose is social mobility driven by higher education;
  • 50% of the capital gains earned by club members are invested in social mobility initiatives; ·
  • LA4G enjoys the support of a Corporate Club, sharing the same purpose;
  • LA4G manages: start-ups scouting, screening, evaluation, negotiation and deal closing; and after investing LA4G supports their business development up to the exit stage leveraging on the unique network made by alumni and corporate club members & partners;
  • LA4G “puts Luiss University skin in the games”, co-investing 10% in each single club-deal;

Who

Luiss, through LA4G,
is an active player in the startup ecosystem.

In the last ten years, Luiss has been a laboratory of innovative experiences on new forms of Corporate Business Development & Corporate Venture Capital and has played a very active role in the ecosystem of entrepreneurial innovation (Luiss Enlabs, Milan Luiss Hub, 42 Rome Luiss are only the best known examples)

Several training, networking, incubation / acceleration, promotion and support activities for startup entrepreneurship have been designed and implemented.
In line with the most important and innovative universities in the world, and their Alumni associations, LA4G s.r.l., in house company of the Luiss Guido Carli University, is active in the promotion and management of an investment club targeting start-ups Luiss-related.

Luiss goal, through LA4G, is to consolidate and develop its academic leadership in the start-up entrepreneurship ecosystem, filling a finance for innovation gap detected between the post-seed and pre-venture stages. Thanks to its network of highly successful professional and entrepreneurial alumni, and the investment club investments that will generate a positive return, LA4G will support social mobility through higher education.

LA4G is animated by Luiss graduates, professors and top management.

How

LA4G selects
Luiss-related startups in which
Alumni can co-invest with the University

LA4G selects Luiss-related startups to invest on, after a comprehensive process of scouting, screening, business model analysis and business plan valuation.

An Investment Advisory Board screens the target to be analyzed and evaluated through an information memorandum.

The Infomemo is then submitted to the Alumni and Corporate Club Members to get feedbacks and soft commitments.

If feedbacks are good enough a Club Deal is designed, with LA4G team managing negotiation, investment agreements, closing activities (through a digital platform that formalize the club-deal). Startups are supported in their business development up to the exit stage.

At the investment exit stage, 50% of the capital gains earned by alumni are given back to LA4G in order to support secondary school students to apply for Luiss University admission test and advising them on how to get ready for the admission test.

When admitted, the students are fully funded both for tuition fees and living expenses in Rome.

Why

To further
consolidate the leadership
of Luiss Alumni, to reinforce
«sense -of purpose» the graduate
network and to generate resources for
pro - social projects (the benefit profile of the investment club)

LA4G objectives are:

  • to further consolidate Luiss’ leadership on entrepreneurship;
  • to strenghten the 50,000+ Luiss alumni “sense of belonging” with a “sense of purpose”, getting their active involvement both in supporting startups and in funding social mobility initiatives;
  • to generate additional resources to fuel social mobility;

Non-binding commitments of the LA4G club members & partners concern:

  • evaluation of the target deals proposed by the LA4G Management Team;
  • advising LA4G Team both during the due diligence stage and when business development backed by the investors is deployed;
  • mentoring one or more portfolio start-ups;