Each year, Carnegie Mellon University students, faculty, and staff launch twenty to thirty new ventures. These startups, founded by industry-leading research developed in labs across campus and alumni around the globe, belong to the CMU community. Thus, it is our responsibility to ensure CMU startups are funded, provided with expert mentors, and given every opportunity to succeed. Join the 99 Tartans community today as a founder or an investor and help us make the CMU entrepreneurial ecosystem the best in the world.

Mission

The mission of 99 Tartans is to partner with the highest potential early-stage CMU alumni companies and accelerate their success through access to capital and networks. 

The 99 Tartans Model

99 Tartans is run and organized by volunteer CMU alumni and students whose goal is to elevate CMU’s entrepreneurial community to go beyond the excellence of MIT and Stanford. We operate using a model similar to an Angel List Syndicate: investment minimums are only $5K per deal to encourage alumni to make multiple small investments each year. We charge no membership fee or management fee. Similar to Angel List syndicates, there is a 20% carry on returns. The carry is split equally between the 99 Tartans Alumni Lead and 99 Tartans to cover operating expenses.

We typically invest $100K – $150K into convertible notes or SAFE seed rounds of $500K - $1M. We seek follow-on rights on Series A conversion terms. All investments are opt-in deal by deal by members. Members are asked to make at least one investment per year.

After each investment, the 99 Tartans ALumni Lead will have the opportunity to mentor and provide in-depth help to the company founders. Should the 99 Tartans Alumni Lead not elect to become the mentor, we will still seek to match each startup up with one of the 150+ 99 Tartans investors from our diverse member group of CMU alumni.