Notre Dame’s first fund, Pit Road Fund I has invested in over 29 companies with over $4.5M invested to date, with an additional $10.3M in reserve for follow on investments into the portfolio. Pit Road Fund investments in Fund I ranged from check sizes as low as $15,000 to as high as $750,000. The average initial check size was $94,000, with the average initial subsequent investment a little over $180,000. 8 companies have had subsequent investment rounds, with several having multiple, and the Fund has a healthy distribution of investments between Faculty, Alumni/Community, and Student investments.

5% of the first Fund was reserved for investments into later stage deals, of which 6 investments were made. The Pit Road Fund team is composed of experienced individuals managing investment decisions and operations of the Fund. The Fund’s investment decisions is overseen by Bryan Ritchie, James Thompson, and Matthew Gardner who serve as members of the Investment Committee. Under the guidance of the Investment Committee, day to day operations of the Fund are managed by Mitchell Kokko.

The Pit Road Fund is a for profit, investment vehicle with private LPs. What separates the Fund from other VC funds is that the University of Notre Dame is the General Partner of the Fund, with the Fund managed by University employees and overseen by an Investment Advisory Committee and Special Committee comprised of Notre Dame’s best and brightest in the venture capital space.