Real-World Experience
- Evaluate genuine early-stage startups
- Work directly with founders, not case studies
- Present to a live panel of investors
- Produce a professional investment memo
Twenty-five students. Four early-stage startups. One Investment Committee. An eight-week dive into venture capital, taught by the people who do it for a living.
Venture Academy is a hands-on venture capital programme held in association with Trinity College, Cambridge. Over eight weeks, small, cross-disciplinary teams evaluate real, live startups exactly as a fund would - building an investment thesis, stress-testing the founders, and defending their conclusions in front of the people who'd actually write the cheque.
23 of 25 students completed the full eight weeks and graduated as Venture Fellows. Every one of them told us what worked and what didn't - a 100% response rate on our closing survey.
Cohort II begins 20 January 2027 and runs every Wednesday through to a closing Investment Committee evening on 10 March 2027.
How venture funds are raised, managed and invested - management fees, carried interest, and the relationship between Limited and General Partners.
Assessing founders, sizing markets, mapping competition, and reading business models - plus product defensibility, financial viability, traction and legal diligence.
Four early-stage startups join the cohort as live subjects. Student teams work directly with founders to hone the company's proposition and pressure-test the case.
In the closing week, every team presents its memo to a panel of working investors before the panel awards £10,000 to the winning startup.
Hear directly from partners at some of Europe's most active funds, under Chatham House Rule - real portfolios, real judgement calls, nothing rehearsed for a classroom.
2026 Investment Committee panelCohort II's faculty is being confirmed for Lent Term 2027 - apply to be notified as speakers are announced.
Open to Cambridge University students. No finance background required, just curiosity and a willingness to do the work.
Coming SoonFour early-stage companies join each cohort as live subjects for the group's investment analysis - real exposure to a room of future investors and operators.
Register Interest