Investor Profile: High Alpha — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Founders exploring how to get funding from High Alpha need to grasp its unusual model first: it is both a venture studio that conceives companies and a venture fund that invests in them. High Alpha funding flows into enterprise business-to-business software, built in Indianapolis and backed by one of the Midwest's deepest operator networks, and this profile covers its funds, portfolio and the two distinct routes to working with it.

High Alpha funding: thesis and sectors

High Alpha, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a venture studio focused on conceiving, launching and scaling next-generation enterprise cloud companies. Its investment arm, High Alpha Capital, invests in exceptional founders building disruptive enterprise cloud software, while the studio co-founds companies itself. The focus is squarely business-to-business SaaS, rather than consumer apps. Its own timeline records a strategic partnership with Purdue University in 2023.

Fund size and cheque size

High Alpha announced $35 million at launch in June 2015 to create, operate and fund enterprise cloud companies. In 2018 it secured $85 million for High Alpha Capital II, a seed and Series A fund, plus $16.65 million for Studio II, with Capital II cheques reported at $750,000 to $2 million and Studio I investments typically $250,000 to $1 million. Fund III closed at $110 million, and its official timeline records a $125 million fourth fund raised in June 2024 focused on enterprise SaaS. No fund beyond Fund IV has been publicly disclosed in the sources reviewed.

Notable portfolio companies

The High Alpha portfolio includes Attentive, SalesLoft, Zylo, Terminus, The Mom Project, Lessonly, LogicGate, MetaCX and Socio, alongside studio launches such as Octiv, Visible, Sigstr, ClearScholar, Structural and Doxly. The firm's own site reports 40+ studio company starts, 100+ founders backed and 900+ jobs created since 2015.

Partners and leaders

High Alpha was founded in 2015 by Scott Dorsey, the ExactTarget co-founder who later led Salesforce Marketing Cloud after ExactTarget's multi-billion-dollar acquisition by Salesforce, Eric Tobias, founder of iGoDigital, Kristian Andersen, founder of Studio Science, and Mike Fitzgerald, former ExactTarget corporate development executive.

Programs, credits and perks

The studio itself is the programme. High Alpha runs a quarterly Sprint Week process to design, prototype and validate its top concepts, and studio companies receive a blend of product development, sales and marketing, finance, brand and design, and talent development support. It also operates a High Alpha Innovation arm that partners with corporations and universities to source and launch advantaged startups. No general startup credits bundle was documented in the sources reviewed; the studio's services and operator network are its perks.

How to apply for funding from High Alpha

There are two routes, and founders should pick the right one. For High Alpha Capital, approach the firm through its official site, highalpha.com, as an enterprise SaaS founder raising seed or Series A. For the studio, the route is different: High Alpha conceives companies internally and recruits founder candidates to co-create them through its Sprint Week process. No single public pitch portal was found in the sources reviewed, so a warm introduction through its Indianapolis network or portfolio founders is the strongest route.