May 2017.

99 Tartans is organized and managed by volunteer Carnegie Mellon University alumni and students.

99 Tartans is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

As of August 2019, 99 Tartans has 141 members. Approximately 33% are located in Pittsburgh, 33% are located in San Francisco & NYC, and 33% are distributed around the rest of the United States.

99 Tartans is open to all Carnegie Mellon University Alumni who are accredited to invest in non-publicly traded securities.

There is a minimum investment of $5,000 per deal.

Early-stage startup investments are very risky and long-term. Investments are generally illiquid for many years.

No, all investments are opt-in deal by deal at your discretion.

Investment opportunities are sourced from members. The best opportunities are startups a member has mentored and now feels is at a good stage for further investment. Some startups apply directly through the website.

There are several models for Angel Investing. Angel groups often have paid staff and organized diligence committees that manage and qualify deal flow before companies present to the membership. 99 Tartans uses the syndicate model. The syndicate model relies on the Lead Investor's personal diligence process instead of the committee approach. It is therefore important that the lead investor have credibility as an investor for the investment to be successfully funded.

A Lead Investor needs to have a track record of making individual angel investments prior to 99 Tartans. Those investments do not need to be CMU-related.

For each investment a new Limited Liability Company (LLC) is created which consists of the subset of the membership interested in this specific startup. Each LLC has a lead investor who is the Managing Member. Investors received a membership share in the LLC. The LLC is a single line item on the Capitalization Table for the company.

Members who learn about investment opportunities through 99 Tartans should invest with the 99 Tartans. You should not invest directly in the company unless 99 Tartans does not pursue an investment.

We charge our investors 20% carry (50% Alumni angels + 50% Deal lead). It will be reduced to a 10% carry when an investor contributes more than $25K.

We typically invest $100,000 - $150,000 into convertible notes or SAFE seed rounds of $500,000 - $1,000,000. 99 Tartans seeks follow-on rights on Series A conversion terms.

Each Investment LLC has a managing member who is the single point of contact between the founders and the membership. 99 Tartans, LLC manages the annual tax filing and K-1 distributions.

No. 99 Tartans invests in any United States-based company.