The Story
The investor who built a
university to train investors
In 2012, J. Skyler (Sky) Fernandes stood at a lectern at TEDxConnecticut College and did something no one had done before: he gave a TED Talk about venture capital. Not a talk at a VC conference - an actual TED Talk, on a stage, to a general audience, explaining why the way the world finances innovation is broken. He was not yet 30.
That instinct - to teach, to explain, to build systems for others to use - runs through everything Fernandes has built since. He graduated from NYU summa cum laude, a year ahead of schedule, having simultaneously taken coursework in quantum physics and foreign policy at Harvard. He entered investment banking at Credit Suisse, moved into venture at Centripetal Capital Partners, and in 2010 launched One Match Ventures, a seed fund he ran out of personal capital. The name was deliberate: one match, one spark.
In 2014, Simon Property Group - the S&P 100 retail real estate giant that owns roughly 200 malls across the United States - decided it needed a venture arm. Fernandes built it from nothing. Within 23 months, Simon Venture Group held 22 portfolio companies, was closing roughly one deal per month, and had been ranked a top-5 retail technology investor by CB Insights, alongside GV (Google Ventures), Intel Capital, and Comcast Ventures. Not bad for a fund that didn't exist three years earlier.
After a stint as Managing Director at Cleveland Avenue - the food and beverage fund co-founded by McDonald's former president and CEO - Fernandes launched VU Venture Partners and Venture University in 2018. The pitch: a venture capital fund and an investor education program operating as a single integrated platform. He called it the most scalable venture capital model in the world. The portfolio now spans 150+ companies. The senior partners have collectively put $2 billion into venture deals and $7 billion into real estate and private equity. And somewhere in that portfolio: SpaceX, OpenAI, Meta, Uber, Palantir, Neuralink, Figure AI, Anduril.
The pitch deck template he created has been downloaded 700,000 times. It is used at Harvard, Wharton, and NYU. He co-designed a board game about entrepreneurship with his wife Jenna - inspired by Monopoly and The Game of Life, because why not turn startups into a Saturday afternoon.
"Shining the Light of Smart Capital on the Dark Forces of Venture Investing."
- J. Skyler Fernandes on Venture University
By the Numbers
A fund built for top-decile returns
Actually Invested
SF / HK / Munich / SP
Investor Cohorts
Becoming Unicorns
The Portfolio
Names you recognize.
Positions taken early.
VU's senior partners were in the room - or close to it - before these companies became names everyone knows. The portfolio is geography-agnostic and sector-diverse, with concentration in what Fernandes calls the six verticals: Consumer, Enterprise, Fintech, Healthcare, Frontier Tech, and PropTech.
The selectivity is the point. VU evaluates thousands of deals and invests in roughly one out of every thousand. The result: in recent vintage years, 7-10% of their seed-stage portfolio companies have gone on to unicorn status - a number that would make most top-tier Sand Hill Road funds look up.
Notable Exits & Unicorns (via senior partners)
VU Venture Partners invests in roughly 1 out of every 1,000 deals it evaluates - and still has a 7-10% unicorn conversion rate in its seed portfolio.
Investment Focus
- Consumer & Consumer Tech
- Enterprise Software
- Fintech & Financial Services
- Healthcare & Health Tech
- Frontier Tech (AI, Robotics, Biotech)
- PropTech & Real Estate Tech
- Pre-Seed through Series B
- Check size: $100K - $1M (sweet spot $300K)
- Geography-agnostic, global mandate
Venture University
Building the missing half
of the innovation ecosystem
Most startup founders think about the funding gap. Fernandes noticed a different gap: the investor quality gap. Thousands of people deploy capital into startups each year with little formal training in how to do it well. The returns distribution reflects this.
Venture University, which he co-founded in 2018, is his answer. It functions as an investor accelerator - part academic curriculum, part live investment apprenticeship. Students join one of VU's vertical teams (Consumer, Enterprise, Fintech, Frontier, Healthcare, PropTech, Web3), source real deals, conduct genuine due diligence, and make actual investments. Two to seven per quarter, depending on cohort.
By its 7th anniversary in October 2025, VU had run 50 cohorts and expanded internationally - VU Europe in Munich, VU Brazil with Futurum Education, VU Switzerland, and a UK Investor Accelerator. The academic program includes a one-week VC/PE Masterclass, 20 advanced modules, and weekly fireside chats with operating investors and founders.
Fernandes describes the startup world's two-decade focus on the founder side of the equation - accelerators, incubators, coding bootcamps - and the near-total absence of equivalent infrastructure for investors. VU is his bet that the innovation economy needs smarter capital just as much as it needs better founders.
Venture University
The world's leading program for professionals breaking into venture capital, private equity, and angel investing. Live deal flow. Real investments. Global network.
The Curriculum
One-week VC/PE Masterclass + 20 advanced modules + weekly fireside chats with active investors. Students join vertical teams and make real investments - 2 to 7 per quarter.
Career
Two decades of
building from scratch
2007 - 2009
Credit Suisse - Financial Institutions Group. Investment banking out of university. Also roles at Société Générale and Standard Bank.
2009 - 2014
Centripetal Capital Partners - Partner. Early-stage venture. First institutional VC role.
2010 - 2017
One Match Ventures - Founder. Personal angel and seed fund focused on internet, media, and high-tech.
2012
TEDxConnecticut College - "Innovating the Financing of Innovation." The first TED Talk specifically about venture capital.
2014 - 2017
Simon Venture Group - Founder, Head & Managing Director. Built the VC arm of Simon Property Group (S&P 100) from zero. Ranked top-5 retail investor by CB Insights within two years.
2016
Named to GCV Powerlist 2016. SVG portfolio reaches 22 companies, roughly one deal closed per month since launch.
2017 - 2018
Cleveland Avenue - Managing Director of Investments. Food and beverage VC fund co-founded by the former President & CEO of McDonald's.
2018 - Present
VU Venture Partners & Venture University - Founder & General Partner. Global VC platform with 150+ investments, 25+ unicorns, and offices across 4 continents.
2024 - 2025
VU expands internationally: VU Europe (Munich), VU Brazil, VU Switzerland, VU UK. 50th investor cohort celebrated.
"We are the ideal strategic investor to help portfolio companies be introduced to retailers."
- Skyler Fernandes, on Simon Venture Group
Simon Venture Group: The Record
- Built from zero in 2014 inside S&P 100 company
- 22 portfolio companies within 23 months
- ~1 deal closed per month for two years
- Top-5 retail investor ranked by CB Insights
- Ranked alongside GV, Intel Capital, Comcast Ventures
- Focus: retail tech, rising new brands, IoT for smart cities
- Notable portfolio: FabFitFun, Shopkick, Deliv, Baublebar
The Pitch Deck That Traveled
Fernandes created "The Best Startup Pitch Deck" as a public resource for founders. It has been viewed and downloaded over 700,000 times and adopted by leading accelerators and business schools - including Harvard, Wharton, and NYU. He is occasionally more famous for this than for the fund.
The Details
The things that don't
fit in a pitch deck
Quantum Physics at Harvard
While enrolled at NYU studying economics and international relations, Fernandes simultaneously took coursework in quantum physics and foreign policy at Harvard. This double-load is what enabled him to graduate NYU a full year early, summa cum laude. The physics didn't hurt the investing instincts either.
The Board Game
Fernandes and his wife Jenna Dreher Fernandes co-created "The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship" - a board game built on the mechanics of startup fundraising, inspired by The Game of Life and Monopoly. It went to Kickstarter. The fact that a VC couple turned deal terms into family game night is either the most on-brand or the most surprising thing about Skyler Fernandes.
Casper & Scoobie
Behind the fund, the LPs, and the accelerator cohorts: a blue Great Dane named Casper and a miniature pinscher named Scoobie. Both presumably unimpressed by unicorn valuations.
Forensics
Six things worth
knowing
He gave the first TED Talk ever about venture capital in 2012, at TEDxConnecticut College. Nobody had claimed that ground yet. He did.
His startup pitch deck template has been downloaded 700,000+ times and is now standard curriculum at some of the most prestigious business programs in the world.
VU rejects 999 out of every 1,000 deals it evaluates. The 0.1% that make it through have a 7-10% unicorn conversion rate in recent vintage years.
He built Simon Venture Group - a VC arm inside an S&P 100 retail real estate company - and within 23 months landed it among the top 5 retail investors in the country per CB Insights.
He studied quantum physics at Harvard while simultaneously enrolled at NYU, enabling early graduation with summa cum laude honors. Not a gap year - a double year.
His Great Dane is named Casper. His mini pinscher is named Scoobie. The board game he made with his wife is still on the internet. Priorities are intact.
Find Skyler