Unnamed endowments have helped High Alpha launch its second enterprise software-focused fund and affiliated startup studio.

US-based VC firm and startup studio High Alpha raised approximately $102m from investors including unspecified university endowments on Monday for its second enterprise software-focused fund and an associated incubator program.

News publication VentureBeat confirmed university endowments had featured in High Alpha’s funding round without identifying which ones.

The capital includes $85m from unnamed investors to close the High Alpha Capital II fund, in addition to $16.7m for the High Alpha Studio II program from VC firms Emergence Capital and Foundry Capital.

Founded in 2015, High Alpha operates an Indianapolis-based venturing hub called High Alpha Studio that builds enterprise software-focused startups capable of securing funding from sources including High Alpha’s venture capital arm, High Alpha Capital.

The studio takes a strategic role and equity stake in each participant from the outset, providing entrepreneurs with scale-up assistance. Its portfolio has raised more than $55m in follow-on funding altogether to date.

Brad Feld, partner at Foundry Group, will join the High Alpha board of directors alongside Gordon Ritter, founder and general partner of Emergence Capital.

High Alpha Capital, which previously raised $21m for its inaugural fund, backs external startups as well as participants in the studio program. The division is helmed by managing partner Scott Dorsey, who led email marketing tools startup ExactTarget through an acquisition by enterprise software provider Salesforce for approximately $2.5bn in 2013.

The second fund will aim to back 25 to 30 businesses, while the studio could help found eight to 10 companies in-house. High Alpha Capital I’s portfolio consists of 21 businesses, with 11 graduates that include Zylo, an application management tool developer which closed its $9.3m series A round in February 2018.

Zylo’s other backers include Salesforce Ventures and Slack Fund, respective corporate venturing vehicles for Salesforce and fellow enterprise software producer Slack.

Dorsey told VentureBeat: “The venture studio model has been incredibly well received. They have also been interested in our Salesforce and ExactTarget operating experience, and the competitive advantage we have being in Indianapolis and the Midwest.”