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We've heard dozens of pitches in the past month from liberal arts founders in a variety of industries — and two things are very clear:
Founders are surprised that something like Trivium never existed before now. They went to NESCAC and other prestigious liberal arts schools that did not have entrepreneurial cultures, yet produced game changing founders in the long term. They felt alone at school, but equipped with the grit, creativity and connections to change the world.
Founders think that liberal arts entrepreneurship is the future. Claude can help anyone make a decent product, but you need to think outside the box to know how and when to sell. Prestigious liberal arts school’s yield rates are increasing, and they are each investing into campus. Hamilton is building a $50M new “innovation center.” Middlebury is growing MIDDCORE. “Wesleyan SharkTank” has student founders already backed by A16Z scouts, and many schools have full-time “entrepreneurial" focused career advisors, etc.
Trivium’s angel syndicate, advisor group and venture scout interns are exclusively positioned to both find and support the next generation of the best entrepreneurs.
Join us and help introduce liberal arts founders to your network by sharing this newsletter and referring a founder or active early stage investor.
Updates
Busy Meeting 27 Liberal Arts Founders and Investors this Week 😏:
Orange = Trivium Meeting. Black=School or Personal
Website Upgrades📌: To check out and share our website, CLICK HERE. To access the All Stage “deal portal” reach out for the password.
New Partnership 🤝: We now have relationships at Connecticut Innovations which will look to add onto our startups that boost employment or revenue within the state of Connecticut.
New Industries 🏭: We featured startups in healthtech, prediction markets and the creator economy for the first time ever. Get excited for some liberal arts-founded fintech and consumer goods startups next month.
First In Person Event🗽: NYC, MARCH 12th
Join Us: https://luma.com/pvrqm3ok
Newsletter Growth 🪴: The Liberal Arts Ledger gained over 100 subscribers in February. Please help us double this next month!
A Look Back at Our Recent Startups
Engine Room (Williams): AI-Powered Analytics and Growth Capital for the Creator Economy.
Engine Room unifies fragmented creator data (YouTube, Meta, Spotify, TikTok, Patreon) into a single dashboard with actionable insights. Their second product, PartnerPro, deploys growth capital to high-potential creators, recouping from incremental revenue before sharing 40% of upside.
In the test case with cooking channel SweetAmbs, SweetAmbs has seen 7x growth in YouTube views, 2x increase in paid memberships, and 4–5x improvement in brand deal pricing. The company has $550K committed out of a $950K angel round. The management team brings experience across $1B+ in media transactions at Paramount, Def Jam, Netflix, and HBO.
Founded by Geordie McClelland (Williams), Keith Quinn (Harvard), and David Harleston (Harvard).
Jack Fertility (Wellesley): The At-Home Male Fertility Clinic.
Jack Fertility is the UK's first fully postable home-to-lab sperm test kit. Users collect a sample at home, drop it in a Royal Mail postbox, and receive clinic-grade semen analysis results online at 95% confidence. Proprietary Sperm Shield™ preservative keeps samples viable for up to 4 days in transit — no courier, no clinic visit.
Jack owns the Oxford lab and manufactures in-house, giving it a >90% cost advantage over competitors. The company has raised ~£390K at a £3.5M pre-money valuation, with backing from Fuel Ventures, the Reckitt Benckiser (Durex parent) accelerator, Oxford Seed Fund, and a Google grant.
Founded by Nick Shipley (Oxford) and Lily Elsner (Wellesley)
CineBlock Films (Swarthmore): Securitizing Entertainment Media.
CineBlock is a FINRA-approved, SEC-licensed crowd-investing platform for entertainment media securities. Filmmakers raise up to $5M in equity from retail investors via Regulation Crowdfunding. Blockchain-based cap-table management, payments, and royalty tracking via the CineMint™ tokenizer.
CineBlock's regulatory moat is its dual licensing structure: both a RegCF portal and an SEC-registered transfer agent, a combination no competitor holds. The company has 250+ filmmaker leads, 21 acquired film assets, and 10+ signed LOIs. With investment crowdfunding up 58% in 2025, CineBlock is raising a $2M round.
Founded by Prince Ace (Swarthmore), Sharif Bennett (Swarthmore/UVA Darden), and Julian Haffner (Swarthmore/Howard Law)
Upcoming
NYC Gala with TRIIBE on March 12th at 6pm 🗽
Meet Up in NYC☕
In NYC on Friday, March 13th? Reply below if you’re in town and would like to meet in person and get a deep dive into the future of Trivium! ⬇️
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Trivium Venture Network is a registered LLC. Nothing in this content constitutes investment or legal advice. The information provided should not be used as the basis for making investment decisions. Readers should conduct their own research and consult with investment advisers before making investment decisions.