Students Raise $7.8 Million for Undergraduate-Run Real Estate Private Equity Fund

Undergraduate students at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business have raised an additional $7.8 million for their student-managed real estate private equity fund, expanding one of the largest experiential investment platforms of its kind in the United States.

The latest capital raise builds on an earlier $4.2 million fund, bringing total assets under management at Sample Gates Management Inc. to approximately $12 million across two vehicles. The initiative is widely regarded as the largest undergraduate-run real estate private equity fund, measured by both total capital raised and individual fund size.

The second fundraising phase exceeded its initial $6 million target, driven entirely by student-led efforts. Participants developed marketing materials, sourced prospective investors, and conducted more than 200 meetings with institutions, firms, and individual backers. The offering ultimately attracted commitments from 74 investors, including real estate professionals, financial firms, and alumni of the Kelley School.

The program is designed to provide hands-on experience in private markets investing, bridging academic theory with real-world application. Faculty leaders emphasized that the initiative represents a culmination of experiential learning embedded within Kelley’s real estate curriculum.

“The original vision was to integrate academics into practice, and this is our pinnacle experience that brings those elements together,” said Doug McCoy, executive director of real estate at Kelley’s Center for Real Estate Studies.

Student-managed investment funds are more commonly associated with graduate programs, where capital is often sourced from a single donor or institutional pool. By contrast, Sample Gates Management operates as a fully active investment platform, with undergraduates responsible for capital raising, deal sourcing, underwriting, and portfolio management on an ongoing basis.

Since its inception, the fund has completed 12 direct investments across multiple real estate sectors, including multifamily, industrial, hospitality, manufactured housing, and retail. These investments span various U.S. markets and include both stabilized assets and development projects.

Among the portfolio holdings are equity stakes in residential communities such as Echo Park in Bloomington, Indiana, and development initiatives like Alto Apartments in Lenexa, Kansas. The diversity of asset types and geographies is intended to expose students to a broad range of investment strategies and market dynamics.

Faculty advisors say the program’s structure sets it apart from traditional academic investment exercises. Rather than making periodic recommendations in a classroom setting, students operate the fund year-round, managing assets, evaluating transactions, and engaging directly with investors.

“A key part of the experience is that students are investing real capital into real transactions,” said Tom Peck, a faculty advisor with more than three decades of commercial real estate experience. “Equally important is that they are responsible for raising that capital themselves, which provides a level of practical exposure that is difficult to replicate in a classroom.”

Students involved in the fund say the experience offers insight into the complexities of running an investment platform, including navigating market uncertainty and managing multiple stakeholders. Blake Albert, a senior who served as president of Sample Gates Management, said the program exposed participants to real-world challenges beyond structured academic environments.

“It allows us to understand the full scope of how many moving pieces are involved in running a company,” Albert said. He is set to join the transactions team at Harrison Street Asset Management following graduation.

The program has also developed a track record of placing graduates into leading financial institutions and investment firms. Alumni have secured roles at firms including Apollo, Bain Capital, CBRE, Evercore, PGIM, and Freddie Mac. The initiative reports a full-time placement rate of 100% among participating students.

With the addition of its seventh associate class, Sample Gates Management has now trained 118 undergraduate fund managers. Faculty leaders say the program is designed not only to prepare students for careers in investment management but also to equip them with the skills needed to launch their own ventures.

As private markets continue to expand and demand for investment talent grows, programs like Sample Gates Management highlight the increasing emphasis on experiential learning within finance education. By combining capital formation, deal execution, and portfolio oversight, the initiative offers students early exposure to the complexities of private equity investing—experience typically reserved for early-career professionals.

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