Pasadena, CA - March 16, 2026 - Mike Alves, Fund Manager of the VIDA Vision Fund, has been named to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Leaders of Influence: Wealth Managers 2026, an annual recognition honoring the region’s most influential professionals positively impacting the wealth management industry.
The Los Angeles Business Journal’s Leaders of Influence list highlights advisors and investment leaders who demonstrate exceptional leadership, innovation, and meaningful impact within the financial services sector. Alves was recognized for his forward-thinking investment philosophy and his growing reputation as a fund manager focused on providing investors access to transformative private market opportunities.
Alves founded VIDA Private Wealth in 2019 after nearly 13 years advising clients at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, where he built a reputation for disciplined financial planning and deep client relationships. With the launch of VIDA, Alves set out to create a modern wealth management firm that integrates traditional advisory services with access to private investments in the technologies shaping the future.
In the past year, Alves expanded this vision with the launch of the VIDA Vision Fund, a Los Angeles-based investment fund focused on mid to late-stage disruptors in artificial intelligence, robotics, and space infrastructure. The fund concentrates investments in a select group of companies developing technologies powerful enough to reshape industries and establish an enduring technological advantage that competitors struggle to match, rather than spreading investments across dozens of speculative early stage startups.
Through this approach, Alves has provided investors access to private market opportunities in companies such as Figure AI, OpenAI, SpaceX, and xAI, positioning clients early in the innovation cycle before these companies reach public markets.
“We don't invest in dozens of companies hoping one becomes a generational company,” said Alves. “Our strategy is to concentrate capital in a small number of companies that are doing things no one else in the world is doing. When you identify the right innovators early, you give investors the opportunity to participate in the technologies that will shape the next decade.”
Beyond his investment work, Alves is also committed to advancing financial literacy and community engagement across Los Angeles. Through VIDA’s Next-Gen Financial Education initiative, he developed a curriculum of 40 financial literacy classes designed for individuals ages 5 through 35. The program teaches foundational financial skills ranging from saving and investing to retirement planning and understanding private markets.
Alves also supports several organizations focused on youth development, healthcare access, and economic empowerment throughout the region, including Youth Champions and the Corazon de Vida Foundation. He has served on advisory boards connected to the Latino Medical Student Association, the Los Angeles County Medical Association’s Latino Physician Advisory Board, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
About VIDA Vision Fund:
VIDA Vision Fund represents a series of Los Angeles-based venture funds focused on mid-to-late stage investments in artificial intelligence, robotics, space technology, and next-generation financial infrastructure. Led by Mike Alves, the fund targets innovative companies building technologies that reshape entire industries, each selected for leadership potential. For more information, visit vidavf.com.
About Mike Alves:
Mike Alves is a leading fund manager and investor with a track record of identifying breakthrough technology companies at pivotal moments of growth. He has invested in some of the most influential private technology companies shaping the global economy, including OpenAI, SpaceX, xAI and Anduril among others. His investment approach focuses on identifying breakthrough technologies with durable competitive moats and supporting their transition from advanced innovation to real-world deployment at global scale.
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