Kirchner Food Fellowship

Overview

The Kirchner Food Fellowship is an impact-driven investment program supporting innovative food and agriculture companies to scale solutions addressing global food security challenges. The program is designed to strengthen impact investing ecosystems in areas underserved by capital markets by training and empowering a diverse next generation of investors to allocate equity investments into early-stage companies. Fellows receive high-level mentoring from networks of investors across North America and engage in a series of face-to-face and online educational experiences using learning paradigms that expose them to practical, real-world issues of seed-stage and early-stage investment. Fellows have full discretion over real investment decisions and develop the skills and attributes required for effective capital allocation and post-investment value add. The program is open to graduate and undergraduate students and provides a scholarship to each selected fellow. The Kirchner Food Fellowship has a track record of supporting promising socially responsible agricultural businesses, including companies like Lucky Iron Fish™, Green Zebra Grocery, Tomato Jos, Kuli Kuli, Reach, and Solena. These companies operate in sectors such as health and wellness, sustainable agriculture, and food security, and have received support from the fellowship to scale their solutions addressing global food security challenges. The fellowship's investment philosophy focuses on identifying and supporting innovative, high-growth potential for-profit businesses that positively impact global food security. Fellows are expected to approach their home institution for academic credit for any work completed during the program. The program's mission is to foster the development of individuals who have the practical skills and knowledge to make effective investments in emerging agricultural technologies that have the possibility of addressing global food security in underserved regions and communities. The Kirchner Food Fellowship is a pioneer in the lean impact investment movement, harnessing the power of highly committed next-generation talent to find, fund, and assist promising socially responsible, for-profit agricultural businesses. The program provides capital and unprecedented hands-on training in capital allocation for university students, aiming to create a sustainable and impactful food system for the future.

Investment Focus

• Candidates must be enrolled in university in the United States, Canada, or Mexico.
• Candidates must be self-motivated, hard-working, and possess a passion for investing in promising early-stage, for-profit, socially-responsible agricultural companies.
• Fellows are expected to approach their home institution for academic credit for any work completed during the program.

Portfolio Companies