Annual Report 2016
Letter from our Outgoing & Incoming Managing Directors It has been another wonderful year with the SVF. The SVF represents a tremendous learning experience, and is among my favorite activities at Ross. There are too many highlights from the year to list them all. A couple of moments from our sessions that stand out in my memory are the very lively discussion on the environmental and health benefits of cricket flour, and the discussion on the social impact of Apple. Never a dull moment. Fund members screened over 160 firms during the year, finally settling on two transactions, including our first ever healthcare deal. We now have investments in companies representing each of our four circles. In addition, the fund worked on capacity-building projects with a portfolio company. As a fund, we invest a lot of effort in potential transactions every year, from pre-screening through due diligence to the actual investment itself. As our portfolio grows, it’s been valuable to observe at close range how companies evolve over time, both in positive (large successful financing rounds) and more challenging directions (cash flow struggles and changes of mission). Details of our activities for the year are provided later in the Annual Report. As you all know, the SVF is student-run. One often observes a machine runs smoothly, without noticing that behind the scenes there are people working very hard at keeping it well-oiled. It has been a pleasure to work with Danny Patton, Director of Operations this year. I am also very grateful to the rest of the leadership team, including: Diana Callaghan, Director of Investing (special kudos to Diana for staying on top of the last-minute flurry of activity to complete one of the deals on time); Anisha Mappat, Director of Education; Brian McMillan, Director of Fund Development; Kate White Walters, Director of Portfolio Management); and Caroline Landau, Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
Karl Nagy, John Serron, and Gautam Thapar, our investment circle leads. Finally, a special shout-out to BBA Johnson Yang, who took the lead on valuing the SVF portfolio. Goodbye to our graduating members. I know you will be wonderful ambassadors for the Ross School and its values. Keep up the same passion for improving people’s lives that you have shown with SVF, and keep in touch. This has been my third year with the fund, and because we have never had an SVF4, it seems the right time for me to step down as well, along with the other SVF3’s. I am delighted to report that Gautam Kaul, our intrepid founder, is returning as faculty advisor. I am also learning firsthand that, to paraphrase the old saying, “you may leave the SVF, but the SVF never leaves you---you always carry a piece around in your heart.” UDAY RAJAN SVF Faculty Advisor, 2013-2016 I am happy to be back as the Faculty Director of the Social Venture Fund (SVF). Apart from overseeing SvF’s regular activities, I have two major goals for this year. First, to put together a board with our longstanding members and a set of new alumni. Second, I plan to devote a great deal of energy to putting SvF on a financially sustainable footing. To me, it epitomizes everything special about the Ross School of Business - educating folks to become thoughtful and society-focused leaders using rigorous decision-making approaches in studentlead action-based environment. If we could create such experiences for all or most of our students, we would become the business school of the future. I am happy to be back to be part of such a vibrant Fund, to coach and help in any way I can. GAUTAM KAUL SVF Faculty Advisor, 2009-2013 and 2016-2017
Contents Who We Are 02 Members Circle
Year in Review 04 Overview Highlights 2015-16
Investing 06 Deal Flow Due Diligence Investments
Portfolio Management 09 Portfolio Capacity-Building Projects Social Ventures Fund Stephen M. Ross School of Business University of Michigan 701 Tappan Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1234 contact@umsocialventure.com
Fund Development 14 Thought Leadership Fundraising
Looking Ahead 26
Design: Nick Pfost Icons: Freepik / FlatIcon
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Who We Are T
his year, the Social Venture Fund was comprised of 43 dedicated students, including six juniors and seniors in the undergraduate business school. While all fund associates are at the Ross School of Business, twenty (47% of the total fund) are undertaking dual degrees with the Ford School of Public Policy, the School of Education, the School of Public Health, and the School of Natural Resources and Environment (the Erb Institute), and the School of Social Work, providing a powerful
Board of Directors
forum for interdisciplinary education. In addition, during due diligence SVF welcomed four law students—Eric Cox, Tim Cross, Rob Meyer, and Emily Rutkowski—who provided necessary legal diligence and oversight. As a completely student-run endeavor, each SVF member devotes a significant amount of time and effort to the Fund, from education sessions and screening in the fall through due diligence, capacity building projects, and investment decisions in the winter and spring.
Circle Advisors
David Green
Investment Advisory Council
Vice President, Ashoka
Founding Members
James Devaney
Gautam Kaul SVF Founding Director; Professor of Finance, University of Michigan
Narayan Ramchandran Senior Advisor, Morgan Stanley India
Wes Selke Founding Director, Hub Ventures
Brian Trelstad Partner, Bridges Ventures
Evan Wildstein* Partner, Kohlberg & Company LLC
Education
Principal, Unitus Impact; IAC Chair
Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Innovation, University of Michigan
Adam Blanck, JD ‘13
Jack Elsey
Samir Malviya, MBA ‘13
Chief of Staff, Wallside Windows
Seth Greenberg, MBA ‘12 Senior Manager, Higher Education, EdSurge
Lauren Miller, MBA ‘11 Vice President of Marketing, Le Tote
Jack Miner, BA ‘85 Director, University of Michigan Venture Center
Jamie Shea, MBA/MS ‘12 Managing Director of Investments, Mission Throttle
Chief Schools Officer, Education Achievement Authority of Michigan
Shauntel Poulson General Partner, Reach Capital
Food Systems & Environment Ryan Waddington Partner, Arsenal Venture Partners
Mark Ritz Principal, Barton Consulting Services
Peter Adriaens
Consultant
Marianne Udow
Jeremiah Johnson
Fred Brown
Director, University of Michigan Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation
Urban Revilatlization Vice President of Community Investments, Rock Ventures LLC
Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
Managing Director of Investments, Mission Throttle
FinTech Entrepreneur; Professor of Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Finance, University of Michigan
Health
Chris Uhl
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Jamie Shea
Assistant Professor, University of Michigan
Benjamin Fillipo Executive Director, Preservation Durham
Who We Are Members by Circle Education
Will Kletter, MBA/MS ‘16
Urban Revitalization
Joanna Herrmann, MBA/MS ‘16
Andrea Kraus, MBA/MS ‘16
Maureen Higgins, MBA/MPP ‘17
Ian Robinson, MBA/MS ‘17
Diana Callaghan, MBA ‘16 Director of Investments
Maab Ibrahim, MBA/MPP ‘16
Luke Sawitsky, MBA/MS ‘18
Juan Pablo Garcia, MBA/MS ‘16
Alex Kravitz, MBA ‘17 Incoming Director of Investments
Keith Schuman, MBA ‘17
Dannan Hodge, MBA/MS ‘17 Incoming Director of Education
Aysha Malik, MBA ‘17 Incoming Director of Portfolio Management
Kristin Steiner, MBA/MS ‘17 Incoming Circle Lead
Abby Poats, MBA/MA ‘17 Incoming Director of Fund Development Holly Price, MBA ‘17 Incoming Circle Lead
John Serron, MBA/MS ‘16 Circle Lead
David Toper, MBA/MS ‘16 Julio Villasenor, MBA/MS ‘17 Michael Winfrey, BBA ‘17
Health
Kyle Killebrew, MBA/MPP ‘16 Brian McMillan, MBA/MPP ‘16 Director of Fund Development Karl Nagy, MBA ‘16 Circle Lead Daniel Patton, MBA/MS ‘17 Director of Fund Operations
Kartik Reddy, MBA ‘17
Michael Bradie, MBA ‘17
Sally Quan, MBA ‘17 Incoming Circle Lead
Gautam Thapar, MBA ‘16 Circle Lead
Ian Dumont, MBA/MPH ‘16
Johnson Yang, BBA ‘17
Uzair Khan, BBA ‘16
Kate White Walters, MBA ‘16 Director of Portfolio Management
Connie Zhou, BBA ‘17
Caroline Landau, MBA ‘16 Circle Lead
Food Systems & Environment Dan Chamness, BBA ‘16 Wiles Kase, MBA/MS ‘18 Incoming Director of Fund Operations
Vivek Manoharan, MBA ‘16 Anisha Mappat, MBA ‘16 Director of Education Joshua Parker, MBA ‘17 Logan Pitts, BBA ‘16 Christine Priori, MBA/MPH ‘17 Jenny Simonson, MBA/MSW ‘15 Aaron Steiner, MBA ‘17 Incoming Circle Lead
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Year in Review Overview 2015-2016 was a year of growth and reflection for SVF. The fund received its largest deal flow yet. Because of the deals’ high quality, the fund chose to conduct due diligence on five deals, ultimately voting to invest in two, including SVF’s first health care deal. Amid a fruitful year of education, screening, due diligence, and investment decisions, the fund also took time to reflect on what members want SVF to be moving forward. Beyond the achievement of being the first student-lead impact investing fund in the country, SVF’s true value to students is in the authentic learning experiences that it provides. Above all, SVF is an authentic impact investing experience in which passionate students screen deals from a wide range of industries, work closely with entrepreneurs, dig deep into deals, and make decisions that matter. The incoming Leadership Team is eager to build on the work of its predecessors to continue strengthening the authentic learning opportunities that SVF affords its students.
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Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
Year in Review Highlights 2015-16 SVF’s 2015-2016 membership was 45% female and 55% male
Recruitment Over 100 prospective Fund members attended SVF info sessions, with 53 people ultimately applying to the Fund. SVF admitted 20 new Associates, including 17 MBAs and three BBAs, of whom nine (45%) are female and seven (35%) are dual degree students.
160+ Education Initiated the Speaker Series, in which SVF alums as well as experts in the VC industry shared their insights with Fund members.
Portfolio Management Conducted two capacitybuilding projects for portfolio company Mytonomy to assist in their pivot to the patient engagement space.
Dealflow SVF sourced over 160 deals through strong partnerships with various incubators and accelerators.
Fundraising SVF received $200K of generous support from the Zell-Lurie Institute.
Due Diligence Fund members conducted DD on five high-potential companies, ultimately recommending three for investment.
Thought Leadership SVF members demonstrated leadership at various internal and external events, including the MBA Impact Investment Network & Training (MIINT), Michigan Business Challenge (MBC), and the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC).
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Investment Process Deal Flow
Due Diligence
The Social Venture Fund sourced 165 deals in 2015—its largest deal flow yet. SVF’s consideration of these incredibly strong deals was facilitated by SVF’s strong partnerships with incubators and aggregators, including StartUp Health, Investor’s Circle, Mission Throttle, Invest Detroit, and Enable Impact. From September through November, Associates screened 165 potential deals across the Food Security & Environment (41%), Education (26%), Health (19%), and Urban Revitalization (14%) circles.
Through preliminary due diligence and a series of fund pitches and votes, Associates narrowed the potential deals down to five on which to conduct deep due diligence—two health deals, two education deals, and one water conservation (FS&E) deal. Christine Priori led DD on one health deal, an automated patient engagement platform, and Anisha Mappat and Connie Zuo led DD on the other, a platform enabling patients to manage and access their lab results. Wiles Kase led DD on one of the two education businesses, a platform that uses AI to provide tailored STEM support for students. Dan Chamness and Michael Winfrey co-led DD on the water business, a lawn irrigation product. Associates voted three of these five deals to final diligence, in which all three teams recommended investment, with two earning over 80% of Associates’ support, far exceeding the two-thirds Fund vote necessary for investment.
Urban Revitalization
Food Security & Environment
14%
41%
WE SCREENED
Health
19%
165 POTENTIAL DEALS
Education
26%
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Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
Investment Process New Investments On April 26th, 2016, the Michigan Social Venture Fund closed an investment into Conversa Health, marking the Fund’s sixth overall investment and first direct investment in the healthcare space. Conversa Health aims to improve patient engagement, adherence and health outcomes through a software as a service (SaaS) platform that provides hospital systems an automated way to bridge the gap in communication that occurs between visits. Conversa’s main product is a health IT solution, “Digital Checkups,” that uses data-driven algorithms to generate clinical questions, patient education, reminders and alerts based on the provider’s care plan and information in the patient’s electronic health record (EHR). Patient responses are then saved as data points that feed into their EHR and a provider interface that alerts the care team of deviations from the care plan to identify patients in need of intervention. The Digital Checkup platform also collects and manages relevant Patient Generated Health Data (PGHD), including biometric sensor data (e.g., wearables, glucometers).
This funding will be used to hire additional software developers, account managers, and standard accounting, finance, and sales staff. In addition to signing traditional term sheets, PhD CEO West Shell signed SVF’s Education Cooperation Agreement, which contains expectations regarding health intervention reporting. SVF is excited to work with Conversa to help them track their health impact on health behavior and costs over the coming years. conversahealth.com
The Social Venture Fund’s second investment was part of the early-stage bridge round for Querium, an Austin, Texas-based edtech company that uses artificial intelligence to provide students with step-by-step coaching for math, science and engineering. The Social Venture Fund contributed $50,000 towards a total $720,000 convertible note round and was one of approximately 10 investors. The bridge round funding will be used to expand Querium’s product offering and continue business development efforts with educational publishers, high schools, and universities. Querium continued »
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Investment Process » continued from Querium
Querium, the Fund’s seventh overall and third direct investment in the education space, helps teens and adult learners master critical STEM skills at their own pace. Recently named by Fast Company as one of “The Most Innovative Companies of 2016: Education,” Querium’s unique Virtual Tutor evaluates student work step-by-step to provide instant feedback and assist in the development of cognitive skills. Students receive real-time grading and coaching that mimic a live tutoring experience through smartphones and tablets as well as PCs, opening up access for students who may not have home computers. Querium collects 20 pieces of data from every step a student enters, enabling teachers to understand exactly where students make mistakes so that they may better tailor their lesson plans to provide differentiated instruction. Ultimately, Querium drives significant social impact by improving high school test scores and helping community college students avoid exceptionally costly and burdensome remedial STEM courses. The team determined Querium would be a strong investment for the Fund due to the company’s impressive technology, dynamic management team, and potential to improve
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Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
test scores and minimize the burden of remedial STEM coursework. “Founder Kent Fuka and his team bring an impressive more than 40 years of experience in the education space, disruptive energy to challenge traditional STEM education, and a passion to work with the students on Michigan’s Social Venture Fund. Querium is an ideal investment for the Fund,” said Aysha Malik, MBA ‘17, part of the due diligence team. querium.com
Portfolio Management Portfolio LearnZillion, which was founded in 2011, is a cloud-based curriculum focused on supporting teachers as they build learning experiences for their students. LearnZillion equips educators with a powerful learning platform, including expertly-crafted math and ELA lessons for grades K-12 that can be easily distributed to students. LearnZillion helps districts improve teacher performance, monitor student performance, and tailor teaching plans to student needs. Since its inception, LearnZillion has raised over $23 million in capital. LearnZillion has also built an impressive board. It includes cofounders Eric Westendorf (CEO) and Alix Guerrier (President), both of whom had been a principal and teacher. Other board members include: Rob Hutter (Learn Capital), Mark Jacobsen (OATV), Peter Moran (DCM), independent directors Andrew Klingstein and Joanne Weiss (formerly chief of staff at the US Department of Education). Finally, it was listed in Fast Company’s Top 5 Most Innovative Companies in Education, and has a user base of over one million teachers. learnzillion.com
In 2012, SVF invested in Jack and Jake’s. This past year, J&J rebranded and saw a change of leadership in its executive team. Chef Daniel Esses has assumed management after the departure of former CEO John Burns. Under the leadership of Daniel Esses, J&J is now called Dryades Public Market. Dryades partners with Louisiana and regional vendors to offer affordable, fresh food and groceries to the Oretha Castle Haley area in New Orleans and serves as a flagship property in the neighborhood, driving further economic development within the community. Dryades officially opened in April 2016. dryadespublicmarket.com
This year, Mytonomy shifted away from the education space and into healthcare. It now leverages its roots in the education space to develop microlearning modules for healthcare providers. Mytonomy works with providers to ensure they deliver patient education Mytonomy continued »
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Portfolio Management » continued from Mytonomy
before, during, and after procedures. Their microlearning platform, specialized content, and tracking tools are intended to improve patient comprehension and satisfaction and reduce risk. The company closed a bridge round in Q1, but the biggest milestone was the successful pilot conducted with MedStar Health to test the new microlearning modules with interventional cardiology patients. Patients who used Mytonomy’s tools reported feeling less anxious, more confident, and more satisfied with their medical procedure. Following the pilot’s success, MedStar and Mytonomy have decided to expand the learning modules into other types of procedures and conditions, including diabetes, obstetrics, and gastroenterology. Moving forward, Mytonomy will continue to build out its learning modules and looks to expand its services to additional providers. mytonomy.com
Powerhouse Dynamics (PhD) is a cloudbased provider of enterprise energy and asset management Solutions. Its SiteSage
platform helps owners of small, commercial facilities reduce their operating costs by reducing energy use, which leads to less carbon emissions and air pollution. The system continuously improves efficiency by controlling major loads, monitoring power consumption and performance of individual pieces of equipment, and tracking gas and water usage. PhD continues to meet its revenue and earnings targets. Bookings for the first half of the year for PhD reached $3M. This was due in large part to a $1.3M deal with RaceTrac. This was the company’s largest deal booked to date. PhD also just signed an agreement with Dunkin’ Donuts for Massachusetts. There is an expectation that opportunities will expand to the rest of New England. PhD has amassed several awards over the year, including:
• Newton-Needham Chamber of
Commerce—Green Company of the Year
• Environmental Leader—Project of the
Year, Water Conservation (with Arby’s, Ecova, Weathermatic). It should be noted that Arby’s recently announced a 15.2% decrease in energy costs and publicly credited PhD for contributing to this reduction.
• IoT Evolution—Business Impact Award ‘16 Powerhouse Dynamics continued »
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Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
Portfolio Management » continued from Powerhouse Dynamics
• MassTLC—Best use of Technology Winner—Internet of Things
At time of publication, PhD was in the midst of negotiating a Series C investment with a venture capital group based in Canada.
Technologies does is a core part of how community development is being approached in distressed communities. makeloveland.com
powerhousedynamics.com
Loveland Technologies is based in Detroit, Michigan and the San Francisco Bay Area with a growing team dedicated to putting America online parcel by parcel. The startup surveys blighted properties and foreclosures to help bridge the information divide around deserted land. Loveland aims to produce concise and digestible information that can help governments, developers, neighborhood groups, and passionate individuals manage property in a clear and actionable manner. Recently, Loveland expanded their services to cities around the nation, including Ohio’s three largest cities—Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati and overseas in countries like Brazil. Ultimately, the mapping work that Loveland
Querium was founded to help 24 million students master critical math and science skills, enabling them to achieve their career goals. Designed for digital native students living connected lives, Querium’s patented mobile learning platform delivers personalized short-form lessons and practice tests in STEM subjects like Math and Science. Querium’s StepWise Virtual Tutor uses A.I. technology that mimics a master teacher or master tutor, and is available 24/7. Since SVF invested in Querium, the company has hit a number of milestones and continues to broaden its reach. Over 50 Texas school districts are now using its products to help students succeed in their math courses. To date, over 120,000 students have used Querium’s service to prepare for the Texas Success Initiative Assessment.
Querium continued »
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Portfolio Management Alumni Spotlight
SAMIR MALVIYA, MBA ‘13 CURRENT JOB: Principal at Unitus Impact. PRIOR TO ROSS: Goldman Sachs, Ujjivan Financial Services (Microfinance firm in India), Developing World Markets (Social Asset Management firm in New York). WHY ROSS: Ross’ emphasis on action based learning and theme of responsible business makes it standout among top tier MBA programs. I am also a die-hard Michigan fan and couldn’t resist the opportunity to get two years of tailgating and the Big House! WHY SVF: SVF is action based learning at its finest. There are great classes on finance and venture capital at Ross, but SVF gave me the opportunity to be an actual investor instead of reading about how to invest. I also felt that SVF attracted the best and brightest at Ross; interacting with fellow associates during meetings, due diligence and other events was very rewarding. FAVORITE SVF MEMORIES: I will never forget my first investment committee presentation to the SVF membership and the Board. Our team had spent close to a hundred hours working on our due diligence and the opportunity to stand up in front of the entire group as a first year MBA student and make our investment case was exhilarating. rewarding! WHY SVF WAS IMPORTANT: SVF helps Ross stand out among the top tier business schools - we were first to have a student run impact investing fund and have been leaders in getting students involved in impact investing across the country. ADVICE: SVF is by far the best learning experience you will have at Ross. Participate actively, learn from your fellow fund members, and get involved with due diligence or capacity building. CONTACT INFORMATION: samirm@umich.edu
» continued from Querium
Querium continues to build out the product, advancing the accuracy, performance, and ease-of-use of its math handwriting recognition technology. The team also created a new version of its keyboard interface to allow students to enter more complex math equations quickly and easily. Querium has amassed several accolades and publicity over the year, including:
• Named by Fast Company as one of
the Top 10 Most Innovative Education Companies for 2016
• Querium was featured in the White
House blog “Building the Next Generation of Assessment in Education.” StepWise is highlighted as a recent advance in technology and part of a new era of assessment in response to President Obama’s Testing Action Plan of 2015 to reduce the time students spend on standardized tests while improving the usefulness of tests. Beyond performing on its current contracts with WebAssign, Sapling, US Department of Education, and State of Texas, Querium is focused on building business that reinforces its business model of recurring orders from colleges and recurring licenses for StepWise AI. Querium plans to raise additional equity in the coming months. querium.com
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Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
Portfolio Management Capacity-Building Mytonomy Series A Round Assistance Four SVF associates helped the Mytonomy management team prepare for a Series A fundraising round in mid-2016 by refining the company’s pitch messaging, developing a refreshed financial model, and researching potential investors. The team’s robust financial model was also a key input to Mytonomy’s milestone deal with a major East Coast health system in spring 2016, helping CEO Anjali Kataria ensure that the deal terms and pricing would position the company for future growth. Said Kataria of the team’s work: “I can’t tell you how helpful this is. It is really going to shape what we propose and pitch going forward.” Competitive Intelligence Assistance As part of Mytonomy’s pivot into the healthcare industry, 4 SVF associates worked closely with Anjali Kataria and her management team to gain a thorough understanding of the competitive environment of the micro-learning industry, specifically where its players operate in the healthcare industry. By researching competitors’ strengths and healthcare institutions’ needs, the SVF team was able to provide insight regarding areas where Mytonomy could and could not establish competitive advantage, as well as suggest white space where competition was not active within the healthcare industry.
Alumni Spotlight
KIRBY SMITH, MBA/MPP ‘13 CURRENT JOB: Director, Venture Development at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. PRIOR TO ROSS: Senior Analyst at Ithaka S+R (nonprofit focused on technology and higher education), Project Manager at a Baltimore-based education advocacy group, middle school teacher at the American School of Sao Paulo. WHY ROSS: SVF was just getting off the ground when I was considering business schools, and the chance to be a part of it from (close to) the beginning was huge part of why I came to Ross. I was also excited about the unique opportunity to learn from classmates with such a wide range of backgrounds and career aspirations. As a lifelong Michigan football fan, the opportunity to live in Ann Arbor didn’t hurt, either. WHY SVF: My goal in coming Michigan was to develop a set of business skills that I could use to create sustainable social impact. SVF is, by far, the best opportunity to build those skills in a realworld context. FAVORITE SVF MEMORIES: I vividly remember the day we presented the investment thesis for SVF’s first-ever deals. It was exhilarating to be a part of that process, because we all knew that we were breaking new ground at Ross. WHY SVF WAS IMPORTANT: SVF was, without question, the richest learning experience I had at Ross. In addition to confirming my long term interest in a career in social impact, the intellectual challenge and responsibility associated with making real investments was the best preparation I had for my post-MBA years in consulting. The rigor we applied to thinking about investments at SVF continues to inform the way I think about grant-making in my role at the Arnold Foundation today. ADVICE: Don’t worry about having all the answers or figuring out everything on your own. Asking the right questions and knowing when you need to rely on experts is (more than) half the battle. CONTACT INFORMATION: kirbysmith7@gmail.com Stephen M. Ross School of Business
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Fund Development Thought Leadership In April, Aaron Steiner, Kristin Steiner, Wiles Kase, Diana Callaghan, Ian Robinson, and Juan Pablo Garcia traveled to Philadelphia to pitch the Fund’s most recent investment, Querium, at the MIINT competition at Wharton. The Associates delivered a strong pitch and expertly addressed the panel judges’ challenging questions with supporting data and explanations of the valuation, impact metrics, etc. While Querium didn’t make it to the finals of the competition (due in part to MIINT’s desire to diversify beyond edtech), the Ross SVF stood out from the 25+ schools in competition. On a best practicesharing panel, students from HBS, Wharton, MIT Sloan, Berkeley Haas, Kellogg, and Booth repeatedly looked to the Ross SVF for guidance. SVF’s Director of Investments,
Diana Callaghan, fielded questions related to deal sourcing, due diligence, and administering a student-run fund.
SVF1s Alex Kravitz, Abby Poats, Holly Price, and Aaron Steiner participated in the Ross Venture Capital Investment Competition, in which student groups act as venture capitalists, screening three companies and ultimately deciding to invest in one. Alex and Aaron’s team earned runner-up, and judges selected Abby to join the winning team to compete at the VCIC semifinals at UC Boulder in February.
Left: Diana Callaghan, MBA ‘16, sharing key learnings from UM Social Venture Fund with fund leaders from HBS, Wharton, Booth, and Sloan. Right: SVF MIINT representatives (clockwise from top left, Juan Pablo Garcia, MBA/MS ‘16; Wiles Kase, MBA/ MS ‘18; Diana Callaghan, MBA ‘16; Aaron Steiner, MBA ‘17; and Kristin Steiner, MBA/MS ‘17) enjoying a break during programming.
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Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
Fund Development
Several Fund members demonstrated their own entrepreneurial skills by pitching their own business ideas at the MBC semi-finals and finals in February. PreDXion Bio, co-founded by Caroline Landau, received the PryorHale award for Best Business for $25,000 and the Williamson Award for Outstanding Cross-Functional Team for $5,000. PreDXion’s technology, MicroKine, enables physicians to monitor their patients’ immune responses to certain cancer therapies in half an hour from a single drop of blood. CARt, represented in part by Christine Priori, received one of the Marketing Awards for $2,500. CARt enables low-income individuals without access to vehicles to travel to and from supermarkets for access to affordable healthy food. Finally, Sage & Grace, created by Holly Price, received
one of the Outstanding Presentation awards for $2,000. Sage & Grace aims to facilitate estate planning, hospice information, funeral planning, and burial options for grieving families with limited resources.
Caroline Landau, MBA ‘16, with PreDXion co-founder Walter McHugh, MSE ‘17, receiving the grand prize at Michigan Business Challenge in February 2016.
Fundraising SVF received $200K of generous support from the Zell-Lurie Institute, providing funding for four future investments of $50K each. In addition to ZLI’s significant contribution, SVF received almost $22K in donations from various corporate and individual donors in FY 2015 and the first several months of FY 2016.
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Looking ahead We are proud of our accomplishments over the past year and look forward to continuing to develop SVF as a cornerstone of Ross’s action-based learning approach. The incoming leadership team—Dannan Hodge, Wiles Kase, Alex Kravitz, Aysha Malik, and Abby Poats—is already well underway in planning and executing its priorities for 2016-2017. These include: Operations Attract a culturally and professionally diverse class of SVF associates and increase the strength of interpersonal bonds between fund members. Education Provide fund associates with knowledge and tools to proficiently source deals and complete due diligence and capacity building projects through a systematic and dynamic learning platform. Fund Development Strengthen relationships with board members and facilitate their involvement in advocacy to Ross administration, fundraising, and the student investment process. Investments Strengthen deal flow through continuous relationship building and refine the screening and diligence processes to ensure that SVF is set up to make the best possible investment decision. Portfolio Management Identify opportunities to elevate how we support our portfolio companies and expose these company leaders to fund members on a more regular cadence.
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Social Venture Fund Annual Report 2016
SVF Class of 2016 Associates passing the “SVF torch” to 2016-2017 fund leaders.
Thank you, Class of 2016 We thank the Class of 2016—some of Ross’s best and brightest—for all of their dedication to shaping SVF into what it is today. Below is just a sampling of where they are headed next. We wish them the best in their future endeavors, and look forward to keeping them engaged in SVF’s development moving forward!
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