Michael Lavin is the founder and managing partner of Germin8 Ventures, a purpose-driven venture capital firm that believes in the power of technology to fix the global food system. Founded in 2018 and backed by C-level executives, entrepreneurs and technologists across the food and agriculture industries, Germin8 is building a portfolio of entrepreneurs and businesses with the potential to profoundly change the future of FoodTech and AgTech.

Michael oversees all aspects of Germin8’s investing, operations and strategy in addition to actively participating on the boards of its portfolio companies. Prior to Germin8, Michael served as an investment banker and financial consultant at Mesirow Financial, a global financial services firm managing more than $100 billion of assets, where he executed numerous M&A, capital raising and restructuring transactions for early stage startups, middle market and Fortune 500 companies with a particular focus on food and agriculture, industrial technology and aerospace.

Michael is an advisor, mentor and member at several accelerators and incubators including Rabobank’s TERRA Accelerator, Alchemist Accelerator, Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator, 1871, The Good Food Accelerator, Family Farmed and The Hatchery. He received a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Michael is based in Chicago but splits his time between the San Francisco Bay Area, Europe, Tel Aviv and other hubs where food meets tech.

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Links

347: AgTech Diligence and How to Impress AgTech VC with Michael Lavin, Managing Partner at Germin8 Ventures