Media Coverage

SVF’s work and status as the leader in the student-led impact investing space has been recognized by business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Xconomy, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Fund members have also written for news sites such as GreenBiz and Poets and Quants.

If you are a member of the media or an independent journalist and would like to speak with a member of the fund please email us at [email protected].

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Ross Student Fund Gets Into the Social Media Business

May 2013 – Among the first of its kind, the student-led Social Venture Fund at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business recently announced an investment in Mytonomy, a social network for college and career advising. It’s the third investment the fund has made since its launch at the end of 2010. While the amount of the investment was not disclosed, the fund invests up to only $100,000 at a time, and Mytonomy feels there is other value in this kind of support… Continue reading

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University of Michigan Ross School of Business Student-led Social Venture Fund Invests in Mytonomy

April 2013 – The Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business today announced that its Social Venture Fund, the nation’s first student-led impact investing fund, has participated in a seed stage round of financing in Mytonomy, Inc., a video storytelling platform for college and career advising. The Fund joined lead investor NewSchools Venture Fund and Kapor Capital in the deal. This marks the student-led fund’s third investment and second in the education sector…  Continue reading ______________________________________________________________________________________

U-M’s Student-Led Social Venture Fund Invests in Mytonomy

May 2013 – The University of Michigan’s student-run Social Venture Fund announced last week that it has invested in Mytonomy, an ed tech startup based in Washington, D.C. NewSchools Venture Fundled the round and Kapor Capital also participated. The Social Venture Fund makes early-stage investments of up to $100,000 in innovative socially or environmentally responsible companies. This is the third investment the fund has made… Continue reading ______________________________________________________________________________________

University of Michigan fund invests in sustainable food company Jack & Jake’s
Examiner, July 2012 - Ross students head up the SVF, which U-M launched in 2009. The Jack & Jake’s investment is the second in the fund’s brief history, following one made earlier this year in Learn Zillion, which connects students, parents, and teachers online. This round of funding is said to have raised $225,000, to which the Social Venture Fund contributed an undisclosed amount. The money will assist the food company — which is focused on the logistics of food production and distribution in New Orleans — with its goal of building a bridge from local fisherman and farmers to area residents who seek healthy, locally-grown food…Continue reading

U-M Social Venture Fund Picks LearnZillion for Its First Investment
X-Conomy, April 2012 - The University of Michigan’s student-run Social Venture Fund recently announced it has made its first investment in an education-tech startup called LearnZillion. The fund, which makes early-stage investments of up to $200,000, joined a syndicate of 17 investors for a Series A round valued at $2.4 million total. According to a statement from U-M, this also marks the first time a student-led, socially oriented venture fund anywhere has made an investment of this kind…Continue reading

University of Michigan students start nation’s first venture capital fund for social benefits
September 2010 - The University of Michigan’s third student-led venture capital fund plans to make its first investment in early 2011. The twist: The new investment vehicle, called the Social Venture Fund, will seek out investments that will eventually reap financial returns for the fund in addition to societal benefits. The fund, officially launched in fall 2009, is the third fund led by students at the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at U-M’s Ross School of Business. The others are the Wolverine Venture Fund and Frankel Commercialization Fund…Continue reading

University of Michigan students start nation’s first venture capital fund for social benefits
Wall Street Journal, September 2010 – Georgetown vs. Syracuse. Indiana vs. Purdue. Harvard vs. Yale…Michigan vs. Utah? Get ready for the newest college rivalry, pitting two giants of student-run venture capital funds against each other for bragging rights as the undisputed leader in social-impact investing! We’re admittedly dramatic here, but only because we’re matching the enthusiasm of two universities which lay claim on very the same day—through competing press-release services, no less—to launching the first student-managed venture fund focused on the double bottom line of earning a profit while making the world a better place… Continue reading

Student Venture Funds Tackle Social Problems
Business Week September 2010 - For years, the goal of most student-managed investment funds on business school campuses has been to make a profit, rather than change the world. Now, two business schools that operate student-run venture funds, the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business (Ross Full-Time MBA Profile) and the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business (Full-Time MBA Profile), are trying to do both at the same time…Continue reading

University of Michigan Social Venture Fund Comes Out of Stealth, Aims to Invest in Companies at the Nexus of Public and Private
X-Conomy September 2010 - “Social shouldn’t be viewed as soft,” says University of Michigan finance professor Gautam Kaul. “Unfortunately, soft and social tend to go together in people’s perceptions.” But Social Venture Fund, a new investing vehicle out of the University of Michigan that came out of stealth mode just last week, is taking a hard look at social inequality—and is out to prove that investments targeted at ameliorating it can make money… Continue reading