Kairos Society Ventures: A Fund for Young Founders Rethinking Broken Industries
(by Alex Fiance)
I am excited to announce the launch of Kairos Society Ventures, a seed investment fund dedicated to backing the young founders in our community who are reshaping broken industries and pushing the world forward.
The fund is another step forward on our mission to focus the next generation on solving today’s most pressing problems through entrepreneurship and innovation.
In 2008, we set out to prove to the world that young entrepreneurs can drive both progress and profit in critical areas like transportation, education, and healthcare. Today, the data backs this up: the top Kairos companies from the past 4 years alone have collectively raised over $600 million to push their industries forward, and achieved a combined valuation of over $2.5 billion. Now, when a Kairos company starts to break out, we can put our money where our mouth is with funding.
A Movement Set in Motion by the Financial Crisis
Kairos was founded in 2008 in the backdrop of the financial crisis, a time in which even the brightest students struggled to find jobs and internships. Sitting in a dorm at U Penn, our founder Ankur wondered: what would the world look like if the best collegiate talent focused on entrepreneurship instead of banking and consulting? How can we help lower the barriers so that these young entrepreneurs have the courage to enter complex spaces like energy and logistics?
Guided by these questions, we started a bold experiment called the Kairos Fellowship, the first peer-to-peer community of student entrepreneurs that spanned college campuses across the US. To start, we searched the labs and lecture halls of the 14 top universities and identified 250 of the most promising students (the inaugural Kairos Fellows). We brought them together at the first Kairos Global Summit with some of the year’s most influential leaders, including Phil Condit (Boeing CEO), Ellen Kullman (DuPoint CEO), and Duncan Niederauer (New York Stock Exchange CEO).
What started as a vision turned into a movement of young leaders, and we rapidly expanded our presence from 14 schools in the US to over 50 countries and 100 universities. This growth is sustained by the deep relationships built within the Kairos Fellowship, which is now one global community that extends from San Francisco to the Amsterdam, from Waterloo to Bangalore. We tapped a new generation of founders who have, together, gone on to found breakout companies such as Freenome, Periscope, Digital Genius, Casper, ClearMotion, and Onfido.
Investing in the Leaders of the Future
Moving forward we have two key focuses:
1) The Kairos Global Fellowship
At the core, the Kairos Fellowship is about finding and bringing together the most innovative designers, engineers, scientists, and business students from around the world who believe that, through entrepreneurship, we can solve problems that others haven’t. It’s a true grassroots community, made possible by the dozens of our incredible local leaders who scout universities worldwide for peers who are shaping the future.
The Fellowship is a launchpad where emerging student entrepreneurs can meet their future cofounders, gain exposure to the latest trends and technologies, and build lifelong friendships. Over the years, we’ve given Kairos Fellows a seat at the table at some of the world’s most influential gatherings, ranging from Milken in LA, Ambrosetti in Lake Como, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, TEDMED in Baltimore, and even Alifest in China.
The Fellowship will continue to be merit-based and a completely free experience run through our not-for-profit foundation, aiming to democratize access to opportunities for young entrepreneurs whether they’re in Silicon Valley or Cape Town.
2) Venture Fund
Consistent with our mission, the fund will invest globally, and emphasize young founders building companies in areas where governments and big corporations are failing to address unmet needs. We expect to make 10–15 seed investments a year out of the new fund, with a focus on companies we can immediately help accelerate to an institutional Series A round. Investors in the fund include successful entrepreneurs and families across five continents, from backgrounds spanning hospitality, healthcare, finance, enterprise software, and transportation.
We’ve already begun to invest in companies pushing industries forward, such as Abaris, which is helping people prepare for retirement with a private-sector alternative to Social Security; Me Salva, one of the fastest growing education institutions in Brazil bringing mobile-based courses to all students; Mi Aguila, which is building the transportation network for the Colombian workforce; and Radish Fiction, which is disrupting the traditional publishing model with a mobile-first serialized fiction platform.
We’ll also continue to recognize our annual Kairos 50, representing the 50 most innovative seed-stage companies founded by young entrepreneurs from around the world. The Kairos 50 shines a spotlight on market-ready companies solving meaningful problems that have historically run the gamut from infant monitoring (Owlet) to political data analysis (FiscalNote) to lights that kill bacteria (Vital Vio).
Beginning the Next Chapter of Kairos
The fund is another big step on our entrepreneurial journey to build Kairos into a lasting institution that will support the leaders of the future for years to come. We built a VC fund from the ground up, with guidance from Kairos alumni who have also gone on to launch their own funds, including Jake Medwell, Krishna Gupta, and my brother Jeremy Fiance. We sought guidance from world-class mentors and technology investors too, and we’re fortunate to have investors and advisors that include 8VC, Draper & Associates, Obvious Ventures, and the OS Fund.
Moving forward, Kairos is moving to a Partner structure, where I’ll be leading the organization alongside our original founder Ankur Jain and new addition Ryan Bloomer, who was part of the first wave of Kairos Fellows in 2008. Of course, Kairos will continue to be a community-driven effort, as we’ll be continue to work closely alongside our team of regional leaders.
Early-stage entrepreneurship has evolved significantly since we started in 2008, back when there were only 16 accelerators in the US, long before it was trendy to say you had a startup. It’s a big improvement that thousands of students worldwide see entrepreneurship as a viable career path, and every year we get well over a thousand referrals to young entrepreneurs with real products/technologies that address significant problems. I feel confident in the future, knowing there are already hundreds of mission-driven young founders out there, tackling challenges like teacher engagement, diabetic care, and vaccine transportation. We hope the next Mark Zuckerberg will come from one of the fundamental industries, and certainly may live thousands of miles away from America.
However, building things that the world needs is just part of the solution — — to really move the needle, startups must also achieve market adoption to reach millions (or billions) of people. Through this fund, we’re doubling down on the pursuit to help our companies bring their businesses to market. Now we can truly align our long-term growth with the success of the entrepreneurs we exist to support. The better the fund performance, the more resources that go to the Kairos Fellows of the future, who may just be entering middle school right now.
You can follow along on the journey at www.kairossociety.com. In the meantime, we want to extend a series of thank-yous to the members of our community who helped us get here. We’re eager to follow your pursuits as you join our ever-expanding alumni network.
Get Involved: Want to be part of our Global Executive Team? Apply Here
Press Articles from March 2017:
Business Insider
Forbes
Inc
TechCrunch
To the original founding crew, who had the drive and energy to build a community from the ground up
Jake Medwell, Jonathan Shriftman, David Wyler, Jaclyn Noble, Ryder Fyrwald, Alex Debelov, Ted Gonder, Vishal Lugani
To the K50 alumni who remind us every day of the potential of entrepreneurship to push the world forward
Aaron Goldstein, Adam Lipecz, AJ Cihla, AJ Forsythe, Alex Debelov, Andres Blumo, Angel Say, Archit Bhise, Arron Acosta, Ben Gulak, Betsy Núnez, Brandon Liu, Brennen Byrne, Bruno Ocampo, Caroline Pugh, Charlie Jacobson, Christopher Bradley, Clinton D. Mutambo, Colleen Costello, Connor Landgraf, Corey Levy, Cosmin Mihaiu, Craig Douglass, Curren Krasnoff, Daniel Fine, Daniel Gomez, Daniel Ruyak, Danny Cabrera, David Carrico, David Chen, David West, Delian Asparouhov, Dinesh Wadhwani, Dmitry Aksenov, Doug Coughran, Douglas Hoernle, Eamon Jubbawy, Eden Full, Eddie De La Cruz, Ellen Su, Emily Núnez, Eric Beydoun, Gabriel Blanchet, Gary Kurek, Giels Brouwer, Harshil Goel, Harry Gandhi, Hunter Rosenblume, Inigo Rumayor, Ivonna Dumanyan, John Lewandowski, Jesse Pollak, Johann Huber, Jonathan Hefter, Johnathan Schwartz, Jordan Greene, Joseph Moon, Kayvon Beykpour, Kenny Nguyen, Kevin Rustagi, Kevin Wang, Khaled Naim, Kurt Workman, Louis-Victor Jadavji, Mark Pavlyukovskyy, Matt Carey, Merrill Lutsky, Miguel Andorffy, Mike Schmidt, Mikhail Naumov, Moufeed Kaddoura, Nanxi Liu, Nikita Bier, Noor Siddiqui, Patrick Coughran, Patrick Ip, Patrick Pittaluga, Pieter Doevendans, Raheem Bello, Rahul Sidhu, Rasmus Davidsen, Rebecca Hinds, Rohith Varanasi, Sam Shames, Sean Warner, Seungyoon Lee, Shakeel Avadhany, Sonia Agarwal, Spencer Hewitt, Tal Azouri, Theodora Koullias, Thibault Duchemin, Tim Hwang, Vinnie Ramesh, Will Drevno, Will Drevo, Will Hubbard, Will Senyo, William Zhou, Zack Johnson, Zach Hargreaves
To everyone who’s taken the leap to work on Kairos and pursue this mission professionally as team members and advisors:
Bryan Wish, Karolina Stawinska, Miles Bird, Sarah Tulin, Zac Oransky, Doug Gould, Erinne Grant, Chris Yoshida, Debbie Adler, Laura Evans, Chris Stiles, Josh Wong, Kelly Baldwin, Aaron Barker, Jonathan Glencross (& Purpose Capital), Taylor Rowe, Tony Chen, Jeremy Fiance, Abbey Doyno, Magdalena Stawinska, Blair LaCorte, Drew Oetting, James Joaquin, Mike Au, Liz Heller, Ken Hertz, Ernie Iseminger, Lesa Mitchell, Sean Trigony, Steve Bilawey, Daniel Teweles, Orion de Nevers, Ethan Gromet, Emily Gran, Thomas Hague, Vedika Jain, Curtis Black, Ellis Simani, Tanvi Bhargava
To our current regional leaders:
Chloe Belangia, Riley Auten, Sneh Parmar, Ari Krasner, Sarah Shavin, Nigel Egrari, Michael Bervell, Derek Tu, Vinayak Ramesh, Marc Bielas, Riley Soward, Aneesh Pappu, Lukas Schwab, Lucas Cohen, Desmond Choi, Daniel Dippold, Daniel Gomez, Andres Ibarra, Fernando Sierra, Lech Bakhuizen Van den Brink, Seth Allen, Tim Brownstone, Max Song, Pieter Strydom, Govind Kavaturi, Ilan Regenbaum, Chen Lujie, Jian Sim, Vince Fong and Neil Jain, Paul Dariye
To all the regional leaders from past years, who have helped us discover some of the world’s most inspiring young entrepreneurs and sustain the diversity and global reach of Kairos
Adrienne Tran, Alex Kern, Alex Lopera, Alexandra Abbas, Alydaar Rangwala, Andras Tessényi, André Albuquerque, Andrea Spaggiari, Angelo Min Tagliabue, Anum Anwer, Apurv Agarwal, Ari Cohen, Arjun Mali, Arun Agarwal, Austin Kevitch, Balazs Szabo, Becca Goldstein, Ben Biron, Boris Kiknadze, Bruno Pinhiero de Melo, Carl Shan, Carlos Miceli, Caroline Pugh, Cherie Liang, Chris Alvarez, Cival Van der Lubbe, Christopher Pruijsen, Claudio Quintana, Dani Van de Sande, Daniel Gross, Daniel Horak, David Acs, David Khosroshvili, Dexter Zhuang, Diego Arroyo, Dylan Reid, Elizabeth Schieffelin, Erasmus Mweene, Eric Walisko, Eric Walter, Erica Lee, Francis Chiwunda, Francisco Carvalho Araujo, Francisco Salgado, Francisco Cabral, Franziska Becker, Frithjof Wegener, Golam Kibrea, Hajnalka Hejja, Hemant Sahal, Holly Ormseth, Ian Han, Imtiaz Majeed, Ivo Sluganovic, Jeff Chen, Jeroen Offerijns, Jian Min Sim, Jonathan Shriftman, Josh Birdwell, Josh Rosenheck, Kamil Adamczyk, Lech Bakhuizen van den Brink, Lucas Koster, Lujie Chen, Maddie McKinley, Magnus Petersen-Paaske, Marc Berruezo, Marielle Marki, Matthias Meier, Max Song, Mayank Jain, Michael Lei, Michael Maiorano, Michiel Cambron, Miriam Neubauer, Morgan Fabian, Nadine Bongaerts, Natalia Gonchavez, Neslihan Feradov, Nikola Yanev, Patrick Ip, Paul Dariye, Pedro Conceição, Peter Ryan, Pierre-Simon Ntiruhungwa, Pippa Biddle, Priyanka Jain, Rachel Ford, Rebecca Kantar, Riley Ennis, Robin Bhaduri, Samantha Smith, Santhosh Narayan, Santosh Yellajosula, Sarah Tulin, Scott Haber, Sebastian Bruce, Shem Shaikh, Shilpi Kumar, Sizwe Ndlovu, Steve Mnich, Teague Egan, Titiaan Palazzi, Tom Raviv, Vanessa Butz, Vanessa Restrepo Schild, Victoria Schramm, Vince Fong, Vlad Antohi, Wade Song, Walter Rivera, William Edem Senyo, Xiaochang Wang, Yoni Ofir, Yori Kamphuis, Zainab Ali, Zoltan Marcsinak
***Again, I’m sorry if I missed anyone!
