MBA Ventures Q2 2024 Update

Dear Friends of MBA Ventures,

I hope you are all enjoying the start of summer! As a quick reminder to those new to this newsletter:

MBA Ventures is a global early-stage VC fund and network committed to backing MBA student and alumni founders from top-tier schools.

In this issue you will find the following:

• 💸 Investments: summary of our Q2 deals (21 deals to date).

• 📝 MBA Ventures/MBAT Pitch Competition Summary

• 👩‍🎓 Scout Program: find out how to work with us (for MBA students)

Cheers,

Clark & Monica

🥕BetterBasket, co-founded by Leon Zhang, Wharton MBA, and Vagelis Viskadouros, is a US-based end-to-end pricing solution for grocers - the Bloomberg for food and beverage prices. Stage: Seed. Notable co-investors: YC & co-founder of Youtube.

📅 Charmspring, Columbia MBA, Stephanie Korey (co-founder of Away), is a product-based business focused on adding harmony and joy to family life while developing young minds. The first product is a high-quality, customizable routine board. Round: Pre-seed. Notable investors: TBD, self-funded.

👾 Kalavai AI: co-founded by Carlos Fernandez Musoles & Annie Wang, Cambridge MBA, Kalavai is a global marketplace for AI computation. Stage: Pre-seed. Notable co-investors: Cambridge University. (*pending USA incorporation)

*full list of investments to date is here.

In May, we participated in MBAT, Europe’s largest gathering of MBA students to host an MBA Pitch Competition at HEC’s campus in Paris.

After the success of our first pitch competition in November in NYC, we decided to host our second in Europe to connect with the brightest MBA founders on the continent. These events have been tremendously successful in generating quality deal flow. Over 100 MBA-founded startups applied and the 4 top finalists pitched in person for an investment from MBA Ventures. The winner of the competition was Kalavai AI.

We now have over 35 Investment Partner Scouts who are MBA students at top programs sourcing deals and participating in our investment process. If you are an MBA student at a top program interested in VC and learning more about our Scout Program, click here.

P.S. to learn more about MBA Ventures, feel free to contact us directly at clark@mba-ventures.com or monica@mba-ventures.com.