Michael Lavin

Michael founded Germin8 Ventures to be a purpose-driven venture capital firm with strong strategic backing from executives, entrepreneurs, visionaries and technologists across the Food & Agriculture industry. As Founder & Managing Partner, Michael oversees all aspects of Germin8’s investing, operations and strategy, as well as actively participates on the boards of invested companies. Michael is also an advisor, mentor and member at several accelerators and incubators, including Rabobank’s TERRA Accelerator, Alchemist Accelerator, the Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator, 1871, The Good Food Accelerator, Family Farmed and The Hatchery. Michael’s experience includes extensive investment banking and consulting for clients ranging from early-stage startups and the middle market to the Fortune 500 across numerous industry verticals, with particular emphasis on Industrial Technology, Aerospace and Food & Agriculture. Michael also served on an executive team, leading highly-strategic internal corporate development advisory and M&A for Mesirow Financial, a global financial services firm managing more than $100 billion of assets.

Michael's passion and knowledge within Food & Agriculture is authentic and deep-rooted, having grown up in the industry, working throughout the value chain and completing coursework in agribusiness and related sciences, in addition to receiving Bachelors and Masters degrees in Finance. Michael is a proud Chicago native, but regularly commutes to the San Francisco Bay Area, Europe, Tel Aviv and other hubs where food meets tech.