Search Funds are a financial vehicle, developed in the 1980s, where one or two individuals raise money from a group of advising investors to support their efforts to locate, acquire, and lead a privately held company over the long-term. The Sustainable and Impact Finance initiative at Berkeley Haas and Gratitude Railroad are supporting MBA students and impact investors to participate in an underrepresented financial vehicle by bringing it together with a mission aligned vision for a currently untapped opportunity for impact and financial investment.

The program launched in September 2020 with interested students enrolled in the introduction course in Search Funds, taught by professional faculty Jan Simon, and participating in a series of sessions with Gratitude Railroad and partner investors to explore developing an impact pitch proposal. Reflections and a summary of those sessions can be found here.

“We believe a search fund designed to align investors, searchers and businesses around solving critical issues is an exciting new use of the search model with the potential to continue generating strong economic value for all stakeholders. Berkeley Haas is an ideal partner on this initiative given their deep commitment to impact investing and the incredible talent of the students and professors.” Thomas Knowles, Managing Partner at Gratitude Railroad