Emerging Manager Spotlight: Jessica Karr of Coyote Ventures

on running with the wolves, revolutionizing women’s health and wellness, and highlighting the fringes of society

Key Takeaways:

1. Talk about your thesis as much as possible. Closing a first fund means talking to hundreds of people with a low conversion rate and minimal feedback, but you never know who aligns with your mission and wants to invest right away.
2. Be steadfast in your thesis and motivation. If you don’t have the conviction of a strong thesis yet, invest with others in an SPV or as an LP.
3. Build a diverse team that highlights and complements your expertise in order to support your portfolio. By sharing their diligence and communicating their scientific convictions clearly with other investors, Coyote brings their portcos in front of other influential investors and helps secure additional capital.

Jessica Karr is the founder & general partner of Coyote Ventures, the venture capital fund she established in 2021. Coyote is unique — Jess and her team only invest in companies solving issues to improve women’s health and wellness. By investing in this historically marginalized sector, Jess aims to help improve women’s lives, better gender equality, and invest in the companies she had seen passed over over the years, companies dealing with life or death issues.

An ode to the book “Women Who Run with the Wolves” by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Coyote Ventures seeks to honor the “wild woman” archetype, the idea that every woman has an instinctual nature, a powerful force of passion, creativity, and knowledge. Jess took her own spin on the titular wolves, connecting with the dynamism and Native American symbolism of coyotes.

Coyotes are continually shunned to the fringes of society but — nonetheless — persist, resist, and thrive.

Originally a biochemist from UC San Diego, Jess was hired as the 12th employee at Impossible Foods and spent 6 years in R&D for the groundbreaking Impossible Burger. In 2018, Jess earned her MBA where she focused on sustainable management and was drawn to impact investing, especially…