Investor Profile: Aaron Desatnik (MBA '14), Ceres Partners

I was born and raised in Ohio, but the closest I got to living on a farm was my father’s modest vegetable garden. One night in college (yes, at that school in Columbus) after an environmental science class about the food system, I decided to spend the summer working on an organic farm. After college, I advised and then invested in real asset platforms in real estate, environmental services, and agriculture. In 2011, I met Ceres Partners founder Perry Vieth at the Chicago Fed Farmland Conference. My interest in finance and the environment led me to UofM’s Ross School of Business, where I founded a student fund investing in real estate and researched the intersection of sustainability and entrepreneurship in BRICS countries. In 2017, after three years building an investment track record in real estate, I joined Ceres Partners to grow its new private equity fund platform. To accelerate my learning curve and network building, I started the UofM Food & Agriculture Network, through which I’ve had the pleasure to meet with and learn from many of you.

At Ceres’ office in Boston, I invest in companies across the food supply chain at the intersection of changing consumer preferences, application of novel technologies, and increasingly environmental pressures. In the first fund, this included investments in production aquaculture (Kampachi Worldwide), regionally-sourced specialty ingredients (Proximity Malt), wastewater treatment (Digested Organics, also a UofM alum), and controlled environment agriculture. We generally invest $2 million to $15 million in equity in growth-stage companies transforming the food system. Although there has been increased media attention to the sector over the past few years, there is insufficient capital – the sector makes up 8% of the economy but only 1-2% of private investment. Outside of Ceres, I pretend I’m a farmer with a few acres of vegetables, berries and fruit trees (but no chickens to the dismay of my kids). Contact me or view my background.