Have you Met?
Connie Bowen, Founding General Partner, Farmhand Ventures
Describe your journey to 39 North.
I've been in the St. Louis agtech scene since before 39N was a thing! I'm originally from New Jersey, and I grew up in one of those families that thinks NYC+burbs is the only place worth being. Fortunately, I've pretty successfully deconditioned myself from this belief over the past 7 years. I moved to St Louis after graduating college in 2016 as a Venture for America fellow to work for The Yield Lab's first fund. I am so lucky to have been thrown immediately in the deep end of agtech investment and to have gotten to work with some of the most experienced and respected individuals in this space and region.
What are you excited to be working on right now?
I'm excited to be building a firm that is focused first and foremost on resourcing technical solutions that make the lives of the people who do the work to feed us better. It's a joy to work with founders like Alex Gutierrez at L5 Automation and Wendy Mosher at New West Genetics. Note that Farmhand Ventures is, to the best of my knowledge, the only woman-owned agrifoodtech venture firm in St. Louis - on one hand, I'm excited to be laying the groundwork for that. But also, it's 2023, and this is long overdue. We need more diverse fund managers in St. Louis to continue to develop and support our entrepreneurial agrifoodtech ecosystem.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Free time? What's that? :) My not-working time is spent lifting at the best gym in the Lou, Given100, playing rugby for the STL Sabres, walking or hiking with my boxer-staffy, Echo, cooking for and with friends, and yelling at my TV during NWSL games (I'm a Gotham fan, so this was a good year.)
