LIL Venture Fund

We offer more than $10,000 of funding annually.

To encourage student entrepreneurship and innovation, the LIL Venture Fund sponsors and organizes the IdeAction Global Pitch Competition twice yearly. The competition corresponds with the LVF's biannual funding cycles in May and November.

Once the IdeAction winners are announced at the Spring and Fall Student Research and Innovation Showcases, they're awarded funding directly from the LIL Venture Fund. Winner selection is merit-based and considers the following: 

• The project, organization, or venture's current scale (e.g., number of people involved, amount of funds raised, number of events organized, etc.)
• The projected direction and growth potential of the project, organization, or venture.

This selection criterion represents the broad guidelines of how student projects are vetted. However, since each venture is unique, it is impossible to evaluate all entries using universal metrics. Therefore, student projects are analyzed and judged holistically and individually. Some students can be awarded multiple times within the same funding cycle if it is merited.

In addition to the ongoing support and project monitoring we provide LVF recipients, we also offer a complimentary videography service that students can leverage to produce marketing materials like promotional clips, social media posts, and more. 

We work closely with our expert partners to ensure a broader range of perspectives are incorporated into the IdeAction Global Pitch Competition's judging process. We also strive to provide all LVF awardees with professional feedback on the future expansion possibilities and potential pitfalls of their ventures.  

This professional advice from industry experts, within a venture capital context, is particularly valuable to high school students who wouldn't typically have that level of exposure. 

Unlike Expert Partners, who are adult professionals and leaders in their industries, LVF Limited Partners are high school students who have been selected to participate in the management of the LIL Venture Fund. 

Under the direct supervision of the Leadership and Innovation Lab Director and LVF General Partner Maya Gobert, LVF Limited Partners serve 6-month tenures and their duties typically include:

• Assisting in sourcing, reviewing, and selecting student projects to award 
• Publicizing the availability of LVF funding via their personal networks
• Assisting in ongoing project monitoring after students receive funding (e.g., LPs ensure that monthly reports are submitted punctually, act as points of contact between awardees and LVF, and assist student projects with open recruitment to help grow their ventures) 
• Assisting in legacy planning to ensure the sustainability of student projects

LVF Limited Partners shouldn't need to commit more than 1 to 2 hours per week to their roles, but the time commitment is more intensive at the end of a funding cycle than it is at the beginning.

This is an excellent extracurricular opportunity for students interested in finance, economics, business, or related fields. Learn more about how becoming an LVF Limited Partner could benefit you.