Sky Kurtz

BIO

Sky Kurtz is a Stanford-educated, mission-driven founder and globally recognized operator, blending ins tu onal private equity discipline with opera onal excellence across climate tech, ag tech, and infrastructure. Holding an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was an Arbuckle Fellow and Global Trip Leader and graduating summa cum laude in Finance from Arizona State University with a perfect 4.00 GPA, Sky further distinguished himself with a GMAT score in the top 3–4% globally. A C-level athlete with a disciplined mindset, he views the world through a private equity lens, leading high-performance teams and transforming local ventures into global brands with strategic clarity and operational rigor. Sky is the founder and CEO of Pure Harvest Smart Farms, which he has built from a concept into a global leader in climate resilient agriculture. Under his leadership, Pure Harvest raised over $287 million in capital from sovereign wealth and institutional investors, scaling to more than 500 employees across four countries and delivering unlevered IRRs of 13-15% and project-level ROEs of 18–20% or higher. The company developed the region’s first hybrid, semi-automated greenhouse system, pioneering perishable supply chains in extreme climates, earning global acclaim from the BBC, Time, and Forbes, as well as recognition from the World Food Forum. Sky also positioned the company as a go-to ESG-aligned platform, forging partnerships with leading global brands, such as Range Rover, and government bodies. His experience extends to co-founding Vence, a livestock IoT company, where he helped pilot and commercialize a virtual fencing technology with roots in MIT research. Sky led Vence from idea on to commercial validator on, securing $16.7M in funding, and the company successfully grew to achieve a $125M exit to Merck Animal Health, proving his end-to-end executional capacity from seed to scale and exit. This followed senior private equity roles at Francisco Partners and CCMP Capital, where he led mul-million-dollar acquisitions, leveraged recaps, and transformation mandates across 11 deals, including three board positions. Earlier in his career, he was a top-ranked analyst in global leveraged finance at Lehman Brothers, where he structured high-yield and LBO transactions that refined his foundational deal-making acumen. As an avid angel investor, Sky has backed over two dozen early-stage ventures, leveraging his cross-sectoral insight, partner recognition, and capital alloca on discipline honed in private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC). His portfolio includes multiple startups that have matured into mul-hundred-million-dollar enterprises, including several unicorns. He provides not just capital but also strategic advisory services, helping founders navigate scaling challenges, structure growth equity, and prepare for exits. His deal judgment, product intuition, and ability to anticipate macro trends have earned him a reputation as a value-adding investor with a long-term mindset. Sky has also served on several boards of private equity-backed and public companies, contributing expertise in M&A, IPO readiness, and strategic planning. His governance expertise spans audit and remuneration committees, cross-border integration on, and ins tu onal reporting, earning ongoing mandates as a trusted advisor. He brings a global perspective and a hands-on leadership ethos that aligns with long-term value creation and stakeholder trust. A thought leader in sustainable innova on, Sky serves on advisory boards for the World Agri-Tech Innova on Summit, Asia Pacific Agri-Food Innova on Summit, and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Innovators community. He is a frequent speaker at climate ac on and venture capital summits, where he champions impact-driven investment models and digital transformations in agriculture, as well as supply chain resilience. Across ventures, he remains anchored in aligning people, performance, and purpose, driving impact while delivering high returns in capital-intensive, volatile environments.