
Craig Herron
Managing Partner
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- Full Name
- Craig M. Herron
- Title
- Managing Director / Managing Principal (Vice President – Ventures; Investment Committee)
- Firm
- iSelect Fund (iSelect Fund Management LLC)
- Firm Type
- Venture capital fund (early-stage; the stub's "Angel Investors" label is inaccurate — iSelect is an institutional venture fund)
- Investment Stage
- Seed and Series A
- Check Size
- $100K–$5.0M, with a ~$1.5M sweet spot
- Target Company Profile
- Early-stage, science-driven startups at the intersection of agriculture, food, and human health that improve nutrition, sustainability, and disease prevention
- Sector Focus
- AgTech (with emphasis on soil health), "Food is Health," and health/wellness (chronic and metabolic disease prevention, early detection); microbiome and life-science platform technologies
- Geographic Focus
- U.S., with strong Midwest roots; ranked among top Midwest investors
- Location
- St. Louis, Missouri (Clayton, MO 63105)
Background
Craig Herron is a Managing Director at iSelect Fund, a St. Louis–based venture capital firm founded in 2013 that invests in early-stage companies at the intersection of agriculture, food, and human health. He joined the firm in March 2016 as Vice President in charge of ventures and now sits on its investment committee, where he sources, structures, and leads deals across the fund's core verticals.
Before iSelect, Herron spent more than nine years as a Principal at Clayton Capital Partners, a St. Louis investment banking boutique, where he analyzed and structured buy- and sell-side transactions for middle-market and growth companies, with a practice focused on enterprise technology, life sciences, and energy. Between that role and iSelect he served as Vice President at Marcone (January 2013–August 2015). Earlier in his career he ran his own consulting practice advising early-stage companies and corporate venture groups — including Boeing's venture arm and Ameren — and held marketing roles at Anheuser-Busch and Aurora Foods, rising to Director of Marketing.
Herron earned both his BS and MBA from the University of Virginia. His blend of operating (marketing), advisory (investment banking / M&A), and venture experience shapes iSelect's diligence-heavy, thesis-driven approach to backing scientifically differentiated startups.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests at Seed and Series A, writing checks of $100K–$5.0M (sweet spot ~$1.5M), often leading rounds.
- Concentrates on three theses: AgTech (emphasis on soil health and sustainable crop systems), "Food is Health," and health & wellness focused on chronic/metabolic disease prevention and early detection.
- Looks for defensible science and platform technologies that can serve both food and pharmaceutical applications — e.g., his rationale for Holobiome: *"The science is undeniable, but it hasn't yet been translated into meaningful solutions. We believe Holobiome's microbiology-first platform is the key to unlocking this potential, opening up broad opportunities for both food applications and pharmaceuticals."*
- Explicitly avoids: consumer brands, small-molecule therapeutics, and solutions that don't target chronic or metabolic disease.
Notable Investments
- Holobiome — Microbiome platform startup mapping the gut-brain axis (lead program: a probiotic for depression). iSelect led its oversubscribed $9M seed round (October 2024); Herron was the deal partner and public spokesperson.
- Benson Hill — St. Louis crop-improvement company using its CropOS platform (machine learning + genome editing) for healthier, more sustainable food. iSelect was an early backer; Herron served as a board observer (Benson Hill later went public via SPAC in 2021).
- Flywheel — Data/database software company; Herron was reported as the lead partner on iSelect's June 2023 deal.
- Broader iSelect AgTech/food portfolio in which Herron participates includes AgriWebb (livestock management software), Arable Labs (crop intelligence), Agrible, and Artemis (indoor-farming software).
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