Meet the 2026 Tarrson Social Venture Fellows

Five mission-driven startup founders, all recent University of Chicago graduates, have been named Tarrson Social Venture Fellows. As part of the fellowship, the founders will receive funding and mentoring to pursue their social ventures full-time from September 2026 through August 2027.

The Tarrson Social Venture Fellowship is the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation’s capstone social entrepreneurship resource. The program provides funding and coaching support to recent University of Chicago alumni who are committed to growing a startup that helps solve a social or environmental problem.

This year’s ventures are supporting down-ballot campaigns and causes, fighting digital crime and exploitation, empowering high school students in Peru, and building a more equitable supply chain within Pakistan’s rice trade. Past Tarrson Fellows have gone on to achieve impact in every area of the social sector, from expediting the pre-trial preparation experience to supporting emerging social entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ron Tarrson, MBA ’72 (XP-31), provided the funding to create the Tarrson Social Venture Fellowship. The program also receives matching funds from John Edwardson, MBA ’72.

To be eligible for the fellowship, applicants must be committed to working full-time on their startups, which should be focused on social or environmental impact. Most of the Fellows will receive $25,000 in funding to support their work.

All of this year’s Fellows are alumni of the John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (Edwardson SNVC), the social impact track of the University of Chicago’s nationally ranked business launch program. The Edwardson SNVC has helped support more than 250 mission-driven startups that have collectively raised more than $305 million in philanthropic dollars, grant support, and venture capital funding.

“This year’s Tarrson Fellows are providing innovative and practical solutions to important issues such as expanding career pathways for students, digital crime, and agriculture,” said Robert H. Gertner, the Frank P. and Marianne R. Diassi Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Strategy and the John Edwardson Faculty Director of the Rustandy Center. “We are looking forward to seeing how these social entrepreneurs continue scaling their ventures and their missions in the year to come.”

The 2026 Tarrson Fellows are:

Nilesh Kavthekar, MPP ’26, and Elijah Seo, MPP ’26, Faction Labs
Faction Labs is a tech-enabled digital agency that puts professional-grade tools within reach of local, state, and down-ballot campaigns and civic causes that need them most. Faction Labs’ data integrations maximize the value of existing voter and donor files, email lists, and creative content. This enables clients to run high-ROI, precision-targeted programs to prospect donors, turn out voters, and recruit volunteers, helping organizations test and scale what works from day one.

Katherine Peacock, MBA/MSW ’26, Renarra AI
Renarra AI is a technology company whose mission is to empower law enforcement to uncover truth, strengthen evidence, and pursue justice in the hardest cases. Launching with state and local agencies, Renarra AI builds FlagWatch—a detection and evidence platform that transforms fragmented information into prosecutable cases by combining behavioral flagging, synthetic investigation, and evidence packaging. FlagWatch reduces time and cost for hard-to-prosecute investigations and reduces exposure to traumatic material. 

Carmen Rozas Olivera, MPP ’26, Ayllu Horizons
Ayllu Horizons /ˈajʎu/ is an edtech social venture whose mission is to give Peruvian high school students structured vocational guidance for one of the most consequential decisions of their lives. Meaning "community of mutual support" in Quechua, Ayllu Horizons partners directly with school networks to embed psychometric assessment, mentorship, and curated "career journeys" into the academic calendar, helping students choose a path with clarity instead of guesswork.

Hamza Tariq, MS ’26, Haqqo
Haqqo is building a better agricultural supply chain, starting with rice in Pakistan. Today, farmers depend on layers of middlemen to reach buyers, which limits their market access, bargaining power, and ability to earn more for better crops. This fragmented supply chain also gives buyers limited visibility into crop origin, quality, and pesticide use. Haqqo currently works directly with farmers to buy and sell their crops, giving them better market access while building trust and collecting firsthand data on production, pesticides, quality, prices, and buyer outcomes.