Gratitude Railroad

Co-Founders Thomas Knowles and Eric Jacobsen serve as Managing Partners and lead the investment committee. Knowles brings a background in private equity and venture capital, while Jacobsen's experience spans operating roles and impact investing. The firm's networked structure means sourcing and diligence often involve input from its community of aligned family offices and limited partners, but final investment authority rests with the internal partnership.

The firm relies on a distributed sourcing model anchored by its network of family offices and high-net-worth individuals who share deal flow within the community. This network effect, combined with the Managing Partners' personal relationships in both the venture and impact ecosystems, generates access to companies that often prefer mission-aligned capital. The firm also sources through thematic research in regenerative agriculture, energy transition, and accessible healthcare, building conviction ahead of broader market interest.

Gratitude Railroad operates as a hybrid—legally structured as an asset manager but functioning with the cultural DNA of a multi-family office. It pools capital from a defined community of families and foundations rather than serving a single wealth source. This gives it the flexibility to co-invest alongside its limited partners on a deal-by-deal basis while maintaining a professional investment team that evaluates opportunities with institutional discipline.

The firm invests across venture and growth stages, from seed rounds through Series C and growth equity. Its typical check size spans early-stage venture investments in the low millions up to larger growth-stage commitments. The stage selection often correlates with the maturity of the sub-sector—earlier in regenerative agriculture and later in more established renewable energy and healthcare service businesses.

The firm primarily executes direct investments in operating companies but has allocated capital to impact-aligned funds, particularly in private credit strategies. This dual approach allows the firm to access deal flow beyond its direct sourcing capacity while still concentrating portfolio construction on direct positions where the partnership can add strategic value.

The firm maintains a negative screen on extractive industries, traditional fossil fuel production, weapons manufacturing, and businesses with demonstrated negative environmental or social externalities. Beyond these explicit exclusions, its positive theses center on climate resilience, regenerative food systems, accessible healthcare, and education—sectors where the sustainability model is integral to the business's competitive position rather than a compliance layer.

The firm actively welcomes co-investment from its community members but is selective about partnering with outside institutional GPs on direct deals. When it does co-invest externally, it favors partners who share its dual-fiduciary approach—underwriting both financial return and measurable impact—rather than managers who treat ESG as a screening checkbox. This selective posture reflects the firm's view that alignment on governance and exit horizon matters as much as alignment on sector thesis.