# Mackenzie Burnett

> Mackenzie Burnett is the CEO and cofounder of Ambrook, a New York-based financial software company serving independent, operationally complex businesses. Raised in a USDA family, she moved from campus entrepreneurship and open-source infrastructure to climate-security research and agricultural water work before founding Ambrook in 2020. Her company began by helping producers find working capital, spent years learning farm workflows in person, and now provides accounting, payments, and cash-management tools to more than 8,000 businesses. In August 2026, Ambrook announced a $30 million Series B led by Lachy Groom.

- **Role:** CEO and Cofounder at Ambrook
- **Organizations:** Ambrook, Redspread, CoreOS, Startup Shell, Bitcamp, Offrange, ConstitutionDAO
- **Education:** M.A. in International Policy and Climate Security, Stanford University, B.A. in International Relations and Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park
- **Known for:** Cofounded Redspread, a Y Combinator-backed developer-tools company whose open-source deployment tools moved to CoreOS in 2016., Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology for the 2017 class., Selected as the University of Maryland's student commencement speaker in 2015.

## Career timeline

- **2014** — Cofounded the University of Maryland hackathon Bitcamp and led sponsorship; also served as executive director of the student-run Startup Shell incubator.
- **2015** — Delivered the University of Maryland student commencement address and cofounded open-source deployment startup Redspread with Dan Gillespie.
- **2016** — Redspread joined Y Combinator's Winter 2016 batch; CoreOS hired its founders and took over its open-source tools in October.
- **2017** — Named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Enterprise Technology with Redspread cofounder Dan Gillespie.
- **2017-2019** — Completed a master's degree at Stanford focused on international policy and climate security; held a Ford Dorsey Fellowship and founded the Arctic Club.
- **2020** — Cofounded Ambrook with Jeff Anders and Dan Schlosser after extensive interviews across agriculture, policy and academia.
- **2021** — Joined the ConstitutionDAO core community during its effort to purchase a first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution.
- **2022** — Published Ambrook's founder letter and its philosophy of pragmatic environmentalism.
- **2025** — Ambrook announced $29 million raised, including a $26.1 million Series A led by Thrive Capital and Field Ventures.
- **2026** — Ambrook announced a $30 million Series B led by Lachy Groom and reported serving more than 8,000 independent businesses nationwide.

## Achievements

- Cofounded Redspread, a Y Combinator-backed developer-tools company whose open-source deployment tools moved to CoreOS in 2016.
- Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology for the 2017 class.
- Selected as the University of Maryland's student commencement speaker in 2015.
- Received a full Banneker/Key scholarship and recognition as a Philip Merrill Presidential Scholar at the University of Maryland.
- Received Stanford's Ford Dorsey Fellowship while focusing on climate and security.
- Built Ambrook from a pandemic-era farm funding service into a financial platform serving more than 8,000 independent businesses.
- Led Ambrook through a $30 million Series B in August 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Ambrook announced a $30 million Series B led by Lachy Groom and said its platform serves more than 8,000 independent businesses nationwide.
- **2026-07** — Burnett appeared on The Modern Acre to discuss customer adoption and growth at Ambrook.
- **2026-04** — Burnett appeared on Fortune's Term Sheet podcast to discuss Ambrook's early fieldwork, trust-building and agricultural finance.
- **2025-09** — Burnett joined Stripe cofounder John Collison on A Cheeky Pint for a wide-ranging conversation about agriculture, financial infrastructure and rural resilience.
- **2025-08** — Dialectic published a long-form interview tracing Burnett's path from policy and climate research to Ambrook.
- **2025-07** — Ambrook announced $29 million in funding raised, including a $26.1 million Series A.

## Links

- Website: https://mackenzieburnett.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenzieburnett
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/ciaomack
- GitHub: https://github.com/mfburnett

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/mackenzie-burnett
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-27