Entrepreneur First

Investors

VNV Global

VNV Global was originally founded as Vostok Nafta in 1996, with its first investment in Russia. The investment vehicle initially focused on investments in agriculture and natural resources, but began to diversify into early consumer internet companies like Avito and Tinkoff Bank. Shares were listed on NASDAQ OMX and the VC pivoted to high-growth tech investments in 2007. In 2015, the name was changed to Vostok New Ventures and shortened to VNV Global in 2020 to reflect its international strategy to expand outside Europe.The mid-cap NASDAQ Stockholm exchange-listed VNV mainly invests in mobility, medtech and marketplaces. It currently has 31 startups in its portfolio and six exits managed to date. Recent investments led by VNV include the $43m Series B funding of London-based food waste app OLIO in September 2021 and the $1.6m seed round of Vietnamese dating app Fika in October 2021. 

• Sweden

Founders

Christopher Carstens

CTO and co-founder of Carbo Culture

US native Christopher Carstens graduated in mechanical engineering in 2002 at the University of California, Berkeley. He started his career as a technology analyst at The Spark Group in San Francisco.In 2004, the engineer co-founded Solid Gas Technologies to build a methane hydrate production system. Carstens also founded Homeland Fuels to construct a bioreactor using ethanol. He exited both companies in 2006 and went to work at World Waste Technologies in California as project manager and engineer. In 2012, he started working at Graphene Technologies as R&D engineer.In 2013, he joined an innovation accelerator program at Singularity University where he met Finnish participant Henrietta Moon. They co-founded Finnish startup Carbo Culture in 2016 with Carstens as CTO based at the California plant.The serial entrepreneur and inventor also founded Hydrate Dynamics as CTO in 2015 to develop gas storage and transportation facilities using clathrate hydrates technology. In 2018, he was appointed by the US Department of Energy to be a member of the Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee until January 2020.

Founders

Jasper Holdsworth

Co-founder of Vence

Industrial business entrepreneur Jasper Holdsworth comes from a multi-generational family of cattle ranchers. In 2013, he became a director of his family’s 100-year-old Paringahau Farm Company in New Zealand. He also co-founded a virtual fencing startup for livestock management, Vence Corp, with US-based investment banker Frank Wooten in 2016.After graduating in forestry engineering in 1995, Holdsworth obtained a master’s in engineering management at his alma mater University of Canterbury. In 1998, he completed a master’s in applied finance at Macquarie University and started his banking career at WestLB and Deutsche Bank in Sydney.He completed an entrepreneurship development program run by MIT’s Sloan School of Management in 2010. He has also undertaken an advanced management program run by Harvard Business School in 2012.Since 2004, he has been working as the CEO of New Zealand-based Pultron Composites Ltd, an industrial technology company focused on the development and manufacture of glass fiber-reinforced polymers.In 2019, he became the chairman and co-founder of Mateenbar Ltd to produce composite reinforcement for infrastructure building materials in New Zealand, North Carolina and Saudi Arabia.

Founders

Reimell Ragnauth

CCO and co-founder of Modulous Tech

Reimell Ragnauth is co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at UK-based Modulous, the first end-to-end generative design and delivery solution for affordable, sustainable and modulized housing, where he has worked since 2019. He also works part-time as a strategic investor to data analysis company iaidō and is a non-executive chairman at construction insulation company PMP Manufacturing.Before Modulous, he was chief business development officer at gold fintech startup Glint for a year and established its US office. He previously worked as the managing director of Spiralite Ductwork in the area of building energy efficiency from 2010-17. Prior to this, all of his positions were in the finance and investment area: at 3i Group as Associated Director of Quoted Private Equity 2007-9; at the Electra Group as a senior associate of the EQMC Fund 2006-7; at consultancy Deloitte as an associate director of private equity transaction services 2004-6; at Orbis Investments 2001-4 working in investment analysis; and as Manager of Business Recovery Services at PwC in London 1996-2000. Ragnauth holds a Master’s in Law from Cambridge University. 

Founders

Kyle Gazay

Co-founder of Diamond Foundry

Kyle Gazay is a co-founder of Diamond Foundry, the US-based unicorn that makes lab-grown diamonds and which is also the world’s first diamond producer to be certified carbon neutral. He has worked at Diamond Foundry since its launch, and held several roles there, including being COO as well as president of productionCurrently, Gazay oversees all diamond production at the company. Gazay’s expertise is in engineering and production. He has a decade’s track record in working with any equipment to obtain a robust and repeatable baseline output.Like the other co-founders of Diamond Foundry, Gazay previously worked at Nanosolar, a $640m US-based solar power technology provider, which later folded due to pressure from cheaper competition in China. At Nanosolar, Gazay led the development of its production line, and oversaw the translation of the company’s research into development and baseline production output. Upon the closure of Nanosolar, Gazay joined former Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen and former Nanosolar engineer Jeremy Scholz in pivoting to work on lab-grown diamonds, and in establishing Diamond Foundry.

Founders

Jose María Gómez Marquez

CEO and co-founder of Scoobic Urban Mobility

Jose María Gómez Marquez started his business career as CEO at Roder Spain from 1986–1994, manufacturing materials used in Expo 1992 in Seville. From 1998–2005, Gómez worked in business development for Climocubierta indoor swimming pool materials company in Seville. Since 1998, Gómez has also been running F1/MotoGP equipment supply company AMG Services as CEO and founder.He completed a master’s in business management in 2006 at San Telmo International Institute in Seville and became the managing partner of Seville-based engineering design company Arquingenia.In 2015, he co-founded Spanish mobility startup Scoobic Urban Mobility and became the CEO of the country’s first three-wheeled EV last-mile delivery logistics provider. He is also CEO of Passion Motorbike Factory.Between 2011 and 2015, Gómez was a director at Morocco-based EURoma Network, a transnational EU organization contributing to the promotion of social inclusion, equal opportunities and the fight against discrimination of the Roma community.

Investors

Zhongguancun Longmen Investment

Investing in hi-tech IT, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology sectors – key pillars of China’s innovation-focused economy since 2017 – the Beijing government-backed Beijing Zhongguancun Longmen Investment manages about RMB 10bn via its first fund of the same name. The firm is founded and led by Xu Jinghong, former Chairman of Tsinghua Holdings, the investment and tech/R&D transfer arm of China’s most prestigious science and research university, whose R&D capacity was ranked in the third place of China’s top 500 enterprises in 2018. The LPs of the fund include social security funds, Beijing’s municipal government and the Haidian District government. Its portfolio enterprises are generally ranked in the top three of their respective industries. Among them, Qi An Xin Technology, which is listed in Shanghai and one of China’s biggest cybersecurity companies; Joy Wing Mao, one of China’s major fruits supply chain companies. In October of 2020, it invested RMB 100m into Beijing Immunochina Pharmaceutical, which develops innovative gene and cell therapies for curing malignant tumors. Longmen also provides mentoring and other expertise and support to its investee startups, especially those that plan to seek public listing.

• China

Investors

Lerer Hippeau

Based in New York City, Lerer Hippeau mainly invests in seed and early-stage startups based in the US. Founded in 2010 by managing partners Kenneth Lerer, Ben Lerer and Eric Hippeau, the VC operates several funds offering initial investments of $1m per startup. Kenneth Lerer is the co-founder of Huffington Post and longtime chairman of BuzzFeed. Hippeau was the CEO of Huffington Post and ex-managing partner of Softbank Capital that invested in Huffington Post.Its 400+ startups also get support for business growth by tapping into tech ecosystems like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Its 80+ exits include Giphy (GIF) that was acquired by Facebook and home-fitness studio Mirror acquired by Lululemon. However, the IPO by portfolio company Bed-in-a-box online retailer Casper was below market expectations. The loss-making e-commerce unicorn went public at $12 a share in February 2020, closing at $13.50 on its first day out, for a market capitalization of less than half the $1.1 billion Casper was valued at in a private funding round in 2019.

• USA

Investors

LeapFrog Investments

LeapFrog Investments is an impact-focused investor, managing over $1.6bn in assets mainly investing in Africa and Asia. Its “profit with purpose” has led to investments in startups that provide healthcare, financial services and insurance for low-income consumers. Since it was founded in 2007, LeapFrog has attracted funds from Prudential, AXA, Swiss Re and Omidyar Network, becoming the first impact investor in the world to reach the $1bn milestone. It’s headquartered in South Africa and Singapore.LeapFrog is best known for its investments in the insurance sector. One of the most prominent companies in its portfolio is BIMA, the mobile-based insurance provider that has provided coverage in Ghana, Bangladesh, Cambodia and many other countries. In 2020, LeapFrog invested in Indonesian startup PasarPolis, which is a broker for a wide range of microinsurance products. In the healthcare and biotechnology sectors, LeapFrog has funded Indian genetic diagnostics company MedGenome, as well as Goodlife Pharmacy, a Kenyan company providing access to affordable medicine in the East African country.

• Singapore

Founders

Rubén Blanco Carrera

Commercial Director and co-founder of Digitanimal by SensoWave

An industrial engineer by training, Rubén Blanco Carrera comes from a family of ranchers in Cabañas, 18 km from Ávila, Spain. Currently he is Commercial Director and co-founder of IoT startup SensoWave, as well as its brand Digitanimal, aimed at remote farming. The business idea of Digitanimal partly came about because of Blanco’s personal experience with his own livestock. Using IoT remote tracking, detecting heat and parturition through the use of sensors , which are analyzed to reflect the behavior of the cattle and notify alert ranchers to the anomalies detected, he was able to save a mother and calf from a difficult delivery. In another incident, the technology helped alert him to the attack of wolves. Blanco holds both a first degree and a master's degree from Madrid's Alfonso X El Sabio University, the former in Technical Engineering in Industrial and Product Design and the latter in Industrial Engineering and Industrial Electronics. He then worked as an industrial engineer at both private company Retailgas and at Alfa Imaging, the startup co-founded by Carlos Callejero, with whom Blanco later co-founded SensoWave.

Founders

Cody Frieson

CEO and founder of SOURCE Global (formerly Zero Mass Water)

Cody Frieson is the US founder and CEO of SOURCE Global (formerly Zero Mass Water), the first off-grid drinking water production tech based on solar-powered panels. The Arizona State University Fulton Engineering School professor of innovation invented the Hydropanel, the key to SOURCE’s technology, and continues to teach part-time at the university. He is also a fellow at both the NGO Aspen Institute, which is committed to realizing a free, just and equitable society, and also at Unreasonable – an entity composed of entrepreneurs, institutions and investors dedicated to “discover profit in solving global problems.”Frieson was also previously founder, president and CTO of rechargeable zinc battery startup Fluidic Energy, another of his inventions, where he worked from 2007 to 2013, when it was acquired and became NantEnergy. In 2019, Freison won the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for innovations to benefit the world – the US’ most prestigious student innovation award with a $500,000 prize. Frieson holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

Founders

Patxi Larumbe

Co-founder, CCO of Cocuus

Patxi Larumbe is the Spanish CCO and co-founder at 3D printing food tech and cell-based meat startup Cocuus, where he has worked since he co-founded it in 2017. Before Cocuus, Larumbe founded and directed eight other companies, the majority, like Cocuus, also based in Pamplona, Navarre. During his extensive entrepreneurial career, Larumbe had experience with design and manufacturing in 3D processes, which he used to innovate in Cocuus.  Before Cocuus, he was a director at his building materials distribution company, On Clima, for two years, which was preceded by a two-year stint heading up Tohama, an IoT tech developer for Somfy products.  Prior to that, he was commercial director for 20 years at building services company Terradisa and also founded its Catalonia offices.From 2000–2013, Larumbe was the founder and board member at Acustica Arquitectonica, an acoustic architectural design company and from 1995–2005, he had the same responsibilities at his hospitality company, Ostatu Zaharra. Other companies he founded were were Render (1990–96), Netcorp Factory (1996–2000) and No Solo Futbol ("Not Just Soccer") (2000–2004).   Larumbe studied electronics at first degree level in Pamplona. 

Founders

Pia Henrietta Moon

CEO and co-founder of Carbo Culture

Finnish native Pia Henrietta Moon, has been a scout leader since 2003. Her first job was in event management and tourism operations in India for Sunset Getaways & Insta tourism in 2007. While studying at the University of Economics and Business in Vienna, she met American engineer Christopher Carstens in 2013 at a global solutions innovation program organized by Singularity University in California. She left university in 2014 and co-founded Carbo Culture as CEO in 2016 with Carstens as CTO.In 2016, Moon also joined the electronics company Yleiselektroniikka as a board member, the youngest person in Finland to hold such a position in a listed company. Moon also founded edtech startup Mehackit in 2013 and became its chairwoman for four years.  She exited both companies in 2018 to focus on running Carbo Culture.While at university, Moon also worked for over two years at Rails Girls, a not-for-profit for women in tech. In Finland, she joined the student entrepreneurship society in 2011 and completed an internship in 2010 at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. In 2015, she joined the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers youth community initiative in Helsinki.

Founders

Eric Mourin

CTO and co-founder of Aimentia

Eric Mourin is the Barcelona-based CTO and co-founder of Aimentia, which runs the first AI-powered virtual clinic for mental health patients. He met his fellow co-founder Edgar Jorba, who is now CEO of Aimentia, at the Open University of Catalonia. The company was established while both co-founders were still students.Mourin is a computer engineer by training. Prior to setting up Aimentia, he worked as a software engineer. He also spent close to two years working on a World Heath Organization (WHO) project involving the design and implementation of an IT system for the monitoring and control of neglected tropical diseases. This IT system equipped affected countries to make data-based decisions to reduce incidence of such endemic diseases, while allowing the WHO to efficiently monitor progress.Mourin holds a master’s in computer and information systems security from the Open University of Catalonia as well as a bachelor’s in computer engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. 

Founders

Daan Luining

Co-founder, CTO of Meatable

Daan Luining is the Dutch co-founder and CTO at cell-based meat startup Meatable, the first to claim a highly scalable culture technology, where he has worked since 2018.  He is also a research director at the Cellular Agriculture Society in Leiden, a joint initiative for cell-based startups to share knowledge and to collaborate on projects to further scale the sector. Luining is also on the board of directors at the not-for-profit Cultured Meat Foundation that promotes sector innovation. His past posts have all been in the area of research, either as a researcher or a technician, and at the same time as completing studies. His last job was as a research strategist at New York-based New Harvest, a callular food rsearch funding body, where he worked for a year and met Dr. Kotter, the inventor of Meatable’s cellular technology. His research positions from 2009–15 were in the area of cell culture,  mass spectrometry and DNA sequencing at the Maastricht University, University Medical Center Amsterdam, Utrecht University and Leiden University. Luining holds a master’s in biological sciences from Leiden University in the Netherlands.