Welcome to Sustainable Innovation Day!

Nikhil Choudhary is the Managing Partner at Nirman Ventures, a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm investing in the future of Energy (transition and clean), Infrastructure, Construction, Mining, and Logistics. Nirman Ventures through it's partner network has physical presence in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Adu Dhabi, Mumbai, Sydney and Mexico City. 

Nikhil has over 2 decades of experience in the company founding and operating space ~ spanning from construction, REIT'S, engineering, and management.

Nikhil is also the founder and former CEO of Zenith Engineers, a San Francisco headquartered AECM firm that was ranked as the #1 fastest growing design company in America by Inc 5000 in 2019. Under Nikhil's leadership, the company scaled by over 100% year over year without any external funding. Nikhil remains an active board member and shareholder in his holding companies.

Danaé Robert is a Principal at At One Ventures, that backs early-stage companies that are using disruptive deep tech to upend the unit economics of established industries. Danaé brings a decade of expertise in addressing the urgent global issue of climate change and driving sustainable solutions. With a strong foundation in green chemistry, she possesses an extensive understanding of environmental challenges and their implications. Throughout her career, Danae has actively invested in early-stage companies with a focus on sustainability. She holds a BS in Chemistry from UC Berkeley and an MS from Imperial College London, specializing in Green Chemistry, Energy, and the Environment.

Troy Helming is a Unicorn Founder (with four company exits), an industrialist, and one of North America's top clean energy pioneers.   He’s an inventor (200+ patent claims), an elite athlete (American Ninja Warrior), an author (The Clean Power Revolution + articles), a keynote speaker, and a clean energy executive. He’s founded solar & wind companies that have generated over $35 Billion of economic impact and serves on numerous boards. He's a longtime wellness practitioner, yogi, and rock climber.

Stacey King is an senior associate with California Innovation Fund, an industry agnostic, deep tech VC that invests in late seed and series A companies from the University of California system. She also consults with early stage climate startups on fundraising, business development, and operational strategy.

Stacey is especially passionate about integrating climate justice into her work and exploring sustainable business models with startups focused on decarbonizing industrial processes. Her background is in energy, supply chain, and manufacturing, and she is based in the Bay Area.

Philip Y. Li is a venture builder and investor with over 15 years of experience in climate and clean technology. As a Board Member and Head of Diligence at E8, he is leading a redesign of the diligence process, doubling the rate of cleantech startups receiving investment. Previously, he pioneered large-scale solar development at SunPower, contributing to over 950MW of built capacity and ~$3B in revenue, and has led AI-driven innovations in energy and real estate to scale investment and operational efficiency.

Vivian Qu is a VC Fellow at SOSV, a serial founder with one exit, and an experienced operator in fintech, climate tech, and deep tech. With a background spanning venture capital, product development, and startup advisory, she has worked with early-stage companies to drive growth, fundraising, and go-to-market strategies. Vivian is dedicated to supporting transformative technologies that shape the future economy.

Daniel Kriozere is a climate investor and ecosystem builder, specializing in scaling and deploying climate solutions through strategic capital allocation. As Managing Partner at Climate Finance Partners, he focuses on innovative financial structures to accelerate sustainability investments. He is also an Originator in Debt Investments at IFM Investors, a Venture Partner at Anthropocene Ventures, and an Investor & Partner Manager at For ClimateTech. With a background at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Daniel transitioned into climate investing by working with incubators, accelerators, and founding Climate Builders, a leading climate finance newsletter. 

Mehrad is the Managing Partner at Cool Climate Collective, backing early-stage climate tech startups. He is the former Program Director for Terra.do’s Climate Change for VCs & an alum of Dubai Future Accelerators. In Dubai, he was involved in programming for public & private-backed MENA incubators. He helped develop Solutions: The Game. A UCSD alum, he has built and sold products in D2C, EdTech, and SaaS.

Adriana Penuela-Useche is a climate tech strategist with 10+ years of experience at DuPont, Dow, and Corteva, now helping startups scale through market strategy, financial modeling, and investor storytelling. An engineer with an MBA from Berkeley Haas, she specializes in industrial decarbonization and turning science into business success. Adriana also leads My Climate Journey Bay Area and founded the Haas Sustainability Alumni network.