Join Sarah Hinkfuss (BCV, GSB alum), Sierra Peterson (Voyager, Stanford alum), Mia Diawara (Lowercarbon, Stanford MS/BS), & Matt Eggers (Breakthrough Energy, GSB alum) for lunch and a panel discussion on climate tech - investment approaches, what they look for in a pitch, and how they're using venture capital to impact such a multi-faceted, systemic problem.
More about our panelists:
Sarah Hinkfuss | @SarahHinkfuss
Sarah is a partner at Bain Capital Ventures, where she works with growth-stage founders across both application software and fintech, and is spearheading climate tech efforts across the firm. Prior to joining Bain Capital 3 years ago, Sarah invested with KKR's Next Generation Technology Growth Fund in San Francisco. Prior to that she was a Senior Vice President at Applied Predictive Technologies, an enterprise SaaS company acquired by Mastercard in 2015. Sarah received an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar and Siebel Scholar. She graduated cum laude with a BA in Economics and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, where she was a Hoopes Prize recipient and Weatherhead Research Fellow.
Sierra Peterson | @sierrap
Sierra is a Founding Partner at Voyager Ventures, investing in early-stage climate technology companies in North America and Europe. Sierra has been structuring markets, financial products and investments for climate stabilization since 2005 and brings expertise in energy, policy and financing. A Kauffman Fellow, she has invested in more than 30 early-stage climate tech companies since 2015. Previously, Sierra led corporate development teams at financial technology companies responsible for $3B+ in solar and energy efficiency financing. Her experience in climate policy and market design includes the Obama White House Office of Energy and Climate Change and the International Energy Agency. Sierra is a graduate of Stanford and Harvard, where she researched carbon market design and lifecycle emissions analysis. She lives in San Francisco.
Mia Diawara | @miadiawara
Mia is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, where she invests in unreasonably ambitious teams building climate tech that will move the needle for the planet and its people. Lowercarbon companies rely upon her extensive climate science, engineering, and organizational operations experience as they scale. Mia also focuses on making sure this work is carried out inclusively and equitably, and that it benefits the communities who will be affected first and worst by rising temperatures, in spite of the fact that they bear the least responsibility for this state of affairs. Mia holds a B.S. in Science, Technology, and Society, with a focus on Environment & Sustainability, and an M.S. in Civil Environmental Engineering with a concentration in Atmosphere and Energy—both from Stanford University.
Matt Eggers | @EggersMatt
Matt is an investor for Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), the $2.5B climatetech venture capital fund. His combined BEV and angel portfolio includes WeaveGrid, Aeroseal, LuxWall, 75F Inc, ZeroAvia, Albedo, Zymergen, Omnidian, Phylagen, Energetic Insurance, Faraday Bicycles, and others. Matt is a technology and business leader with experience across sales, marketing, finance, product, and operations. He began his career in biotech but has been focused on climatetech since 2006. Matt was Vice President of North American Sales at Tesla and was VP of Operations and Software Product Management at Sunrun Inc. Before joining BEV, he was with Yardi Systems, the largest SaaS software company serving the global real estate industry, as GM of Yardi System’s energy and smart buildings software business. He also served in management roles at Bloom Energy and Genentech and was an Associate at Morgan Stanley Venture Partners. He is a co-founder of Rooted Relationships.
Matt has a B.S. in molecular biology from Duke University, and an MBA from Stanford.
