Sustainably Social Dinner: Connecting Startups, Investors, Executives
New York Fintech Week in April brings together an inclusive community of startup ecosystem builders. And at Wallet Max, we are proud to expand this collaboration to corporate leaders and private investors with a goal to increase fundraising access for women-led startups in climate, finance, and technology.
Join us for a small-group intimate gathering that promotes meaningful private conversations and mutual exchange of resources. Request a seat at the table today!
✅ Connect with emerging startup leaders, impact investors, and executives.
✅ Discover how to enhance sustainability practices, and grow your business.
✅ Join a growing community of 500+ ecosystem leaders in climate fintech.
Read more about monthly Climate Forward™ events from Wallet Max throughout 2025:
🎯 www.getwalletmax.com/climate-forward-2025
Your host:
Bhuva Shakti, Founder & CEO at Wallet Max.
Agenda:
5:00 PM to 5:45 PM - Networking Mocktail Lounge
5:45 PM to 6:15 PM - 2025 Fintech Trends and Climate Initiatives Unveiling (Informal Talks and Speaker Q&A)
Bhuva Shakti, Founder & CEO at Wallet Max
Susan Schofer, Partner SOSV & Chief Science Officer HAX
Bukie Adebo Umeano, Investment Principal at Anthemis
Randi Plevy, Partner & General Counsel at Angel Hive
Cathy Allara Latiwa, Co-Founder at BuildHerAFuture Africa
6:15 PM to 6:45 PM - Guest Intros and Goals Discussion
6:45 PM to 8:30 PM - Seated Dinner
8:30 PM to 9:00 PM - Gift Bags and Goodbyes
All speaker bios are below. Request a seat at the table today!
Note: Once your seat at the table has been approved, your payment method on Luma will be charged. Please note that there are no refunds for this event given the exclusive nature.
About Wallet Max:
Wallet Max is an inclusive global community of corporate executives and venture capitalists with a mission to expand fundraising access for high-growth startups in the technology, AI, fintech, and climate sustainability sectors.
With more than 10 investments directly in impact entrepreneurs thus far, Wallet Max’s network of 1,000 innovators and 60 partners regularly meet in person and virtually throughout the year to mutually exchange connections and drive collective action. Wallet Max ecosystem of events and initiatives are prominent during the New York Fintech Week, the New York Tech Week, and the New York Climate Week every year.
Wallet Max's Planet Positive Podcast is a monthly interview with female investors driving impact globally. Aligned with our mission to challenge the status quo, we showcase personal and professional journeys of diverse investors (Angels, VCs, PEs, Family Office, Corporate Venture) looking to leverage inclusion and impact without compromising growth of investments. Supporting sustainable innovations is good for people's wellbeing, planet survival, and financial profits.
Learn more about Wallet Max 2024 success and 2025 global initiatives: https://getwalletmax.com/climate-forward-2025
About Bhuva Shakti:
Bhuva Shakti (she/her) is the visionary founder and CEO driving sustainable innovation at Wallet Max, a global community of executive women and venture capital investors with a mission to expand fundraising access for high-growth sustainable startups. With an MBA from Columbia University in New York and as a senior executive director on Wall Street for three decades, Bhuva has managed diverse financial portfolios and launched several digital transformation products for investment banks, capital markets, and payment networks.
Bhuva’s leadership and risk governance oversight, during the global financial crisis and the pandemic, was pivotal for the success of regulatory compliance and mergers acquisitions at the world's top banks and credit rating institutions. Bhuva is a board director and fractional C-Suite advisor for social impact businesses, and a keynote speaker advancing economic inclusion and climate-fintech partnerships.
Bhuva is the USA country director for World Business Angels Investment Forum and the Chief Ethics & Culture Officer for Women in AI worldwide. She leads the fundraising strategy and product operations for market expansion and manages investor relations throughout the diligence and investment. Bhuva is the founder of Bhuva’s Impact Global that provides board advisory services and enterprise risk management for public and private corporations.
About Susan Schofer:
Susan Schofer is a Partner at SOSV and Chief Science Officer at HAX, the world’s premier venture program accelerating early stage hard tech startups. Susan works with startups via early stage investment, defining key milestones and go-to-market strategies, and is responsible for scientific oversight to support portfolio companies.
Prior to HAX, Susan served on the leadership team at Modern Meadow as SVP Business Development, developing innovative, sustainable materials, leading product, partnerships, and go-to-market strategy and execution from ideation through to first commercialization. Before that, Susan spent 10 years in Silicon Valley in roles spanning R&D, product development, product management, and business development for Amyris (pioneer of Synthetic Biology) and Symyx Technologies (automated, robotic workflows to accelerate new material discovery & commercialization). Her passion is working with innovators to bring scientific breakthroughs to market to make a positive impact on people & planet.
Susan was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Stockholm University, developing artificial photosynthesis. She holds a PhD in chemistry from Caltech and an ScB in chemistry from Brown University.
About Bukie Adebo Umeano:
Bukie Adebo Umeano is an Investment Principal at Anthemis, where she sources, evaluates, and executes early-stage deals across Fintech and embedded finance. Bukie constantly explores new and innovative applications for financial services and the ways that financial products intersect with several different industries.
Bukie began her career in consulting. She was a Strategy and Operations Consultant at Deloitte, helping organizations explore growth strategies like global expansion and digital transformation, and a Brand Strategy Director at Ogilvy Consulting, advising senior-level clients on brand positioning and go-to-market. She made her way into Fintech, by co-founding a credit-building business called Liza that was designed to help people build credit by formalizing loans between friends and family. Prior to joining Anthemis, Bukie was an investor at WomensVCFund where she invested in Series A and B businesses with women in senior leadership.
Bukie holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business.
About Randi Plevy:
Randi F. Plevy is Partner and General Counsel at Angel Hive, a New York syndicate investing in women led startups that improve the lives of women and girls. Angel Hive is dedicated to supporting women founders and educating investors. Additionally, Randi is a limited partner in Chloe Capital, a venture firm that invests with a gender and diversity lens in early-stage companies solving the world’s biggest problems, and a board member at The Kota Alliance, a Harlem based nonprofit working to provide a more equitable community for marginalized identities using a collaborative feminist approach.
Randi started her career as a broadcast journalist working in small newsrooms in Texas and South Dakota before attending Brooklyn Law School. After a long stint as a homemaker raising her two daughters, she worked as a real estate attorney for 12 years before pivoting to venture.
About Cathy Allara Latiwa:
Cathy is a public speaker, facilitator, internationally certified trainer in leadership and conflict management (LEAD), and an expert in international public law and politics, with proven leadership in strategic partnerships, program management, and gender and social inclusion. She is the Co-Founder of BuildHerAFuture Africa.
In 2014, she founded the Latiwa Development Foundation, a philanthropic organization registered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Belgium focusing on the economic empowerment of women and girls.
Cathy trains women on gender equality, women and girls' rights, female entrepreneurship, women's political empowerment, inclusive political processes, and electoral support programs across Africa. A committed advocate against gender-based violence, she creates platforms for survivors to speak out and be heard. For over a decade, she has actively supported women-led programs and organizations across various sectors, including climate change, renewable energy, and non-biodegradable waste recycling, especially through art, fashion, and sanitation awareness campaigns. Through BuildHerAFuture Africa, she has recently been working to enhance African female entrepreneurs' access to the circular economy. Recognized for her collaborative spirit and ability to deliver innovative, reliable, and effective solutions, Cathy excels at leading multicultural and geographically diverse teams, while promoting organizational values, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability.