

Wallet Max Planet Positive Podcast with Carbon Thirteen
Join Bhuva Shakti, Founder & CEO at Wallet Max, as she speaks with female investors looking to leverage inclusion and impact without compromising growth of investments.
This month, Bhuva's guests are Puja Balachander and Sarah Jones of Carbon13, where they support pre-seed/seed stage climate tech startups to accelerate their progress.
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About Puja Balachandar:
Puja Balachander is a climate tech entrepreneur, investor, and product leader dedicated to accelerating the just transition. She is the co-founder of UpGreen, her second startup, which is implementing and financing retrofits at scale.
Currently, she serves as Director of Venture at Carbon13, where she supports pre-seed and seed-stage climate tech startups using her experience in investment, product development, and commercialization.
Previously, she was Director of Product at Think of Us, a civic tech company focused on systems change in the child welfare system. Before that, she founded and led Devie (acquired by Think of Us), a direct-to-consumer health tech startup that digitized child psychology interventions to support parents of children under five.
Her career began in civic tech, improving public services at the City of Austin, the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows, and the World Bank in Madagascar.
She holds a BA in International Studies from American University and an MBA from Oxford.
About Sarah Jones:
Sara has worked in the London startup ecosystem since 2012, specializing in the 0-1 stage of startup building, and starting her own venture. She joined Carbon13 as its first employee in 2020, responsible for building out the talent magnet for the Carbon13 Venture Builder. She now focuses on establishing Carbon13's place as a leading investor in climatetech and expanding out its proposition. She holds a First Class degree in Classics from University College London and spends her free time wildlife watching and tending her allotment.
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.