Slava Solonitsyn, a tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist, is an ESG expert with over 17 years experience in the design and development of new products, mentoring, investing and community building in Europe and the US.
His expertise includes scaling up and launching startups. His primary areas of interest include IoT, hard tech, and construction. Slava is passionate for tech startups that have a lasting impact. He is currently pursuing his own impact goal by advancing the construction industry through automation and 3D printing, but is also helping select founders, who have their own high-impact missions as an angel investor and advisor. He is intimately familiar with American and Singaporean markets, but is currently exploring the potential of SEA, LATAM and MENA as they will be the key drivers for the future of humanity (from the standpoint of population and impact).
Slava is a notable global expert who is frequently invited to present and speak at the most prominent startup and global business events, such as Collision, F.ounders, Web Summit, and the World Economic Forum. His unique experience in scaling complex startups, solving ESG problems, as well as his VC background, make him a highly sought-after angel investor.
Current occupation
Mighty Buildings
Slava is CEO and Co-founder of Mighty Buildings, a tech company that is revolutionizing the construction industry by creating beautiful, sustainable, high-quality homes by using advanced materials, patented 3D-printing technology, and robotic automation. Mighty Buildings is headquartered in Oakland, California. Slava Starodubcev and Dmitry Starodubcev founded the company in 2017. Later, Russ Atassi and Rene Griemens joined the team to form Mighty Buildings.
Under Slava’s leadership, Mighty Buildings has raised over $100 million and established the company as a leader in sustainable 3D-printed housing. It counts among its investors such noteworthy names as Khosla Ventures, Bold Capital, Core VC, YCombinator, ArcTern Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, and others. Mighty Buildings is also included in the top YC companies (5% of YC companies).
As Solonitsyn describes Mighty Buildings: “We are working hard to find a solution for humanity to solve the double-edged climate and housing crisis. Once we identify a path, we will be able to open our platform to real estate developers to unlock production of sustainable homes at scale”.
Mighty Buildings’s Impact
The construction industry and related building operations generate around 40% of annual global CO2 emissions, according to reports. However, the world still requires more housing. Mighty Building believes it’s not an “either/or”. Mighty Buildings developed technology that can increase productivity and reduce construction-related emissions. It allows for virtually zero waste construction, a reduction in embodied carbon and the building of cost-effective zero net energy homes. These methods progress the company closer to its 2028 Carbon Neutrality goal.
Mighty Buildings is a member of ASTM International, Sustainable Brands, Housing Innovation Alliance, SME climate HUB, and other institutions which address climate change. Along with more than 300 other influential companies, it has committed to the Climate Pledge initiative of Amazon.
Ruvento Ventures
Another of Slava’s great achievements is co-founding Ruvento Ventures, a startup incubator and a seed capital firm in Singapore in 2012. Slava began with incubating 12 IoT startups. Some of these were later bought and others received follow-on funding.
Between 2015 and 2017, while he served as Managing Partner, Slava raised a private fund and made 17 seed-stage investments, two of which grew into unicorn companies and two more of which crossed $500M in valuation. As a result, the fund he managed brought outsized returns to investors (MOIC 3.7x). Among the startups where he invested, there are two unicorn companies working towards high-impact goals: Boom Supersonic (making supersonic flights accessible in a sustainable way) and Solugen (bringing clean, sustainable chemistry to every industry).
These days, Slava continues to serve on the Board of Ruvento Ventures as a venture partner, and is helping the firm to pursue an ESG agenda in developing markets, such as Southeast Asia.
Background and early career
Slava’s career path started at game development company G5 Entertainment, where he led projects for Sony, Disney, and Electronic Arts. Starting in 2007, he took on an active role in developing the startup ecosystem in Russia. He developed a variety of support measures, including tax incentives for tech project. These were later used to incentivize more than 1000 startups.
Education, community service, and eco-activism
Slava graduated from Nizhniy Novgorod State Technical University named in R.Y. Alekseev (NSTU) in 2004 with an MSc in Physics. In 2007, he earned an MBA from Imperial College London, where he studied Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital. He was a student and participated in many clubs. Upon earning his MBA, Slava focused on commercialization of technology, working closely with Imperial College scientists on commercialization feasibility studies.
Slava is completely committed to the cause of saving the planet. This commitment extends far beyond his work. Slava actively promotes the mission through launching eco-friendly initiatives such as beach clean ups. Slava regularly shares valuable articles, research and personal insights via his Twitter account.
Slava is a keen kitesurfer and paraglider. He learned to speak Mandarin in Singapore and China, after which he chose “Si Lei ” (SiLei) as his nickname. He loves using this nickname in his interactions with people from all over the world.
For details about Slava Solonitsyn Twitter account go to see our new web site