Slava Solonitsyn is a tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and ESG expert with more than 17 years of experience in designing and developing new products, mentorship, investing, and community building in Europe, the US, and Asia.
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. While he is familiar with the American and Singaporean markets, he is now exploring the potential of SEA and LATAM as key drivers of the future of humanity (from the perspective of impact and population).
Slava is a well-known global expert and is often invited to speak at the most important startup and global business events such as Collision and F.ounders. 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 has its headquarters in Oakland, California. The company was founded in 2017 by Slava and his business partner Dmitry Starodubcev, and later joined by seasoned executives Russ Atassi, Rene Griemens and Chris Murphy.
Mighty Buildings, under the leadership of Slava, has raised more than $100 million and established itself as a leader for sustainable 3D-printed housing. Khosla Ventures and Bold Capital are among its investors. Core VC, Core VC, Core Innovation Capital, ArcTern Ventures and Core Innovation Capital are also among them. Mighty Buildings is also listed in the top 5% of YC businesses.
Solonitsyn describes Mighty Buildings as: “We are hard at work to find a solution to humanity’s double-edged climate crisis and housing crisis. Once we have identified a path, our platform will be open to real estate developers so that they can unlock the production of sustainable homes on a large scale.
Mighty Building’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 has developed technology with the potential to unlock productivity to address the housing crisis while also reducing 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 help the company get closer to its 2028 carbon neutrality goal.
Mighty Buildings is a member ASTM International and Sustainable Brands. Housing Innovation Alliance, Climate HUB and other organizations that 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. The fund he managed was able to bring in huge returns for investors (MOIC 3.7x). Two unicorn companies were among the ones he invested in: Boom Supersonic, which makes supersonic flight accessible in a sustainable manner, and Solugen, which brings clean, sustainable chemicals to all industries.
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 started his career at G5 entertainment where he managed projects for Sony, Disney and Electronic Arts. Starting in 2007, he took on an active role in developing the startup ecosystem in Russia. He designed a number of support measures including tax incentives for tech projects, which were later incentivized across more than 1000 startup companies.
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. Slava worked closely with Imperial College scientists to complete feasibility studies for commercialization.
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. Via his Twitter account, Slava frequently shares useful articles, research, and personal insights on sustainable business, climate crisis response, and impact in proptech.
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.
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