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.
He has extensive expertise in launching and scaling up startups. His primary areas of interest include IoT, hard tech, and construction. Slava is passionate for tech startups that have a lasting impact. Slava is currently working towards his impact goal, which involves advancing the construction sector through automation and 3D printing. He also assists selected founders as an advisor and angel investor, helping them to achieve their high-impact missions. 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 the CEO and co-founder of Mighty Buildings. This tech company is changing the construction industry by building beautiful, sustainable homes using advanced materials and patented 3D printing technology. 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. 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).
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 identify a path, we will be able to open our platform to real estate developers to unlock production of sustainable homes at 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 that it is not an “either/or” choice. 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 near-zero waste construction, reduction of embodied carbon, and building cost-effective zero-net energy homes. These methods progress the company 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.
Slava was Managing Partner between 2015 and 2017. He raised a private fund, made 17 seed-stage investments and two of them became unicorn companies. Two more were valued at over $500M. 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.
Early career background
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 ( NSU) graduated from Nizhniy Novgorod State Technical University named after R.Y. in 2004 with a MSc in Physics. He graduated from Imperial College London in 2007 with a MBA. There he also studied Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship. As a student, he launched several university initiatives and participated in various clubs. Slava worked closely with Imperial College scientists to complete feasibility studies for commercialization.
Slava is wholly committed to the mission of saving the planet, and this extends beyond his work. Moreover, he actively promotes this mission by launching eco-friendly initiatives, such as beach cleanups. Slava regularly shares valuable articles, research and personal insights via his Twitter account.
Slava is an avid kitesurfer, paraglider, surfer, and snowboarder. He learned to speak Mandarin in Singapore and China, after which he chose “Si Lei ” (SiLei) as his nickname. This nickname is a favorite of his in interactions with people from all around the globe.
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