Slava (斯雷) Solonitsyn

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 main areas of focus include hard tech, IoT, construction and sustainable tech. 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. Slava’s unique experience in scaling complex startups and solving ESG issues, along with his VC background make him a 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 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).

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 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 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 started with the incubation of 12 IoT startups, some of which raised follow-on funding and two of which were later acquired.

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).

Slava is still a member of the Board at Ruvento Ventures and serves as a partner in ventures. He also helps the firm pursue an ESG agenda for 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. He was active in the development of Russia’s startup ecosystem since 2007. 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 after 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. 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 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. He loves using this nickname in his interactions with people from all over the world.

For additional information about Slava Solonitsyn Twitter account go this website