I am very pleased to have joined as a Venture Partner to support Lichen Ventures roll out and growth, as it is part of my mission as a professional for over 35 years. Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, I have been in clean energy development as a renewable energy and carbon credits developer, an investor, a climate-risk analytics operator, and working with dozens of start-ups and new funds along the way in the US and internationally, including an IPO for my first company in the 2000s. I’ve been dedicated to driving more funding for clean energy and carbon credits ever since, and my goal now is to support as many colleagues in this space as possible. Lichen Ventures is working at the nexus of industrial decarbonization (i.e., what is referred to as “deep climate tech” or simply “deep tech”) and biology solutions (think biomanufacturing), and this thesis is very cutting edge (or as some may say “bleeding edge”) in the world of climate start-ups.

Justin Brodie-Kommit is uniquely trained in climate-related start-ups and highly educated from a technical perspective and brings what I call a “happy climate warrior” attitude to this space. He has impressed me over the last year and a half that we’ve worked together on our angel investment community first as a premier community builder, but more importantly as a savvy business builder supporting portfolio companies – like Calectra – and mainly as the founder of Lichen Ventures and getting it to where it is today. These strengths will only benefit Lichen Ventures portfolio companies to grow, and I’m confident this fund will deliver on both its climate impacts and on its financial returns. We need “armies” of sustainability professionals like Justin and Lichen Ventures, and this fund will contribute to a more climate positive future than where we are today. I am excited to bring my decades of experience, lessons learned, and business networks to support Lichen Ventures and our portfolio companies.