Mission Driven Better Ventures

We’re honored to have Uriridiakoghene “Ulili” Onovakpuri, Managing Partner at Kapor Capital, join us on Mission Driven. At Kapor, Ulili leads investments in the health tech and people operations tech companies. She is also the founder of Kapor Capital’s Fellows program, the longest running venture capital internship program for underrepresented individuals. Previously, she served as Director of Global Programs at Village Capital, a global accelerator program and venture capital firm. Ulili received her MBA with a concentration in Health Sector Management from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is a native San Franciscan and a proud UC Berkeley Alum.



In the episode, Ulili digs in to investing with an impact lens, including how to combat the perception that impact investing doesn’t lead to enough deal flow or returns. She also shares about a few of the investments she led (though all her companies are her favorites) and growing up in the Bay Area. Finally, Ulili discusses tips for founders raising venture capital, including how to make the right choice in investor partnerships.



Mission Driven is a conversation about startup founders on a mission to address the world’s biggest challenges and how they leverage their social mission for competitive advantage.



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Miriam Rivera holds a number of titles at Ulu Ventures including co-founder, managing director, and champion of the underdog and longshot. She is a distinguished investor known for her dynamic contributions in the tech, legal, and philanthropic sectors. At Ulu, Miriam upholds her mission of supporting transformative startups where her investment approach actively champions underrepresented founders.

In this episode of Mission Driven, Miriam discusses how she went from the second hire on the Google legal team to scaling the team over a hundred, Ulu’s portfolio construction philosophy, and how to use process to eliminate bias. Importantly, she shares some gems for founders on how they should think of their fundraising process.

Amy Francetic, Managing General Partner & co-founder of Buoyant Ventures, joins Rick on Mission Driven in the last of our series about electrification. Amy’s career spans 25 years of high tech entrepreneurship, private equity, and research. Before founding Buoyant, a firm based in Chicago investing in digital climate solutions for energy, transportation, agriculture, water, and the built environment, she co-founded and served as CEO of Evergreen Climate Innovations, a tech accelerator.

In this episode, Amy discusses her path to co-founding Buoyant, a 100% female owned VC, investing in electrification, and some of the most exciting companies in the portfolio (drones, demand response management, space, and more!).

Astrid Atkinson joins Rick on the latest episode of Mission Driven to chat about electrification. Astrid is co-founder & CEO of Camus Energy, which provides software-based Grid Management as a Service, combining real-time situational awareness, device control, and market integration for grid operators and energy providers. Prior to founding Camus, she was a Senior Director of Software Engineering at Google, where she was an early leader in distributed systems reliability. She speaks globally as an expert on large scale distributed systems architecture, reliability engineering, and organizational leadership.

Listen to the episode to learn about how Astrid harnessed the needs and opportunities of the grid to create Camus’ marketplace component, how decarbonization is a team sport, and why capybaras figure in to her and the company’s mission. Plus, hear her advice to women in the tech and energy industries.

We’re joined by Rohan Puri, CEO & co-founder of Stable Auto. Rohan helps us understand software’s role in electrification, chatting about the EV charging landscape. Rohan and his company Stable Auto believe that climate is humanity’s gnarliest problem and that every charger has to be part of the solution. With data-driven insights, Stable Auto helps organizations envision and builds tomorrow’s vital infrastructure.

In the episode, Rohan and Rick cover Rohan’s journey from Techstars to Stable Auto, the first electric car (invented much earlier than you might have thought!), and staying true to the dual missions of sustainability and making money.

We have special guests on the podcast - Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor. The founders of Kapor Capital have released a new book, Closing the Equity Gap, and, on this episode, they discuss their life missions to make the tech industry more diverse and inclusive.

Tune in to learn how the two got their start, founded Kapor Capital, and have been pioneers in impact investing. They impart important lessons on the power of “distance traveled” founders who harness their early experiences to found companies that better serve society. You’ll hear stories about the two youngest partners of Kapor Capital, Ulili Onovakpuri and Brian Dixon, plus some of their exciting investments. The Kapors challenge the notion that investing with a diversity and equity lens doesn’t create returns. We’re here for it!