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.
His expertise includes scaling up and launching startups. His primary areas of interest include IoT, hard tech, and construction. Slava is passionate about tech startups with a long-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 both the perspective of impact and population).
Slava is a notable global expert who is frequently invited to present and speak at the most prominent startup and global business events, such as Collision, F.ounders, Web Summit, and the World Economic Forum. 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 Buildings' 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 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 progress the company closer to its 2028 Carbon Neutrality goal.
Mighty Buildings is a member of ASTM International, Sustainable Brands, Housing Innovation Alliance, SME climate HUB, and other institutions which address climate change. It has also committed to The Climate Pledge initiative by Amazon alongside more than 300 of the world's most influential companies.
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). 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.
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 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 after R.Y. Alekseev (NSTU) in 2004 with an 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 a keen kitesurfer and paraglider. 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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