Venture Fellow | SOSV/IndieBio | Early-Stage Deep Tech and Planetary Health InvestmentsVenture Fellow at IndieBio SF, scouting breakthrough deep tech projects for human and planetary health with the world’s leading early-stage investor. Backed by SOSV’s $1B fund, IndieBio supports startups through multi-stage investment and mentorship. If you’re working on transformative Deep Tech for humana and planetary health, let’s connect!

Independent Startup Strategy Consultant and Coach | Climate Tech SpecialistI work as an independent consultant and advisor, drawing on a broad range of experiences across industries to help ambitious founders and startups unlock their full potential. My focus is on early-stage companies—typically from pre-seed to Series A—operating at the deeptech verticals of climate tech specially in industrial decarbonization, new materials, direct air capture, food and ag.I provide high-impact, fractional strategic support in three core verticals:1) Climate Strategies - Deliver actionable insights on market analysis, go-to-market strategies, and competitive landscapes to drive growth.2) Climate Operations - Guide commercialization and scale-up efforts with expertise in hard tech strategy projections, financial outlooks, and tailored business models for climate tech innovation.3) Venture Investment - Support **founders** and **investors** with investment thesis development, due diligence, financial modeling, and market insights to optimize funding outcomes and enhance investment potential.Clients I’ve had the privilege of working with include:Aepnus TechnologyMars MaterialsIntropic MaterialsContext NatureMazi MobilityCarbonSustain...among othersLet’s connect and explore how I can help your venture thrive in the evolving climate tech landscape.www.AdriPenu.com

Intropic Materials builds materials that let us work with nature, not against it

Support Mars Materials on Business Development, investment pitch decks, technical and business support

Organized a flagship post-pandemic founder-investor event at Berkeley, attracting over 600 in-person attendees. Sponsored by leading organizations and featuring pitches from 15 companies, the event facilitated significant investments for participating startups through strategic partnerships. Partnered with ClimateTech Cocktails Podcast, Lowercarbon Capital, 50 Years, Sapphire Ventures, and Strawberry Creek Ventures,Moderated three high-impact panels on Climate x AI, Industrial Decarbonization, and Collaborating with Utilities, showcasing thought leadership in cutting-edge climate solutions.Partner with Goodwin, 9Zero, MindTheBridge, Future Energy VenturesLead host of engaging happy hours and dinners, fostering meaningful connections across the climate tech community. Partner with several startups: Living Carbon, Verse.ai, Ammobia, Aepnus Technology among many others.

Business Development and Business Strategy- Supported Apenus seed round raise by advising in pro forma, developing a comprehensive bottoms up and top down market sizing, strategizing on their customer pipeline, and creating the impact model

Top tier VC with $10B+ in Assets Under Management, 30 IPOs and 45 acquisitionsCreated an investment thesis for software enabling technologies in the energy decarbonization sector. Specific topic: Distributed Energy Resources - Software (VPP, DERMs, DERs and marketplaces).Provided leading research on the status of the EU Taxonomy (Title 9) and what it means for startups in the EU and UK.Developed a list of VCs in Climate aligned to Sapphire's investment thesis.

Pitched the chosen startup for 2022 Haas Impact Fund to a highly qualified team of investors. Our team obtained the winning ticket supporting www.mazimobility.com a Mobility-as-a-Service startup in Kenya. They have been featured in MCJ podcast and others.Sourced 75+ early-stage global startups in the LATAM, Africa, SE Asia and Balkans regions for a $50K equity investment.Investment thesis: The emerging economy is growing and Climate action is necessary for that economic expansion. Our investment thesis connects Climate and Urbanization in the development economy as means for economic growth.

Creator of Sustainability mini-series to highlight the UC Berkeley Haas Sustainability traction.Developed and interviewed 10 amazing sustainability change makers in 5 episodes interviewing amazing speakers:- Dean of UC Berkeley Haas School of Business: Ann Harrison- Director of Sustainability at Haas: Michele De Nevers- Assistant Director of Sustainability at Haas: Kat Baird- Professor and Executive Director of South Asia Studies: Sanchita B. Saxena - Professor Finance: Panos Patatoukas- Professor Sustainability Innovation: Dave Rochlin- Alumni and Partner Fund 22: Tracy Gray- Alumni and H&M Head of Circularity: Evan Wiener- Professor and Nordic Center Head: Robert Strand- Career Management Group: Janelle Harris

In this role I translated the business needs and requirements into an improvement a 5 year strategy for our manufacturing facility. My focus is in the strategy and implementation of both technical and sustainable practices at manufacturing facilities.I coached teams to use tools like six sigma, value accelerators and fundamental problem solving to arrive at the root of fundamentally technical issues. I love the idea of prioritizing people's ideas to create a common solution while aligning sustainable practices that are engrained in our business model.

As an ATE I am in charge of implementing improvement projects and driving out of the box thinking using tools like design thinking and fundamental problem solving to maximize operations output, reduce reliability issues and advance the operational technology at our facilities. Examples include: Identification of critical impurities; Deep chemical and operational analysis to maximize operational output; Implementation and leadership for multiple projects ranging in cost between $100-500K with savings outputs of $2-3M YOY; Integrating Manufacturing 4.0 in the shop floor to the use of AR tools.

IMAGINEi5 is a creative think-tank dedicated to social impact. We define social impact as an activity that allows for positive development of the community alongside financial well-being in order to maintain sustainable business practices. We work with social impact innovators, accelerators, and incubators. IMAGINEi5 provides custom research on key social impact areas (including health, global economic development, and equity), consulting from ideation to launch, and social entrepreneurship training. Together, we create technology, products, and services that develop entrepreneurs and organizations - and the communities that we exist in. For more, visit https://www.youtube.com/@imaginei5930/videos

Avon Plant Quality, Lab and Supply Chain Manager – October 2016 to PresentManufactured Vanadium based catalyst to reduce SO2 effluents from metallurgical, oil and gas and spent acid facilities to clean the environment.• Design and develop a robust Avon Plant Quality Program to implement and improve ISO9001 application, MRB, auditing, training and continuous improvement including quality investigations, data analysis for lean quality sampling, product release and cost of product non-conformance• Manage project for re utilization of the Avon Analytical Lab and simplification of quality lab analysis• Manage and simplify Plant’s supply chain, PO, raw material and finish product planning and risk analysis

As part of the manufacturing technology team for the Insecticide Business Unit at LaPorte, TX performing the plant site demolition and removal through unit decontamination and isolation. Process Hazard Analysis evaluations as a burner energy expert. I constantly use my influential skills to deliver fast turn around of unit isolation.

Energy consulting role with exposure into energy reduction through energy balance. Focus on steam and compressed air energy efficiency problem solving. I have developed new applications skims to use compressed air in a more reliable and efficient way to reduce energy usage and cost. Reduced steam venting by 80% through the implementation of control schemes.

Project management role where I lead multidisciplinary groups through Creative Start procedures to deliver capacity release, yield opportunities, core value improvements and others at different plant sites nationally and internationally. I manage the different projects into developing savings and adding value to the company through six month projects. Projects are usually in multiple disciplines as well as different businesses allowing my quick learning skills and multi-tasking ability to show results in savings and earnings to the company. Leading by influence is a strength as having no direct reports but constantly working and leading teams towards succcesful completion of projects within a six month window. Using teamwork, collaboration and interpersonal savvy skills to raise the bar and drive for results.

During my time as a co-op I manage multiple projects with successful implementation and large savings.- Created and developed laboratory and plant testing to improve brine yield- Developed quality data collection tools to improve production troubleshooting - Reduced cost of steam usage and improved process uptime- Designed a rotating device to reduce variability of quality parameters- Updated operations division procedures to include process modifications