Every industry on the planet is undergoing a radical transformation.
At Starshot, we are pilots, not passengers.
The climate crisis is one of the biggest opportunities of our generation for massive impact and tremendous wealth creation.
Managing Partner
Founding Partner
Partner
Venture Partner
Principal
MBA Associate
Moonshot thinking has enabled tremendous innovation and the advancement of the human species. However, what drove us to the Moon was fear, more than curiosity – the need to outcompete other humans. Once the competition was won, funding was cut, and we packed up our bags and left, never to return.
Global challenges such as climate change require a new way of thinking. We need to create long-term, collaborative, sustainable solutions. We need to be more ambitious than moonshot thinking.
Every industry is going through a radical transformation to decarbonize. Innovating on decarbonization is not only an opportunity for monumental impact, but is also the economic opportunity of a lifetime. At Starshot Capital we are proud to support founders building high-impact high-growth businesses: those ambitious enough to change the world and improve the lives of millions of people.
Jeremy is the founding Managing Partner of Starshot Capital. He also serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Work on Climate, the largest technical climate community in the world.
Prior to Starshot Capital, Jeremy led investment vehicles for the Google and Facebook alumni communities and did venture capital and private equity work for a large Canadian family office. He previously held product, data analysis, and anti-abuse roles across Google, Facebook, and Dataminr, spending his 20% time at Google with CapitalG, Google’s growth equity fund.
Jeremy graduated from Cornell University with a triple major with distinction. Outside of work Jeremy enjoys hiking, spending time with family, and swimming with his dogs.
Sam is a Founding Partner of Starshot Capital. He is also a founding member of Work on Climate – the largest technical climate community in the world – where he previously served as Vice Chair. Before Starshot, Sam did venture work with a family office and corporate alumni community. He has been recognized by the government of Canada as a Canadian Global Executive.
Sam dedicated his early career to understanding the fundamentals of what makes innovation successful in different industries. At SpaceX, he designed tools to increase manufacturing speed and reliability. At Tesla, he designed components to make a new product launch easier to manufacture. At Lilium, he oversaw the design of the fuselage of the electric flying car, balancing the needs of different teams with the required aerodynamic performance.
He also developed a climate education tool that maps & prioritizes over 100 climate solutions, endorsed by key climate figures. The tool provides insights on which solutions are the most impactful, neglected, and ripe for disruption.
Jeff has 4+ decades of experience in both private and public roles. Most recently, he served as CSO at Unilever where he co-chaired the Sustainability Committee of the Consumer Goods Forum. He was also SVP for Environment & Water Resources at Coca-Cola and VP for Policy Planning at Texaco.
Jeff served as Executive Director of the White House Climate Change Task Force under President Clinton. He also led the USAID Office of Energy, Environment & Technology, served as a Foreign Service Officer at the State Department posted in Brussels, and was a Legislative Assistant to US Senators Jay Rockefeller and Tim Wirth.
Jeff currently serves on the boards of the Planetary Health Alliance, Global Water Challenge and RiverLA and has supported Paul Polman in writing and speaking on Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take (2022).
Zoe Samuel is a Venture Partner at Starshot Capital, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage climate startups. Zoe previously worked at Google, where she co-created Alphabet’s largest internal grassroots climate solutions community, Anthropocene, now over 4000 strong. Anthropocene supports Google climate projects such as Project Sunroof, the Agricultural Understanding Platform, and many more, as well as providing educational and career resources to Googlers seeking to contribute to climate solutions.
Zoe also led circularity and climate programs and engagement for gTech, one of the larger divisions at Google, working toward a world without waste. She is Vice-Chair of the board of Work on Climate, the world’s largest climate tech community.
Fun fact: Zoe once milked over 250 cows, knows the scores of over 50 musicals, and makes world-class roast potatoes.
Nick is a Principal at Starshot Capital. Prior to joining Starshot, Nick worked as a Principal Research Engineer at Air Products and Chemicals, the world’s largest hydrogen supplier. At Air Products, Nick validated catalysts for various hydrogen-related chemistries and optimized amine-based carbon capture systems for blue hydrogen production.
Nick received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware, publishing twelve papers on the topics of heterogeneous catalysis, adsorption, solvent thermodynamics, and in-situ spectroscopy. Outside of work, Nick enjoys going to indie/foreign film theaters, shopping at farmer’s markets, spending time outside, and learning to speak Spanish.
Praveen Mahendran is a MBA Associate at Starshot capital. Prior to Starshot, Praveen spent 8 years in analytics and consulting, specializing in internal product development and business operations, bridging the gap between business and technical teams. He has also worked on or consulted for companies in the agricultural, energy, and carbon utilization cleantech spaces. He holds an MBA and MS in Sustainable Systems from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Natural Resources from Cornell University.
Fun fact: Praveen has participated in a half marathon at a national or state park for the past 4 years.
