Our Team
If You Lead With Impact, We Can Add VC/Tech Startup Expertise
If You Lead With Tech, We Can Add Impact Expertise
Managing Partner
Srikant’s background straddles entrepreneurship, venture capital, philanthropy, social enterprise, and corporate investing. Prior to launching Avesta Fund, Srikant was a Partner on Techstars’ investment team, where he was responsible for impact investments across the global Techstars network of 45 accelerators. Srikant has co-founded, led, and sold two VC-backed technology companies in highly competitive markets: KBkids/eToys (acquired by Big Lots) and StorePerform (acquired by RedPrairie, now JDA). These companies grew from zero to sales of $100M and $25M respectively when they were sold. Other positions include entrepreneur-in-residence with Battery Ventures and Mobius (Softbank) Venture Capital, a member of the founding team of MediaOne and its first Director of Corporate Development, Senior Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and founding President of Mount St. Mary’s University Online, an innovative nonprofit college that helps low-income Americans gain college degrees without debt.
Srikant was a Colorado Governor’s Fellow, a member of the Colorado Education Leadership Council’s working group that helped set the strategic direction for P-20 education in the state, a Trustee of Digital Green (a global development organization that empowers millions of smallholder farmers to lift themselves out of poverty), a member of Grameen Foundation’s Advisory Council (a leading non-profit that improves the lives of the bottom billion through solutions that combine technology, local entrepreneurship and empowerment), and a Trustee of the Logan School for Creative Learning. Srikant has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Founding Partner
Stuart Davidson is founding partner and investment committee member at Avesta Fund. Earlier, Stuart was a managing partner of Labrador Ventures, an early stage technology-focused venture capital fund, which he joined in 1995. He has been a partner in four Labrador funds and invested in over a hundred early stage companies and served on numerous boards.
Stuart is the co-founder and Chairman of Sonen Capital where he provides strategic planning and oversight on overall investment activities and portfolio management for select strategies. His investment experience includes the review and assessment of direct impact investments and impact funds on behalf of asset pools for which he serves as trustee, advisor or investment committee member. He is a founding board member and funder of Acumen Fund where he chaired the investment committee for over fifteen years.
Prior to Labrador, Stuart founded and served as CEO of Combion, Inc., which was acquired by Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY). He was president of Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALKS). Previously, Stuart worked for MCI Communications and for Warner Communications, where he was engaged in the development of businesses in electronic messaging, data networking and interactive cable TV.
He was the Board Chair of d.light, founding Board Chair of IDEO.org and Vice-Chair of REDF where he established the Farber program and is a Board member of the REDF Impact Investing Fund. He is a trustee of the Woodcock Foundation and served as a member of Skoll Foundation’s investment committee. Stuart is an advisory board member of the Global Health Group at UCSF and Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS). Stuart is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.
Investment Associate
Prior to joining Avesta Fund, Zoe was Program Manager of a NYSERDA backed accelerator called Venture For ClimateTech (V4C). As Program Manager she helped launch a global sourcing strategy to recruit top pre-seed climate startups, created and taught a climate-tech specific curriculum, and worked hands on with cohort companies to help them measure and scale their impact. Zoe has a deep understanding of sourcing founders at scale from her previous experience as Pipeline Coordinator at Techstars. In this role Zoe helped source startups across Techstars’ 50+ accelerator programs. By working closely with Techstars Managing Directors across the world she gained insights into what technology trends to look for across many industries such as Advanced Manufacturing, Sustainability, FoodTech, Workforce Development, and Social Impact.
Zoe’s previous experience includes serving as the CEO and Founder of Grazeable, an agtech company built to empower farmers and ranchers with the tools they need to to effectively deploy regenerative techniques on their land. She took the company through multiple accelerator programs including Creative Destruction Lab Rockies, and was awarded an Engineering Excellence Fund grant to build the technology. Zoe started Grazeable after graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in Engineering Plus.
Investment Associate
Harshita Mira Venkatesh has extensive experience commercializing early-stage climate technologies, with a particular focus on hard-tech and deep tech sectors. Her operational experience has also nurtured a deep empathy for the unique experiences of founders. As a Business Fellow in the inaugural cohort of the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program, she played a pivotal role in steering climate startups through critical related challenges. Harshita's contributions to startups include a wide array of early-stage business development initiatives, encompassing initial beachhead identification, fundraising (pre-seed, seed, and Series A), implementing go-to-market strategies, techno-economic modeling, among others. Her experience spans a diverse range of projects in key sectors such as cement, steel, hydrogen, and ammonia.
She previously interned with Rivian, the electric vehicle manufacturer, on their Corporate Development team, contributing to their Series E fundraising strategy. Prior to her time at Rivian, she amassed extensive experience as an economic consultant at Charles River Associates, where she engaged in a variety of high-profile projects ranging from major mergers to intellectual property cases. Harshita holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, where she was honored with the Berkeley Excellence scholarship. She also possesses a dual degree in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Rochester. Additionally, Harshita is deeply committed to social causes. She has been actively involved in numerous non-profit and volunteer roles, focusing on advancing women’s rights and promoting climate equity.
.png){kind=small}
Avesta Fund is proud to be based in Denver, Colorado
