Women in Cleantech and Sustainability Pitch Competition

Join Women in Cleantech & Sustainability (WCS) for an exciting evening celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship in climate, energy, and sustainability.

At this annual pitch competition, women-led startups from around the world will take the stage to present bold solutions addressing some of the most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges. Founders will pitch their companies to a panel of judges, answer questions about their technology and business models, and compete for a cash prize pool designed to support the next stage of their growth.

This event offers a unique opportunity to discover emerging climate technologies, hear directly from visionary founders, and connect with professionals across the cleantech ecosystem. Whether you’re an investor, entrepreneur, student, or sustainability enthusiast, you’ll experience firsthand the ideas and leaders shaping the future of the industry.

How the competition works:Selected startups will deliver a 5-minute pitch, followed by 3 minutes of questions from the judging panel. Winners will be announced toward the end of the event.

2026 Pitchers

Aishwarya Kothari, CEO, Prithvion

Aishwarya is a plant scientist and entrepreneur building Prithvion, a predictive disease intelligence platform for agriculture. Her background is in plant physiology and stress biology, where she studied how environmental conditions influence crop health and disease development. Before founding Prithvion, she worked in research and innovation roles bridging scientific R&D with business strategy, helping translate complex biological insights into practical solutions. Through extensive engagement with farmers, agronomists, and researchers, she recognized the gap between plant disease science and real-world decision making. Aishwarya is passionate about building tools that empower farmers with better intelligence to protect crops, improve sustainability, and strengthen global food systems.

Caroline Tiglao, Co-Founder & CMO, NEUUF

Caroline Tiglao is a cleantech founder, investor, and community builder focused on people-first sustainability. She co-founded NEUUF to develop non-invasive, net-positive regenerative technology for mobility, advancing solutions that add value rather than simply reduce harm. A mother and global entrepreneur with experience across startups and corporations in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., Caroline brings a systems-level and intuitive approach to innovation. She is committed to building technologies and ecosystems that serve communities, empower women, and create lasting generational impact.

Gabriella Dweck, Co-CEO, Oleo

Gabriella Dweck is a founder and co-CEO of Oleo Public Benefit Corporation, a venture transforming wasted biomass into sustainable oil feedstocks for advanced fuel production. She was named to the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Energy and Green Tech for her leadership in advancing renewable fuels. Before founding Oleo, Dweck worked as a process engineer at W. L. Gore & Associates in new product development and as a manufacturing engineer at Abbott Laboratories. She has an M.S. in engineering design impact from Stanford University and a B.S. in biomedical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Jumana Al Hashal, Founder & CEO, Snowline

Jumana Al Hashal is on a mission to protect access to food and medicine in a warming world. She built and scaled multiple systems that the intersection of AI and the Physical world. Jumana started working in a factory at the age of 12 and held executive and engineering roles at Google, Zillow, and Apple in addition to being part of 5 startup journeys (including 4 exits).

Kyra Sedransk Campbell, CEO and Co-Founder, Danu Water

Dr. Kyra Sedransk Campbell is CEO and Co-Founder of Danu Water. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge and a BS from MIT, and was previously a Professor of Chemical Engineering. Since founding Danu in October 2024, she has secured Letters of Intent with two leading European paper manufacturers, negotiated a Proof-of-Concept agreement with a leading Italian textile manufacturer, and built a sales pipeline exceeding $350M in the paper sector alone. Danu has completed prototype demonstrations of its core technology treating industrial wastewater for reuse onsite, and Kyra is now leading the industrial-scale pilot demonstrations planned for Q3 2026.

Liv Andersson, Co-Founder & CEO, Biozeroc

Liv Andersson is the Founder and CEO of Biozeroc, a venture-backed climate tech company developing biotechnology-enabled alternatives to decarbonise heavy industry, starting with cement.

With a background in architecture, engineering and industrial ecology, she combines technical expertise with commercial leadership to scale the next-generation low-carbon construction materials.

Manuela Zoninsein, Cofounder & CEO, Kadeya

Manuela Zoninsein is the Cofounder & CEO of Kadeya, a climate-tech company rebuilding beverage infrastructure for the industrial economy. A serial entrepreneur, she previously founded and scaled two agtech platform companies in China and Brazil and worked in international business development at Palantir Technologies. Manuela holds degrees from Harvard, Oxford, and MIT Sloan. She is building Kadeya to hydrate frontline workers with safer, smarter, closed-loop infrastructure—proving that sustainability and workforce performance can scale together.

Mona Maleka, COO, AmHyTech Inc.

Mona Maleka earned her PhD in Chemistry from Michigan State University, where she specialized in ammonia cracking systems, synthesizing and characterizing catalysts for ammonia decomposition. In 2023, she co founded AmHyTech and currently serves as COO, leading operations, federal grant strategy, and fundraising efforts. She previously worked as a research scientist intern focusing on heterogeneous ammonia thermal cracking. Mona is a 2025 Aspen Fellow nominee through Ford and serves on the Safety Committee of the Ammonia Energy Association. Her work centers on advancing safe, scalable ammonia infrastructure for energy and industrial applications.

Pauliina MeskanenCo-Founder & CEO, Calectra

Pauliina Meskanen is the Co-Founder & CEO of Calectra, a DOE-backed thermal battery startup making up to 1600°C process heating cheaper and cleaner for the heavy industry, including cement and steel manufacturing. Before co-founding Calectra, Pauliina built a consultancy and media company on hardware energy innovation (Survivaltech.club), was an investor in Nordic VC funds (Lifeline Ventures, Inventure, Wave Ventures) and the fourth employee at a VC-backed health tech startup (Kaiku Health, acquired by Elekta). M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering.

Satpal Kaur, CEO, UnBOXED INC

Satpal Kaur is a designer, building science practitioner, and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in high-performance affordable housing. She helped deliver New York City’s first affordable multifamily Passive House projects, achieving significant energy reductions in urban housing. Satpal is the Founder and CEO of UnBOXED, a climate technology company developing prefabricated “second-skin” retrofit panels made from recycled materials to decarbonize existing apartment buildings without displacing residents. Her work focuses on scalable retrofit solutions that improve energy performance, affordability, and resilience in the existing housing stock.

2026 Judges

Amit ChaturvedyGlobal Head & Managing Partner, SE Ventures

Amit Chaturvedy is the Global Head & Managing Partner of SE Ventures, the $1B+ specialist venture fund backed by Schneider Electric. With nearly two decades of experience in venture capital, private equity, and corporate development, he drives SE Ventures’ strategy to invest in startups advancing electrification and digital transformation in energy management and automation. Prior to joining SE Ventures, Amit led Cisco Systems’ global venture investing and corporate development in cloud computing, IoT, data centers, and enterprise networking. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a master’s from Purdue University, and a bachelor’s from IIT Bombay.

Venkat NaupadaAssociate Director - Digital Enablement Lead, Johnson Controls

Venkat Naupada is Associate Director of Digital Enablement for Sustainable Infrastructure at Johnson Controls, where he leads initiatives at the intersection of digital transformation and energy systems. He drives solutions that enhance operational efficiency, customer engagement, and sustainability outcomes. Venkat has led the development of AI-powered tools for building energy performance and portfolio assessments, enabling smarter HVAC investments and carbon reduction. He brings deep expertise in analytics, building automation, and decarbonization strategy. Venkat holds an MBA from Georgetown University, an MS in Energy Systems from Northeastern University, and a BE in Electrical Engineering from Andhra University.

Ingrid Hammer, Advisor, Silicon Valley/San Francisco at Innovation Norway

Ingrid Hammer is a Senior Advisor at Innovation Norway in Silicon Valley, the official trade and export organization of the Norwegian government. She holds a business master’s degree and has a background in management consulting, working with some of the largest companies in Norway. Today, Ingrid works closely with the forefront of Norwegian startups, helping them scale into the U.S. market by shaping go‑to‑market strategies, providing market insight, and connecting them with customers, partners, and investors.

Gray RobinsonPartner, Congruent Ventures

Gray Robinson is a Partner at Congruent Ventures. She brings experience as both an early stage venture investor and startup executive.

Gray joined Congruent Ventures in March 2025 and works on both new investments and portfolio support.

She holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in Economics from Davidson College and completed an Impact Investing Fellowship through Middlebury College.

Gray enjoys hiking, gardening, live music and up to 9 holes of golf at a time.

Lucy ReadingSenior Associate, Powerhouse Ventures

Lucy began her career in economic consulting and has investing experience from graduate roles at DBL Partners and Evergreen Climate Innovations. Lucy joined Powerhouse Ventures in 2025 and provides support across sourcing, diligence, and fund operations. Lucy grew up in Hong Kong where she fell in love with hiking, one of the city’s best kept secrets.

Yuet Lee, National Mentor Program Chair, Cleantech Open

Yuet Lee is a business and technology advisor focusing on clean tech projects. He has been a Cleantech Open volunteer since 2008 as a mentor and in various other capacities. He also mentors for several Bay Area incubators. In his most recent corporate role, he led business development for Nortel – evaluating wireless, optical and enterprise data technologies, assessing business opportunities, closing partnerships and investments with external companies. Before that, he directed R&D projects at SBC, Pacific Bell, Bellcore and Bell Laboratories.

Venue Sponsor: MBC Biolabs

MBC BioLabs believes startups are the greatest force for positive change in the world. MBC BioLabs is dedicated to helping biotech startups succeed – they like to say that they enable awesome. MBC BioLabs offers flexible and cost-effective lab space, complete with operational support and millions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation, along with a vibrant community of like-minded individuals tackling the world's biggest problems. You pay only for what you need, and MBC BioLabs handles all the logistics, maintenance, and upkeep so you can obsess about your science and business without distractions.

Our SF Climate Week Events are Sponsored by Innovation Norway

About Women in Cleantech and Sustainability

​​​Women in Cleantech and Sustainability (WCS) is a global nonprofit community dedicated to advancing women working across climate, energy, and sustainability. Through events, mentorship, career resources, and local chapters around the world, WCS creates spaces where women can connect, learn, grow professionally, and collaborate to drive meaningful climate solutions. Whether you’re an industry expert, a student, a founder, or simply climate-curious, WCS welcomes those who want to build community and accelerate positive change together.

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