Mona Saurén to scale up Maki’s ESG operations

Mona Saurén to lead Maki’s ESG work: "I want to elevate the impact of ESG efforts across our entire portfolio"

Mona kick-started her career in VC at Maki as an intern. Now continuing as an analyst, she will also take the lead on Maki’s ESG work and operations.

“ESG is a crucial part in the work of both investors and founders today, and it’s no longer something that you can choose whether to develop or not, but a matter of survival. At the same time, the landscape and requirements around it are shifting constantly. Therefore, it’s really important that we not only develop our own ESG approach as investors but to give better, hands-on support for our portfolio companies,” says Mona.

Mona will be responsible for Maki's ESG work and also provide practical support to Maki's portfolio companies in their own ESG development efforts. For many of Maki's investments, sustainability is at the core of their business – such as Onego Bio, a company developing egg white substitutes without chickens, or Volare, which utilizes side streams from the food industry – but Mona and Maki’s goal is to elevate the impact of ESG efforts across their entire portfolio, regardless of the startup’s industry or solution.

Prior to her current role, Mona has worked as an analyst and in business development roles, gaining experience in both a family business and the Nordic startup scene.

“I’m excited to roll up my sleeves and dive in. I believe the whole industry has plenty to learn and so much untapped potential in the realm of ESG. I’m here to push these boundaries and advocate for transparency to foster cross-industry learning.”

If you’d like to share your thoughts on ESG reach out to Mona at mona@maki.vc. To learn more about our ESG efforts read our ESG Survey Report 2022 and ESG learnings from our portfolio.