Cristian Palmeiro is a Senior Associate at Mavka Capital, focused on deal execution and transaction management across the firm's technology and growth-market coverage. He supports the senior team on M&A, capital raises, and strategic advisory engagements for frontier-technology companies in the Americas, Europe, and India.

Cristian brings more than a decade of banking and transaction experience. Prior to joining Mavka Capital, he held roles at ScaleView Partners, PwC, and JPMorgan, where he built diligence, valuation, and execution experience across cross-border M&A and growth financing mandates.

Vitaly M. Golomb is CEO and Managing Partner of Mavka Capital, the frontier-technology M&A and capital-formation advisory practice he founded to serve companies operating at the intersection of mobility, energy transition, and physical AI. He also serves as General Partner of Mavka Ventures, the firm's early-stage embodied-AI fund, and as Managing Director of Mavka Growth, its go-to-market advisory affiliate.

Vitaly has spent more than two decades on every side of the table — as a venture-backed founder and CEO, as a corporate venture capitalist, and as an investment banker — with direct involvement in dozens of financings, joint ventures, and M&A transactions across North America, Europe, and Asia. Prior to founding Mavka, he was Global Head of Mobility & Sustainability at Drake Star, one of the world's leading mid-market technology investment banks. Before Drake Star, he served as a Founding Partner of HP Tech Ventures, the corporate venture arm of HP Inc., which was ranked among the top 1% of global corporate venture programs during his tenure. Earlier in his career he founded and led Keen Systems, an award-winning SaaS company later acquired by Aleyant.

Vitaly is the best-selling author of Accelerated Startup, ranked among the best books ever written on the venture and startup ecosystem, and has been a contributor to TechCrunch and Boss Magazine. He is a sought-after keynote speaker, moderator, and university guest lecturer in more than 30 countries. He has served on public and private company boards, including as an Independent Director of HyperCharge (NEO: HC.NE), as a Supervisory Board Member of the Ukrainian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, and as Co-Founder and CEO of Sofie Labs.

Vitaly holds a B.A. from the University of Silicon Valley and completed executive programs in Venture Capital at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and in Behavioral Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He holds active FINRA Series 7, 79, 63, and 24 licenses.

‍

Kateryna Mamyko Golomb is CMO and Partner at Mavka Capital and Managing Director of Mavka Growth, the firm's go-to-market advisory practice for Series A and B frontier technology founders. She leads brand, communications, and market positioning across the Mavka platform, and advises founders on the commercial infrastructure required to grow from great product to scalable revenue.

Kateryna brings a distinctive combination of global marketing leadership and international legal training. Prior to Mavka, she served as Director of Marketing at Drake Star, a top-10 mid-market global technology investment bank, where she led the firm's global brand modernization and secured coverage in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNBC, and other tier-one media. Earlier, she was Director of Marketing and Business Development at L2 Counsel, a Silicon Valley boutique law firm serving venture-backed technology companies, which she helped position for its acquisition by Foley & Lardner LLP.

Before her marketing career, Kateryna practiced law across the United States, Ukraine, and Central and Eastern Europe. She was a Global Fellow at DLA Piper in Palo Alto, supporting M&A and financing transactions for emerging-growth technology, venture capital, and enterprise clients. She previously founded and ran Mamyko & Associates in Kyiv, advising early-stage technology companies and venture funds on formation, financing, and cross-border joint ventures, and served as General Counsel of the Happy Farm Business Incubator.

Kateryna holds an LL.M. Cum Laude from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and an LL.M. and LL.B. Summa Cum Laude from Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University.

Kip Knight is Associate Partner at Mavka Capital and Managing Director of Mavka Growth, the firm's go-to-market advisory practice for Series A and B frontier-technology founders. He advises Mavka clients and Mavka Ventures portfolio companies on brand positioning, category creation, and the commercial infrastructure required to scale from great product to durable revenue.

Kip brings four decades of consumer, marketing, and general-management leadership across some of the most recognized brands in the world. He served as President, U.S. Retail Operations at H&R Block, with P&L responsibility for $1.1 billion in revenue across more than 3,700 franchise offices, and led H&R Block's international and U.S. franchise operations across Canada, Australia, and India. Earlier in his career, he was Chief Marketing Officer of Taco Bell and a senior marketing executive at KFC International, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, and eBay, where he headed international marketing under Meg Whitman. He has worked in more than 60 countries and founded the U.S. Marketing Communication College, which teaches messaging strategy to U.S. State Department diplomats.

Alongside his work at Mavka, Kip is Operating Partner at Thomvest Ventures, an evergreen San Francisco venture fund investing in fintech, martech, and cybersecurity, and Founder and CEO of CMO Coaches, a national network of former CMOs turned certified executive coaches. He is the author of Learn to Leap: How Leaders Turn Risk into Opportunities and co-author of Crafting Persuasion: A Leader's Handbook to Change Minds and Influence Behavior. He serves on the board of 5.11 Tactical.

Kip holds a B.S. in Marketing from Louisiana State University and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati.

Misha Edel is a Partner at Mavka Capital, where he leads the firm's Deep Tech and Infrastructure practice, covering data center infrastructure, edge computing, smart building systems, and industrial automation. He served as exclusive financial advisor to Andluca Technologies, a Princeton University spin-out in intelligent glass, on its 2026 SAFE investment ahead of its Series A.

Misha brings more than two decades of M&A, technology transformation, and enterprise advisory experience. Prior to joining Mavka Capital, he was Managing Director in KPMG US's Mergers & Acquisitions Strategy practice, where over five years he led operational and commercial diligence across more than 200 transactions for private equity and corporate clients and built the practice's proprietary diligence toolset. He also co-led KPMG's Deal Advisory response to the emergence of generative AI. Earlier, he was a Director at AlixPartners, a Manager in PwC's Consulting practice, and a Principal Consultant at Capco, with additional experience at Gartner, BearingPoint, GE Capital, and State Street Bank.

Misha authors Mavka Capital's data center and AI infrastructure research, including the firm's AI Inference Infrastructure Deep Dive and its quarterly Data Center Technology reports. He holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, an M.S. in Finance from Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business, and a B.A. in History and Economics from Brandeis University.

Yana Holets is a Partner at Mavka Capital, where she leads IT Services coverage and drives origination, M&A, capital raising, and investor relationships across AI infrastructure, energy transition, defense tech, and embodied AI and robotics. She partners with Misha Edel on Data Center coverage, extending the firm's platform from infrastructure and power into the AI services layer.

Yana brings 15+ years of experience as a senior operator across global technology platforms, with a track record of executing in complex, high-growth environments in the Americas, Europe, and APAC. She most recently served as Senior Director and Head of Business Operations at EPAM Systems, where she led deal governance and qualification across a multibillion-dollar North America portfolio, built enterprise contracting frameworks, and directed new-logo growth, cost optimization, and transformation programs. Earlier in her career she held leadership roles at Luxoft (now DXC Technology), GeeksForLess, and DotClub Domains (acquired by GoDaddy), scaling global operations and leading complex transformation initiatives.

Yana is the Founder and CEO of NeoTech, an AI venture studio that builds and backs AI-native products and companies, and a Co-Founder of Anything vs Anything and QuantAge Chain. She is an early-stage angel investor in AI products, including Pandatron. She holds an M.S. in Mathematics and Economics and executive education credentials from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the Wharton School, with a focus on AI for decision-making, business strategy, and innovation.

Stefan Krause is an Associate Partner at Mavka Capital and General Partner of Mavka Ventures, the firm's early-stage fund focused on embodied AI and the physical-intelligence economy. He has led more than $20 billion in fundraising and M&A over a 30+ year career spanning global automotive, banking, and next-generation mobility.

Stefan served as Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Management Board of BMW Group from 2002 to 2007 — one of the youngest CFOs in the company's history — where he initiated BMW's $10 billion "i" electric-vehicle investment program, subsequently led BMW's global sales and marketing, and chaired Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. He then served as CFO and Member of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank AG from 2008 to 2015, guiding the bank through the global financial crisis and later serving as CEO of its Transaction Bank and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Postbank AG.

Stefan later co-founded Canoo, the electric-vehicle company that grew from founding to a Nasdaq listing in under three years. He subsequently founded B-ON, a global electric commercial-vehicle manufacturer whose fleet has logged more than 400 million kilometers in service. His board service has included Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Allianz SE, Rocket Internet SE, and Rock Tech Lithium.

Stefan holds a Diplom-Kaufmann (M.B.A. equivalent) in Business Administration from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg.

Vasudha Madhavan is Associate Partner, India, at Mavka Capital and Founder and CEO of Ostara Advisors, India's first climate-tech and electric-mobility-focused investment bank. She brings deep connectivity across India's growth-stage electric mobility, energy transition, and industrial technology ecosystem to Mavka's global platform.

Vasudha founded Ostara Advisors in Bengaluru in 2015 and has since positioned the firm as the leading independent adviser to Indian climate-tech and EV businesses across growth-capital fundraising and M&A. Ostara has channeled more than $125 million in growth and climate capital into Indian founders across electric two- and three-wheelers, EV components, battery technology, charging infrastructure, and clean mobility fleets. Notable transactions include Greaves Cotton's landmark acquisition of Ampere Vehicles — India's first electric two-wheeler M&A — Altigreen Propulsion, Zypp Electric, ION Energy, and Routematic's $40 million Series C. She was ranked among Venture Intelligence's Top 20 on the All-India M&A League Tables and named to India's Top 40 Women in the Energy Sector.

Prior to founding Ostara Advisors, Vasudha held banking roles at ICICI Bank and Citibank in India. She holds an MBA in Finance from XLRI Jamshedpur and a B.Com. in Economics from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.

Ansgar Baums is General Manager, International Government Affairs, at Microsoft, leading government affairs for Microsoft in Germany and Austria. He previously spent more than a decade in senior government-relations roles at HP and HP Inc., most recently as Head of Government Relations for EMEA and leader of HP's Global Strategy Program between Berlin and Palo Alto, where he founded the company's first geopolitical strategy unit. He later served as Director of Government Relations at Zoom Video Communications and as Senior Advisor at Sinolytics, a Berlin- and Beijing-based geopolitical risk consultancy. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute, and co-author of Tech Cold War: The Geopolitics of Technology (Lynne Rienner, 2025). Ansgar holds an M.Sc. in International Strategy and Economics from the University of St. Andrews and a postgraduate diploma in Political Science from the Free University of Berlin.

Sridhar Solur is Chief Executive Officer of Lasko Products, the 120-year-old American home-comfort brand, where he leads product modernization across AI, IoT, and robotics. He previously served as CEO of Kenmore & Brands, where he drove a 7x revenue expansion and scaled the brand's retail footprint from 120 to more than 6,000 locations. Earlier, he was Chief Product Officer and General Manager of Mobile Robotics at Berkshire Grey, Chief Product Officer at SharkNinja, and Senior Vice President of Product & Engineering for Xfinity Home, IoT, and Data Services at Comcast, where he led xFi to more than 10 million customers. He spent two decades at HP, where he founded and led HP's wearables and IoT business and its global cloud and mobile-printing business. He serves on the board of Rewiring America. Sridhar holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from Boston University's Questrom School of Business and a B.E. from the National Institute of Technology, India.

Monika Mikac is Chief Executive Officer of NAD Capital, an investment firm focused on the full spectrum of electric mobility, and Founder and Managing Partner of N-Vision Ventures, a Southeast Europe-focused early-stage venture fund investing in AI, mobility, and personalized health. She was one of the founding-team members and Chief Operating Officer of Rimac Automobili, helping scale the company from a handful of employees into a global electric-hypercar and technology platform, and led more than €50 million in fundraising during her tenure. She subsequently served as Chief Business Officer and Board Member at QEV Technologies. She serves on the board of Turbo Energy Solar Innovation (Nasdaq: TURB). Monika holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Zagreb and completed the Venture Capital Executive Program at UC Berkeley.

Timur Sardarov is Chairman of MV Agusta Motor S.p.A., the storied Italian motorcycle manufacturer, where he previously served as CEO from 2018 to 2024 and led the brand's ownership consolidation and its strategic partnership with KTM/Pierer Mobility. He is Founder and Chairman of Black Ocean, a private investment group with holdings across mobility, aviation, and technology, and Co-Founder of Ocean Group International. He also founded Ocean Sky, one of Europe's private aviation carriers. Timur brings deep operating experience in luxury brand revitalization, mobility, and aviation to Mavka's client engagements.

Donna Loughlin is Founder and President of LMGPR, a Silicon Valley-based strategic communications firm specializing in deep-tech and emerging-technology founders. Since founding LMGPR in 2002, she has led communications programs that have taken more than 500 companies from stealth to market leadership across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data center infrastructure, robotics, mobility, and aerospace. She is the host of the Before It Happened podcast, which explores the origin stories of visionary technology founders. Donna has been recognized as one of Silicon Valley's Most Influential Women by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, named 2020 Woman of IoT in Marketing by Connected World, and inducted into the 2020 Best of Silicon Valley Hall of Fame. She began her career as a journalist and is a member of the Forbes Communications Council. Donna holds degrees from UC Berkeley and San Jose State University.