Seaworthy Conversations: Impact Investment & BlueTech

Just as Seaworthy works to make BlueTech more accessible for innovators & entrepreneurs, we're also helping impact & industry agnostic investors access opportunities in BlueTech & ClimateTech.  We'll explore what investors are seeing opportunity in the space, & how impact & ESG (environmental, social, and governance) are adding momentum.

imvest accelerates impact investors and social entrepreneurs globally.  They build thematic impact investment asset allocations with investors. They also accelerate early stage companies with capital, knowledge, and network to make big impact while also generating a financial return.  They are positioned to help entrepreneurs, asset managers, and investors achieve their impact goals.

Valor Ventures uses an  Inclusion Premium investing philosophy to drive value. Valor leads seed rounds in software companies based in the Southeast. They back founders with deep experience and insight into a business problem they are driven to solve.

About Our Panel:

Julia Wilkinson

Founder & CEO, Imvest

Julia Wilkinson is an impact investor and consultant with over a decade of experience in cultivating startup businesses and investors to enact profitable, measureable, real-world change. Her passion for futurism and social change drives her commitment to shape the world’s future through thought leadership, philanthropy, and investing.

Julia brings to the table deep knowledge of capital markets. For 6 years she worked in private wealth management at Goldman Sachs on a team with $1.5B in assets under management, trading across asset classes and leading project management duties. She also has 4 years experience in venture capital & private equity investing in emerging markets. Julia is board chair of Finance for Good Brazil, a nonprofit that supports Brazil’s social finance ecosystem, and a partner of Social Venture Partners Miami. She has a BA in diplomatic history from University of Pennsylvania and a MPA from Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.

Through imvest, Julia helps clients to integrate impact towards the Sustainable Development Goals within their community, foundation, enterprise, or family office.

Rodney Morris

Venture Capital Associate, Valor Ventures

Rodney Morris is a graduate of Morehouse College. While at Morehouse, Rodney interned for Goldman

Sachs, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and renown

entrepreneur Robert Swift’s Airport Retail Management. Rodney also was a member of the Morehouse

Business Association, a Vanguard Scholar, a Bank of America Scholar, and a member of the protégé

program.

After graduation, Rodney has worked within private equity, management consulting, talent

management, entrepreneurship, and venture capital. As an entrepreneur/talent manager in

media/entertainment, Rodney discovered the intersection of venture capital, technology, and culture.

Excited about the trends he discovered while working at that intersection, Rodney pursued a career in

venture capital.

As an associate at Valor Ventures, Rodney focused on sourcing, diligence, working with portfolio

companies, research reports, interviewing top investors/execs/founders on the Atlanta Startup Podcast,

and he worked to put together Startup Runway cohorts.

Most recently, Rodney has created Magnus, a diversified investment and talent advisory firm with

ventures in sports, technology, and media/entertainment.

Daniel Kleinman

Founder & CEO, Seaworthy Collective

Growing up in South Florida, Daniel was surrounded by & captivated by the Atlantic Ocean. Daniel received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida, focusing on ocean technology. During his time as an undergraduate, Daniel interned with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as an Engineering Assistant and became a University Innovation Fellow. After graduating in 2015, Daniel spent two years as a Pilot & Test Engineer for Bluefin Robotics' Bluefin-21 unmanned underwater vehicles in Boston. Daniel spent the following three years in San Diego as a Contractor for the Navy contributing to mechanical engineering research & development for maritime systems.

After five years in the ocean technology industry, Daniel saw a missed opportunity in the lack of infrastructure to support the development of solutions to positively impact the ocean. Combining his passions for ocean science & exploration, innovation & entrepreneurship, & mentorship, Daniel founded Seaworthy Collective in 2020 to empower current & aspiring oceanographic changemakers. Daniel is thrilled to foster a community facilitating the growth of startups in the ocean science & exploration field. Daniel is also pursuing his Master's degree in Exploration Science at The University of Miami's Rosenstiel School for Marine & Atmospheric Science, & was recently recognized as a Miami Global Shaper.