Dhanesh is an Investment Associate at Big Idea Ventures. He holds an M.Tech. in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Previously, he worked at Demolish Foods Technologies as a Biochemical Engineer, where he led the R&D team and developed plant-based and cultivated chicken products. He later joined Entrepreneur First as a Resident Founder, where he explored opportunities in biomanufacturing. He has a strong background in biochemical engineering and product development within the alternative protein sector.

Laine is a Program Manager at Big Idea Ventures. She spent nearly four years at the Good Food Institute (GFI), where she was the Senior Corporate Engagement Manager, Innovation. In this role, she engaged with stakeholders around the world, including startups, government representatives, investors, and academic institutions. Prior to working with GFI, she founded a company in the pet industry and exited through acquisition. For the past nine years, Laine has been an Entrepreneur in Residence for Georgetown University, mentoring and collaborating with entrepreneurs and founders across various sectors. She has also served as a mentor for George Washington University, including engagements with the NSF I-Corps program and the Korean Innovation Center.

Shruti is a Program Manager at Big Idea Ventures, bringing over a decade of cross-industry experience spanning digital marketing, media production, pharmaceuticals, and fragrance innovation. She works closely with early-stage founders to refine brand narratives and execute go-to-market initiatives. Her experience across Southeast Asia’s e-commerce and media ecosystems enables her to support startups in building distinctive identities and scaling effectively.

Oscar Hellier is a Venture Associate, supporting fundraising, Investment due diligence and portfolio management to build innovation across the USA, Europe, and Canada. Prior to this, he worked as a Strategy Consultant at KPMG in the UK and Kazakhstan/Caspian region, leading international strategy and operations projects across food, agri, logistics, and supply chain. He holds an BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, specialising in Biomechanical Engineering.

Dr. Van N. Truskett is currently the Venture Discovery Director for BIV’s Generation Food Rural Partners (“GFRP”). Previously, Dr. Truskett served as Director of Jetting Technology for a university spinout, Molecular Imprints, which was acquired in 2014 by Canon Japan to form Canon Nanotechnologies. She was instrumental in releasing over ten nanoimprint lithography products and over six cutting-edge inkjet printing products. She has over 50 patents (U.S. and international) constituting the core technology.

Dr. Truskett was the former Executive Director of the Texas Innovation Center and Director of Technology Innovation in Discovery to Impact at The University of Texas at Austin, focusing on creating and fostering a community and culture for collaborative research and entrepreneurship supporting university technology
commercialization.

Dr. Truskett received her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and her B.S. from The University of Texas at Austin, both degrees in chemical engineering. In 2016, she was awarded the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Technology Innovation from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Science of Texas. As of 2020, she was inducted as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Bill serves as a Venture Discovery Director at BIV’s Generation Food Rural Partners (GFRP) fund. Prior to joining BIV, Bill was Managing Director at the Purdue Foundry at Purdue University, working with early-stage startups in developing growth, commercialization, and fundraising strategies.

Bill’s background includes roles at multiple startups, including as CTO and CEO, in addition to deep experience in financial services. His focus is on moving technologies to markets to solve real-world problems. He holds an MS in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Georgia.

Elsa Swanson Sareen is the Vice President of BIV’s Generation Food Rural Partners (GFRP) fund. As VP, Elsa leads new company launch, and works closely with portfolio company leaders to identify and prioritize critical technical and business risk mitigation activities. She is a hands-on business builder who has spent the past 10 years building and launching new businesses in Academic, Corporate, and Small Business settings. She started her career confounding a medical device company, and led that company as CEO through an exit. 

Elsa leverages her empathetic mindset and diverse background to translate customer needs into tangible solutions. As a formally trained Biomedical Engineer with experience across various industries, Elsa helps to bridge the gap between technical ideas and commercial execution.

Caroline Mak is the program director for Big Ideas Ventures accelerator in NY. As a former food entrepreneur, Caroline Mak is committed to advocating for innovative entrepreneurs. She co-founded and ran a beverage company, Brooklyn Soda Works for seven years and the successes plus the failures of her first company led her to become invested in learning more about what supports are necessary to ensure companies are able to grow sustainably and thrive. Prior to joining BIV she worked as program director at the New York based social enterprise Hot Bread Kitchen where she oversaw the sales of their bakery, then moved to overseeing the small business incubator program; she was most recently at the impact agency NationSwell where she oversaw community engagement programming. She sits on the advisory board of non-profit organization WEALF, where she mentors and supports women entrepreneurs, and has taught social entrepreneurship at the School of the Visual Art’s Design for Social Innovation department.

Caroline grew up in Hong Kong, received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Stanford University and a Master’s of Fine Art from the University of Chicago.

Marion Bazille is the Program Director for BIV Paris. Graduated with a master’s degree from Paris Dauphine University, she has more than 3 years experience advising impactful organisations in their growth journey. Prior to BIV, she worked for Business France, the Trade Department of the French Embassy in London, developing sales strategies for the agtech and foodtech sectors and advising entrepreneurs and founders in their international development. She also has experience working for Sanofi analysing future growth opportunities.

Adrien Villalonga is Investment Manager at Big Idea Ventures in Paris. Prior to this he worked as a financial auditor for Mazars and as a venture capital analyst for two early-stage venture capital funds. Additionally, he has experience in Supply Chain Management in the aerospace sector.

Adrien holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from ESSEC Business School (Paris) and a CEMS Master’s in International Management from ESADE (Barcelona).

Emily is the Director of Investor Relations at Big Idea Ventures. Previously, she led strategic growth at Vokal, a digital consultancy. Prior to that, she was an associate with Tyson Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Tyson Foods, where her investment focus areas included alternative proteins, sustainability improvements, and technology-enabled operational enhancements. Additionally, she has experience in public health research and health education.

She has a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Master of Management Studies from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Andrew D. Ive, Founder and Managing General Partner, created Big Idea Ventures to solve the world’s biggest challenges by supporting the world’s best entrepreneurs. He has invested in more early stage / pre-seed food companies than any other investor worldwide. Investors in New Protein Fund I include a variety of investors such as Tyson Foods & Temasek.

Andrew serves on the Advisory Board for Tufts Nutrition Council, is a Friedman School Entrepreneurship Advisor, previously served on the Small Business Council Board of the Department of Trade and Industry advising the UK Government on entrepreneurship and high growth companies. A Harvard Business School graduate and Procter & Gamble brand management trained.

Click here to see what Andrew has been up to lately and to contact us for interviews and speaking opportunities.

Tom is the Chief Investment Officer for Big Idea Ventures. Prior to this, he was a Founding Partner/Chief Financial Officer of Tyson Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Tyson Foods. While at Tyson, he led investments in Beyond Meat, Clear Labs, FoodLogiQ, Future Meat Technologies, Memphis Meats, MycoTechnology, New Wave Foods and Tovala.

He graduated from Villanova University with a BS, Accountancy. Tom has a CPA license (State of New York).

Tom is an in-house resource for the portfolio on all matters related to accountancy.