George Coelho

Co-founder and Partner of Astanor Ventures

George Coelho is a co-founder of Astanor Ventures, a leading Europe-based venture capital firm investing in making food production, transportation, distribution, and consumption more nutritious and reducing water, chemical, and carbon footprints. Before that he served as co-founder of Benchmark Europe (now Balderton Capital) and has served as Managing Director in three investment firms, investing in semiconductors, recycling, new materials, software, clean power, and energy decarbonization worldwide, including in India. He started his career financing both high-carbon and nuclear power generation and understands the full cycle of energy production, distribution, and pricing. He spent six years on the Board of the Swiss-based renewable energy utility Aventron AG, producing wholesale hydro, wind, and solar PV power from Northern to Southern Europe. George has served on the boards of a dozen companies, guiding CEOs in company financing, acquisitions, and growth in domestic and international markets, especially emerging markets like India, Brazil, and China. His experience in understanding technology growth can add value to scaling the Smart Surfaces industry.

George was a founder and co-developer of the Sustainability Collective while serving as Board Trustee of the George Washington University, and serves on the American University’s School of Business Sustainability Council. George is a Board Member of Human Rights Watch and a lifetime fellow of The Royal Society.