How Elizabeth Edwards Of H Venture Partners Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate Justice
An Interview With Monica Sanders
Climate change is mostly about infrastructure: power plants and batteries and power grids. So, the capital sources that will have a big impact on climate change will likely be government funds or private infrastructure funds.
According to the University of Colorado, “Those who are most affected and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change are also the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions — both globally and within the United States.” Promoting climate justice is an incredibly important environmental responsibility that is slowly becoming more and more recognized. In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to promote sustainability and climate justice. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Elizabeth Edwards.
Elizabeth, founder of H Venture Partners, has raised over $25MM in venture capital, making her one of the few women to achieve this milestone. Over 17 years, she has invested in 45 startups, including Peloton, Freshly, and Avaline, achieving 3 IPOs and 10 acquisitions with over a 50% IRR.
Previously, Elizabeth was a Principal at Maywic Select Investments and West Capital, where she led investments in companies like Bill.com and Freshly. She started her career at Deloitte Consulting, working with Harvard professor Clayton Christensen.
Elizabeth holds an honors degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati. She is a member of several industry groups, writes a Forbes column on venture capital, and was named one of Venture Capital Journal’s 40 VCs Under 40 in 2022. Elizabeth lives in Cincinnati with her family and enjoys traveling, pilates, and yoga.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I was born in Virginia and grew up mostly in Ohio and Michigan. I was an only child with a mom who worked for a VC-backed software company in product development — and a dad who was an entrepreneur. My grandfather owned a steel wire fabrication manufacturing plant in Toledo that served the auto industry and a lot of our family members worked there, including me. When I was little, I helped my mom clean the breakroom and bathrooms on the weekends. I was surrounded by entrepreneurs and small business owners. Growing up, I played almost every sport and took ballet three days a week. I spent summers in Michigan at our lake cottage waterskiing, wakeboarding, sailing, fishing, and hanging out with my cousins. I got my first job when I was 14 and legally able to work part time. I was so ready to get out into the working world. I worked after school and every summer and was really blessed to get some great exposure to different fields through those jobs. My first job was in the file room of a mortgage brokerage and in the evenings, I worked as a hostess at an Irish pub. I worked for a brilliant Harvard-trained surgeon as an office assistant all through high school. Then in college, I worked as an assistant to a very successful litigator, then as an assistant to a very successful real estate developer. All through my MBA, I worked to lease up brand new apartment communities, which was my first introduction to sales. I think every business person needs to have at least one experience in sales. It’s usually the only part of the organization that really talks to customers — and frankly, without customers and sales, you don’t have a business.
Everyone has a cataclysmic moment or marker in their life which propels them to take certain actions, a “why”. What is your why?
I was in a terrible car accident when I was 25 and I am frankly lucky to be alive. Only by the grace of God did I walk away from that car alive. I realized that life is short — and it can be over at any moment. I made a commitment to do whatever I can to make a difference.
You are currently leading an organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change?
Our first goal with Fund II is to tackle antibiotic resistance, which according to the World Health Organization, is the number two threat to humanity after climate change. We hear a ton about climate change on the news, but not so much about antibiotic resistant pathogens, but this is absolutely something that we must be focused on now. Just look at COVID. That was a viral pandemic. The Bubonic Plague was a bacterial pandemic that eliminated between 25–50% of the human population in the eastern Mediterranean in the mid 500s. Then in the mid 1300s, another bubonic plague (aka the Black Death) emerged and killed another 25% of the population.
All that being said, most bacteria are actually good for us. In fact, it’s essential. We are made up of more bacterial cells than we are of human cells. And bacteria do almost everything for us: it produces almost all the essential nutrients that we need to survive and thrive. It populates every part of us: gut, skin, mouth, eyes, ears, etc., and everything in our environment. Bacteria make the soil that grows the food we eat. Bacteria live on the surfaces of every nook and cranny of our homes. And they are essential for life. Without them, there would be no human life. To give you an idea, bacteria have been around at a minimum 10,000x longer than humans, but probably much longer than that. The first evidence of bacteria goes back over 3 billion years — first modern human: 300,000 years.
Modern living is killing the bacteria that we need to survive. We’re not doing ourselves any favors by over-sanitizing everything we use and touch. For example, bacteria produce things like oxytocin in our gut — and without that specific bacterium producing oxytocin, you’d end up with Autism, which is why giving antibiotics to an infant with a viral ear infection can be devastating. Don’t get me wrong: antibiotics have a role right now in our healthcare system. But there are better approaches to dealing with pathogenic bacteria than broad-spectrum killing. Antibiotics throw the baby out with the bathwater — and we need better and safer alternatives that don’t produce antibiotic resistance (which antibiotics do).
We have so much to learn about the microbiome. Only about 2% of the human microbiome has been mapped and is understood, leaving 98% still to discover. If you look at the microbiomes of the 30,000 hunter gatherers left in the world, you see that modern living has destroyed about 80% of the functional human microbiome. Meaning that we’re running on empty — we only have 20% of the microbiome we should have. The overuse of antibiotics — broad spectrum killers of the microbiome — and everyday products like soap and preservatives and pesticides — has led to the explosion of pathogenic bacteria, including killers like MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
We are focused on getting people healthy by balancing the microbiome with affordable everyday products — food, beverage, supplements, skin care, personal care, home care, etc.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
I started the firm seven years ago and every day has been interesting. Day one was one that I’ll never forget. I had a one-year-old at the time and the firm I was working for was going to start a second fund. One day, I had a disagreement with the founder over principle and I quit without really thinking about it — or consulting my husband. On the way home, the enormity of what I had just done hit me and just then I got a call from a friend who was an investor that I had brought into my previous firm. I let him know that his money was safe in Fund I and that due to the success of Peloton (we were pre revenue investors there), the fund would do very well, but that I had just quit and would not be part of Fund II. He asked me what I was going to do, and I said, “I don’t know. I kind of want to start a fund.” He said, “I’ll invest in you.” That was the affirmation that I needed to get started. It was incredibly hard to raise the first $10MM, but I figured it out and now we have almost $50MM under management.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
I have had so many wonderful mentors and cheerleaders along the way — and I work with most of them on a weekly basis still today. I started my career at Deloitte and had the pleasure of working on operationalizing the work of Clayton Christensen. That experience expanded my thinking in ways that had a huge impact on my career — and it’s the reason I ultimately got into venture capital, where I’ve worked now for 20 years. People like Diana O’Brien and Ken Hutt at Deloitte were foundational players in my career. Today, I work with a group of 150 retired Fortune 500 C Suite and high-level executives who advise our funds and our portfolio companies. They are an invaluable resource and a constant source of learning for me.
Thank you for that. Let’s now move to the central part of our discussion. Let’s start with a basic definition of terms so that everyone is on the same page. What does climate justice mean to you? How do we operationalize it?
To me, climate justice means that the US, as one of the biggest and most influential polluters in the world — and the largest inventor of technology in the world — needs to take a leading role in creating technologies and policies that heal the Earth. This requires real leadership — and we must be willing to do hard things. Real leaders, like the ones that took the beach at Normandy, knew that the task at hand was hard — nearly insurmountable — but they did it anyway. Climate change is our Normandy and people in developing countries are counting on us today and our children are counting on us for tomorrow.
To see real change, we need to put our money where our mouth is. If you look at the top two threats to humanity — climate change and antibiotic resistance — and then look at what percentage of the US Federal Budget is directed towards those threats, it’s probably less than 1%. That’s a problem. We need to invest in the outcomes we want.
Science is telling us that we have 7–10 years to make critical decisions about climate change. What are three things you or your organization are doing to help?
The short answer is that I would love to do more — and I as a mom of two little girls, I am worried that their life is going to be plagued by the consequences of the bad decisions of the last few generations, mine included. With a $20MM Fund, our ability to make a real impact on climate change is limited. Real, meaningful change is going to come from big players like governments and large multinational corporations. However, one area where we are focused is alternatives to petrol-based plastics. We like to invest in companies that are sustainable packaging — and we did that in a big way in Fund I With Fund II, we’re going a step further and looking at things like seaweed-based plastics that actually reverse climate change. Interestingly, seaweed converts more CO2 into oxygen than forests, so it is an interesting feedstock. If we can get cost-competitive seaweed-based plastics that perform to the expectations of the modern consumer and are biodegradable and compostable at home, that’s a huge opportunity. That’s just one example of the types of technologies we’re looking for — and there are so many small companies working on these challenges right now.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you in your mission?
- First, politicians can put mandates in place for clean air and clean water that create the incentive for technologies to be invented — and those that already have been invented to be adopted. In a capitalist democracy, companies are incentivized to perform to the minimum regulatory requirement. If we set the bar higher, companies WILL rise to the occasion. They always have. Clean air and clean water regulations create a fair capitalist competitive environment that allows breakthrough innovation to thrive.
- Second, as a society, we need to elect leaders that are willing to implement a regulatory framework that saves the world. If that is not their explicit goal, they shouldn’t be in leadership.
- Third, as a community, we need to come together on pragmatic solutions. For instance, most communities in the US collect recycling, but don’t actually recycle most of it — it goes into a landfill. This is ludicrous. We’re going through the motions, but we’re not following through. We need to invest in the technologies and infrastructure for recycling and make it happen.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
I was the first investor to back a brand called Kinship. They have a line of microbiome friendly skincare that is incredibly effective. They were about to launch, but right before launch we had a board meeting and the CEO said, “We have an opportunity to use plastic bottles that come from ocean-based plastic — which is harvested from plastic bottles polluting the ocean. Every bottle we sell would be literally cleaning up the ocean. We would be the first to try this. But it’s new — and if we do it, it’s more risky… and it’s going to delay our launch by 2–3 months.” I said, “Let’s do it.” It was the best decision. It felt right and it was right. It turned out that upon launch, that was the one thing that the press and consumers alike were really excited about: ocean waste plastic. It made a meaningful impact on the brand — and it influenced other brands to follow suit. I’m so glad we made that decision.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice” and why?
- Sustainability has been grossly politicized, but survival does not have a political party. The backlash against ESG is a little silly when you consider that making buildings more energy efficient saves the planet, but also makes a lot more money for landlords.
- Nobody likes a whiner. Talking about a problem without bringing practical solutions into the conversation is a waste of time and hot air. If I had a dollar for every expert panel I’ve listened to on climate change where I left with zero ideas for solutions, I’d be Bezos.
- Climate change is mostly about infrastructure: power plants and batteries and power grids. So, the capital sources that will have a big impact on climate change will likely be government funds or private infrastructure funds.
- A lot of things that we thought were bad, like nuclear energy, may be our only temporary options. I believe that continued investment in safe nuclear energy technology is going to be important to bridge the gap, but it’s interesting to see some of the recent moves away from nuclear in different parts of the EU.
- So far, venture investment in climate change has been miniscule. And a lot of this is because the political will and regulatory framework aren’t there to support investment yet. If the regulatory framework was there, the economic incentives would be there as well. For instance, when the Clean Air Act went into effect, power plants invested in scrubbers to clean the smokestacks and minimize the amount of particulate going into the air. The law meant that all power companies could together invest in those retrofits. And as a result, tech companies with scrubber technologies blossomed and those investors invested and made money. Once we decide what that standard should be, private investors and private companies are ready to get to work.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Pope Francis or Kate Middleton. I think if anyone is going to solve climate change through their influence, it’s going to be one of those two — honestly. We need people with global influence to take a non-political stand on what is right and what is needed right now to save the planet and keep generations of people from suffering.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
I write a column for Forbes on venture capital, and I post articles and analysis that I find interesting on LinkedIn.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org
How Elizabeth Edwards Of H Venture Partners Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.