Some of you in the USV network might know me. My USV journey started last year. I worked on the USV climate fund while doing my MBA. Now, I’m officially part of the investment team full-time in New York. While I expect to continue focusing on climate, I’ll also spend time on our Thesis 3.0, supporting founders that broaden access to knowledge, capital, and well-being. I’m excited to be working on something that challenges me, with some of my personal and professional role models, and to do it from my favorite city.
My path to USV is slightly unconventional. I’m from Saudi Arabia, born and raised. I left my hometown in 2013 and have been a self-proclaimed nomad ever since. Pre-Covid, I spent three years living out of a suitcase traveling the world for work and pleasure. Professionally, my background is a mixture of economics, investing, and international policies. Prior to USV, I worked at CrossBoundary, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging and frontier markets. There, I was responsible for growing the firm’s Middle East and Central Asia presence. Before CrossBoundary, I worked in private equity in Kenya and UAE. I started my career at the United Nations working at the Economics Committee in New York and later at the Environment Programme in Geneva.
My travels showed me that the climate crisis has no borders. From forest fires in California to droughts in Kenya to floodings in Bangladesh, the negative impacts of the climate crisis are being felt globally. I’m looking forward to applying my global perspective to identify and support startups in the climate tech space.
Outside of work, I love reading. I read to make sense of the world around me. It’s a luxury to be guided through life by history’s greatest minds. I go through phases of obsessing with one specific genre or author. This year I have been reading theoretical physics. It started with a book Albert Wenger recommended when we first met, The Beginning of Infinity. I’m not a physicist. If anything, some parts of the science go over my head but reading in this field always raises existential emotional and philosophical questions that I enjoy exploring. Other things I love are vintage fashion, frontier traveling, cooking, and music.
Please reach out to me at [@mona_alsubaei] or at [mona@usv.com] to chat about climate ideas and projects, emerging markets investing, books, fashion, and things to do in NYC 🙂