Wallet Max Planet Positive Podcast™ with Investor Renata Aráuz-DeStefano
Join Bhuva Shakti, Founder & CEO at Wallet Max, as she speaks with investors looking to leverage inclusion and impact without compromising growth of investments.
This month, Bhuva's guest is Renata Aráuz-DeStefano, investor at Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company, where she backs women-led venture capital funds and makes mission-aligned early-stage investments.
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About Renata Aráuz-DeStefano:
Renata has spent over a decade bridging the finance and social impact sectors, having held roles in microfinance, investment banking, social enterprises, and venture capital. Renata is currently an investor at Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company, where she backs women-led venture capital funds and makes mission-aligned early-stage investments.
Most recently, she served as a consultant with the New Capitalism Project and an investor at Nairobi-based KawiSafi Ventures, where she focused on the clean energy space.
A proud SEO and Toigo alumna of Ecuadorian descent, Renata is passionate about increasing access to capital for diverse GPs and founders and building a bench of future capital allocators who reflect the changing demographics of the US. She holds a BA in International Relations and French from Tufts University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
About Wallet Max:
Wallet Max is an inclusive global community of corporate executives and venture capitalists with a mission to expand fundraising access for high-growth startups in the technology, AI, fintech, and climate sustainability sectors.
With more than 10 investments directly in impact entrepreneurs thus far, Wallet Max’s network of 2,000 innovators and 60 partners regularly meet in person and virtually throughout the year to mutually exchange connections and drive collective action. Wallet Max ecosystem of events and initiatives are prominent during the New York Fintech Week, the New York Tech Week, and the New York Climate Week every year.
Wallet Max's Planet Positive Podcast is a monthly interview with investors driving impact globally. Aligned with our mission to challenge the status quo, we showcase personal and professional journeys of diverse investors (Angels, VCs, PEs, Family Office, Corporate Venture) looking to leverage inclusion and impact without compromising growth of investments. Supporting sustainable innovations is good for people's wellbeing, planet survival, and financial profits.
Learn more about Wallet Max success and 2026 global initiatives: https://getwalletmax.com/climate-forward
About Bhuva Shakti:
Bhuva Shakti (she/her) is the futuristic founder and CEO driving sustainable innovation at Wallet Max, a global community of corporate executives, policy leaders, and venture capital investors expanding fundraising access for high-growth impact startups. With an MBA from Columbia University in New York and as a senior executive director on Wall Street for three decades, Bhuva has managed diverse financial portfolios and launched several digital transformation products for investment banks, capital markets, and payment networks.
Bhuva’s leadership and risk governance oversight, during the global financial crisis and the pandemic, was pivotal for the success of regulatory compliance and mergers acquisitions at the world's top banks and credit rating institutions. Bhuva is a board director and C-Suite advisor for people and planet friendly businesses, without compromising profits, and a keynote and TEDx speaker advancing economic inclusion and climate-fintech partnerships.
Bhuva is the USA country director for World Business Angels Investment Forum and the Chief Ethics & Culture Officer for Women in AI worldwide. She leads fundraising strategy and product operations for market expansion and manages investor relations from diligence to investment. Bhuva is the founder of Bhuva’s Impact Global, offering board and enterprise risk advisory services for public and private corporations.