Christy Cardenas

Managing Partner

2021 - 2024

Grit Ventures is an early stage, deep technology venture capital fund investing in pre-seed, seed and Series A companies, operating in partnership with university and industry partners. Grit Labs is a deep tech community organized around the university and government lab system, including industry, investors, capital and founders, focused on technology commercialization from the earliest stages. Grit Ventures: https://www.gritventures.com Grit Labs: https://www.gritventures.com/grit-labs

Co Founder, Grit Labs

2021 - 2024

Grit Labs is a platform that brings together a strategic network of innovators spread across America’s marquee university and government labs. We partner with big industry to bring startups to market. We focus on the intersection of ready technology and deep market opportunity, with an eye toward impact.

Venture Advisor

2021 - 2023

Chief Strategy Officer, Mercury Ecommerce Acquisition Corp

2021 - 2023

Head of Research + Data

2021 - 2021

Mercury Fund: https://mercuryfund.com

Managing Partner

2019 - 2020

Ecliptic Capital is a venture capital investor in innovative technology businesses in opportunity rich, undercapitalized geographies and markets. We are serial entrepreneurs, technologists, operators and investors with decades of experience in startup leadership, C-suite Fortune 100 roles, Wall Street and principal investing. We invest in Seed to Series-A technology companies, serving to bridge early-stage innovation with later stage economic appetite. We are dedicated to strategic innovation in venture capital. Ecliptic Capital: https://ecliptic.capital

Investor, Private Equity

2017 - 2018

Arroyo is an independent investment manager focused on power and energy infrastructure assets around the globe. From 2003 through 2014, the Arroyo team deployed and realized investments in more than 20 energy infrastructure related transactions on behalf of its investing partners — Bear Stearns and J.P. Morgan. Beginning in 2015, Arroyo launched its first independent private equity fund, Arroyo Fund II, followed by Fund III in 2019. Arroyo has sponsored nearly $2 billion of equity capital investments since inception. Arroyo Energy Investors: https://arroyoinvestors.com

Investor, First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund (now BlackRock)

2011 - 2015

First Reserve's Energy Infrastructure Fund ($3.75B+ of $30B AUM) is a large-scale energy infrastructure private equity fund with a value added strategy focused on proprietary deal flow, financial structuring and lopsided risk-return opportunity. Though originally a product of First Reserve, at the time one of the largest energy private equity managers in the world, the Fund was acquired by BlackRock in 2017. https://www.blackrock.com/institutions/en-us/strategies/alternatives/infrastructure

Analyst, Investment Banking, Energy

2009 - 2011

Citi is a bulge-bracket investment bank with a leading energy franchise.