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As the year begins, the Wallet Max team is already geared for FinTech Week, upcoming NYC tech events, and Climate Week. As part of the community, you know these events are some of our flagship offerings. From Emerald Summit Bold Awards to our Pitch Competitions, we are continuing to build on 2025’s successes.

In this issue, you’ll find a number of upcoming and past events, as well as funding news and a book preview. If you know any academics in business, technology, or sustainability, you may want to forward this email to them.

Outside of our community offering numerous benefits for professionals in academics, we also review some highlights from the World Economic Forum (WEF). At the close of the month, the WEF released a critical climate risk report, and the conference emphasized several key opportunities and challenges in 2026. In particular, we’ll be touching on the blue economy and how this is a high impact area for reducing climate change risk.

Without further ado, let's jump in, starting with upcoming events.

We’re back on April 20th at New York Fintech Week with our Startup Pitch Competition. Join us and take your career to the next level. Our event helps attendees to:

✅ Connect with startup leaders, impact investors, and corporate executives.
​​​✅ Discover how to enhance sustainable and inclusive practices, and grow your business.
​​​✅ Join a community of ecosystem partners and service providers in FinTech and AI.

Save your seat and register today. Sign up here to attend: luma.com/FintechPitchWM26

If you are a startup team interested to pitch, an investor interested to judge, or an executive interested to speak, please submit your interest at: getwalletmax.com/contact (Deadline for all submissions is February 28th EOD).

I’ll be presenting a unique framework and sprint model for a 12-week fundraising for tech startups on February 10th. This workshop gives tech founders a step-by-step system to run a focused, time-bound fundraising sprint that's designed to convert early traction into investor confidence.

​You’ll learn how to map a 12-week plan that:
​✔️ organizes outreach,
​✔️ ​builds momentum with updates,
​✔️ ​uses real investor benchmarks to measure progress.

My goal is to help startup founders approach angel and venture capital investors with clarity, consistency, and the confidence of an operator.

Learn more about the event and join us 👇

I attended the Columbia’s Global Sustainability year-end alumni gathering in December 2025. It was a fantastic event, and not just because of the white elephant game.

I had a number of wonderful exchanges with alumni to discuss scaling businesses without sacrificing profit. And I thoroughly enjoyed the brief fireside chat between Columbia Business School (CBS) alumnus Ron Prashker, partner at Salcheto Winery, and Ken Catandella, Senior Executive Director, Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) and University Relations.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Tiya Gordon, co-founder of it’s electric in person, and presenting her with a custom-made Wallet Max Bold World Award and Certificate to celebrate her winning the 1st Prize at Emerald Summit Pitch Competition 2025.

The Wallet Max Bold World Awards 🏆 is an annual pitch competition dedicated to recognizing startups and individuals that demonstrate outstanding commitments and progress in sustainability, innovation, and technology both in the US and globally.

These awards are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), such as:

⚡Inclusive Climate Action Business (UN SDG 13)
⚡Most Sustainable Fintech Startup (UN SDG 8)
⚡Best Food Security Innovation (UN SDG 2)

Over the course of 2025, the Wallet Max community built our award program through various pitch competitions. We awarded winners during Fintech, AI, Deep Tech, and Sustainability events in June 2025 and July 2025, and at the end of our flagship Emerald Summit event, during New York Climate Week and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) events in September 2025.

Get involved in our upcoming Emerald Summit 2026 here: getwalletmax.com/summit

🧭 Discover all of our events and how you can get involved with the virtual and in-person community initiatives: getwalletmax.com/events

The 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, swept the newscycle. From geopolitical tensions to AI adaptation to climate readiness, global leaders offered a glimpse into ideas driving innovation and causing friction across the globe. Media commentators focused heavily on a few speeches that were controversial. Yet, in this edition I’d like to focus on the underlying thread of climate and sustainability.

Let’s start with the WEF’s release of their Global Risks Report 2026. This survey summarizes the perspectives of 1,300 global leaders and experts across academia, business, government, international organizations and civil society. Its revelations are concerning on the surface-level.

According to the report, only 1% believe that the upcoming short-term and long-term global risk landscape will be calm. Most respondents report feeling that the next ten years will be turbulent or unsettled.

Why the instability? Declining trust, diminishing transparency, reduced respect for the rule of law, heightened protectionism, and state-based armed conflict all contribute to higher short-term risks.

Climate change related threats top the long-term risk charts:

The paper and the conferences offer an array of solutions: But none are quite so interesting as the emphasis on water, also called the “blue economy”. Several sessions at Davos sought to build momentum from last year’s progress regarding water access and protection solutions. Panels largely focused on freshwater access and management, food security, and ocean protection.

We all need water to live, but targeting water efforts may also increase effectiveness in targeting climate risks. Nearly 70% of climate impacts are tied to how water is managed. At the same time, there is great opportunity in the “blue economy”, which is set to be worth more than $3 trillion a year by 2030.

Despite the challenges that lay before it, many of the sessions provide a sense of hope. Humanity’s prime talent is problem-solving, and climate change is just another problem rather than an inevitable end.

In the October edition of our Planet Positive Podcast, I spoke with investor Claire Biernacki about female founders and investors leading the charge for a polycultural future.

Claire Biernacki is a Partner at BBG Ventures, a seed and pre-seed venture fund that invests in female and diverse founders. She focuses on healthcare and vertical AI. Prior to her work with BBG Ventures, Claire completed her MBA at Columbia Business School, served as the Co-President of the Columbia Venture Club, and worked at Lerer Hippeau and gained operating experience at early-stage startups including Studs and Koio.

For Claire, going into venture capital was always the vision. Even with a clear path, she recognized that there’s a certain level of acceptable risk required, especially when working with startups. Having certain characteristics, such as scrappiness and adaptability, are essential for working with seed and pre-seed level founders.

“I think that, both in venture capital and in joining an emerging fund, you really do need to be scrappy,” said Claire. “You have to be comfortable with limited information and limited data to make decisions.”

Learn more about Claire’s journey, relationships with first-time founders, and opportunities from investing in pre-seed startups below 👇

The podcast is hosted by Wallet Max Founder &  CEO Bhuva Shakti, and is for anyone interested in learning from investors and founders shaping thoughtful, practical solutions.

Want more than advice from investors? Check out our full podcast library, updated at the end of the month, every month.

Community matters more than ever. With international trade eroding and trust in short-supply, our professional and personal connections keep us tethered. As we see in major forums like Fintech / Tech / Climate Weeks, The World Economic Forum, and similar venues, we accomplish more together.

Wallet Max Membership acts to bring likeminded people together. For example, our community includes numerous students, professors and academic leaders. Through Wallet Max, they can:

Mirelo Raises $41 Million Seed Round

Mirelo, a Tübingen, Germany-based startup developing foundation models for sound in videos in a Seed funding round led by Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, with Atlantic.vc, TriplePoint, Capital, and several notable angel investors. The funds will be used to scale Mirelo’s AI models, expanding its API and web-app offerings.

Mila and Inovia announce the Venture Scientist Fund for AI-startups

Québec AI institute Mila and Montréal venture firm Inovia Capital partnered with Mila to create the Venture Scientist Fund, a national initiative with a target amount of $100 million USD ($125 million CAD), with the target of supporting 55 AI-native startups. The aim is to speed up Canada’s commercial AI efforts and support federal priorities laid out by Prime Minister Mark Carney and AI and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon.

Defense tech startups won out in 2025

Defense-technology startups had their best funding year ever in 2025, with the value of venture capital deals in defense technology jumping to a record $49.1 billion. It even outperformed general equity investments. Funding priorities in 2026 will include AI enabled systems, autonomous platforms and collaborative combat aircraft.

Vice President, Portfolio: Alumni Ventures

Alumni Ventures is hiring for the role of Vice President, Portfolio (Liquidity and Monitoring). Alumni Ventures is one of the world’s most active venture capital platforms, with $1.4B+ in assets raised and investments in 1,300+ companies. This is a hybrid role with an expectation of M/T/Th/F in the office with a base salary of $180,000 - $210,000 plus equity and corporate bonus.

Partnerships Lead - Private Equity & Venture Capital at Rillet

Rillet is an AI-native ERP that serves finance teams. Ideal candidates have 4+ years of relevant experience in PE / VC investing, experience building partnerships, and the willingness to travel 1-2 times a month for events. The position offers both a base salary and a share in equity, health coverage, including 90% health coverage for dependents, and flexible work reschedules with remote and hybrid options.

Head of Marketing at Confido

Confido is building an AI-native operating system for brands that sell into brick-and-mortar retail. Base salary starts at $200k with equity as high as 1%. This is a full-time position in New York City, with some relocation costs covered. You must have 8+ years of growth and marketing experience, ideally at growth-stage B2B SaaS companies.

Discover more funding and hiring opportunities in our online member-only community.

When I first moved beyond the structured environment of my monastery schooling into larger college classrooms, I felt as though I'd stepped into chaos. At first, I waited for someone to tell me how to navigate it. But guidance never came. When systems are vague, you can't wait for clarity: you have to create it.

In my upcoming book on risk, Everyday Risk Wisdom: Your Risk Management Guide to Thrive in a Complex World as an Overlooked Business Leader, I cover a variety of lessons from my career. One of the most prominent and early patterns I recognized was that many systems are not built for people like me, women, professionals of color, and so forth. We must design documentations and map processes to uncover clarity for ourselves and our colleagues.

That process is more than a record, it is a leadership tool.

Explore my book website below and get notified when this lesson is available for free!

Mapping out an ambiguous process isn’t always easy. It often requires a detailed analysis of each step and current benchmarks to monitor improvements. However, it’s still possible to find clarity in this process without dramatically increasing your workload.

When efficiently drafting documentation for clarity, it helps to have a frame. What question would you answer in your one-page framework:

Read the lesson for my “Creating Clarity in Vague Systems” action steps. Explore my book website below and get notified when this framework is available for free!

The Wallet Max community’s strength lies in our active member base. We are currently looking for speakers, sponsors, partners, and volunteers for our keystone event on September 18th: Wallet Max Emerald Summit. This event will include a Startup Awards and Executive Dinner during NY Climate Week.

In the past, we’ve had a number of amazingly talented founders, business executives, policy leaders, and investors join us at all stages of the process. All of our participants benefit from the networking and educational opportunities. But for those help make Emerald Summit possible, there are additional perks from showing up:

✅ Speakers can highlight their expertise, draw attention to their organizations, and boost their personal brand.
✅ Sponsors and Partners drive brand awareness and build trust with investors, founders, and policy makers.
✅ Volunteers grow their network, learn from the organizing team, and develop long-lasting relationships with climate, investing, and business experts.

Contact us to sign up and share your expertise here: getwalletmax.com/contact

Thanks for supporting us to build a better world!

Bhuva Shakti, Founder of Wallet Max and Bhuva’s Impact Global.