Alexandra Leeper, center, speaking to participants in 'Invest in Blue', a showcase of 10 startups working at the forefront of ocean innovation held at the Iceland Ocean Cluster.
Photo: Iceland Ocean Cluster.
In January of this year, we learned that several members of the Iceland Ocean Cluster team had launched Blue Nova Ventures. Now, through a post on her LinkedIn profile, the also CEO of the Cluster, Alexandra Leeper, has announced her new role as Lead of Global Ecosystem at the blue venture fund.
"At the Iceland Ocean Cluster and through our global Sister Ocean Cluster Network we meet truly inspiring entrepreneurs with ideas and solutions to bring meaningful and sustainable change to the blue economy," Leeper wrote. "We also see first-hand the investment gap there so often is in funding these much needed blue innovations," she continued.
"So it is with great pleasure that I announce my new role as Lead of Global Ecosystem in Blue Nova Ventures - a new investment vehicle that will bring those innovative blue ideas that much closer to impactful reality!" she ended the announcement.
Alexandra Leeper was one of the people Thor Sigfusson, founder and Chairman of Iceland Ocean Cluster, mentioned when announcing the launch of the new fund. "I am very excited to be launching a blue venture fund, Blue Nova Ventures with Bala Kamallakharan, Kristinn Þór Sigurðsson and our team at the Iceland Ocean Cluster led by Alexandra Leeper. Our aim is to bridge the financing gap for startups in the blue economy," he then wrote.
Based in Reykjavik, the Icelandic blue economy innovation hub comprises over 70 companies and entrepreneurs from the blue economy, including firms specialising in aquaculture, fish sales, marine technology, software, design, biotechnology, and cosmetics. In it, as Leeper has now pointed out, its members witness daily how much innovation is taking place in Iceland's blue economy.
In the fund's launch, Kristinn Þór Sigurðsson, Iceland Ocean Cluster Project Manager and also General Partner at Blue Nova Ventures, commented: "From AI-driven fisheries and aquaculture that optimise operations and reduce waste, to marine biotechnology turning by-products into life saving solutions, it's clear that the future is being built today."
Created to finance blue economy startups willing to build that future, Blue Nova Ventures will now count on the drive and experience of its new Lead of Global Ecosystem, Alexanda Leeper, who, before her current position as CEO of the Iceland Ocean Cluster, held the role of Managing Director of International Affairs at the industrial hub.
