Contrarian Ventures

Tomas Kemtys is a General Partner at Contrarian Ventures involved in fundraising, deal sourcing and execution, mentoring, and founder events across Europe, and has led investments in companies including Zoomo, SunStore, and Beebop. Before joining the firm he spent six years in investment banking at Centerview Partners, BNP Paribas, and Société Générale in London and New York, and serves as a board member of the Lithuanian Venture Capital Association.

Tomas Kebla is CEO and co-founder of a direct-to-consumer ecommerce company in the health and wellness sector. He has prior experience in venture capital, private equity, and business development.

Bunmi Adekore is an investor in clean technology solutions and enterprises who currently leads investing at DawnBox, a fund focused on innovative industrial solutions. Previously a Partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, he is a serial entrepreneur in hardware manufacturing, semiconductor engineering and biotechnology, with degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Chris Brown is a Venture Partner at Contrarian Ventures with over 15 years of experience in commodities trading, clean energy infrastructure, and climate tech investing. He is Head of Supply & Principal Investments at Rubicon Carbon and previously held roles at Goldman Sachs/J Aron Commodities and SSE.

Darius Zakaitis is the founder of Tech Zity, a company focused on talent search and new ideas development. His background includes work in management, marketing strategy, investments, startups, and mentoring.

Venture Partner at Contrarian Ventures focused on sourcing early-stage climate tech deals in Poland. Previously spent three years at bValue where he sourced over €20M in closed investments, and currently serves full-time as Head of Carbon Farming at InSoil. He holds an MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Aberdeen.

Director of Strategic Initiatives at CREO, a climate-focused nonprofit, and previously developed climate risk transfer products at Nephila Climate in London. He is Managing Editor of the Climate Tech VC newsletter, lectures on climate finance at Brown University, and is an active startup investor across the US, Europe, and Africa.

A serial entrepreneur who founded 12 companies between 1994 and 2008 and invested in over 150 startups between 2004 and 2018, active across Europe, Asia and Africa. He co-founded Hapgids (which became Just-Eat.com), iChoosr, and the Dutch and African Startupbootcamp programs, joined Contrarian Ventures in 2016 focusing on early-stage energy tech, and founded Venturerock in 2018.

Energy entrepreneur, investor and operator with a background in infrastructure finance and development. Co-founded PearlX Infrastructure (sold to Antin Infrastructure), built the storage investing platform at Generate Capital, and previously worked at Lehman Brothers after studying mathematical engineering and political science at Johns Hopkins University.

Nityen Lal is a Managing Director and Founding Partner at ICOS Capital, a European venture capital firm focused on early-stage technologies in food systems, industrial decarbonization, biomaterials, and data platforms. He serves on the boards of several growth-stage companies including Squirro, eAgronom, and Rainmaker Holland, and is a member of the Venture Capital Steering Committee at Invest Europe. Lal holds degrees in computer science and business from universities in the US and Europe, and began his career in an IT startup in California before moving into venture capital.

Co-founder of Zenobē, where he leads the EV team focused on making sustainable options financially viable for fleet operators. Previously spent nearly two decades in battery and traded energy commodity markets, including as Global Head of Deals Desk at Trafigura and roles at Oliver Wyman and AES Energy Storage (now Fluence).

Principal at Contrarian Ventures who joined in 2020 and now leads the firm's UK expansion, focusing on distributed energy resources and supporting portfolio companies like Beebop, Starflow, and Jumptech. Lithuanian, he previously lived in China, Singapore, and Taiwan, holds a BSc in Finance from ISM University, and worked at SEB Bank and Telia.

Ruta Apanavicius is a Finance and Operations Analyst at Contrarian Ventures with experience in strategy and financial modeling. She holds an MScBA in Strategy from the University of Amsterdam and a BSc in Economics from ISM University.

Thomas brings roughly a decade of combined operational and investment experience across European tech ecosystems, including operational roles at Jumia and Onefinestay and investing at Entrepreneurs First and EQT Ventures. His interests span next-industrial-era technologies such as closed-loop recycling, critical mineral extraction, chip manufacturing, energy sovereignty, and fusion energy.

Vlad Stoicescu joined Contrarian Ventures in June 2025, first as an intern and then as a full-time Investment Analyst, supporting sourcing, analysis, and execution of climate tech investments. Originally from Romania and raised in Dubai, he holds a Bachelor's in Economics from the University of Amsterdam and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.