Top 50 Emerging Leaders 2022 (in alphabetical order by CVC unit): Lisa Coca, partner of Climate Fund, Toyota Ventures
Lisa Coca is a partner at Toyota Ventures, the Japan-headquartered automotive manufacturer Toyota’s corporate venturing arm formerly known as Toyota AI Ventures. She leads the unit’s $150m Climate Fund formed in June 2021, concentrating on developers of innovative technologies to promote carbon neutrality, such as renewable energy and hydrogen production.
Before joining Toyota in September 2021, Coca held a one-year-and-a-half stint as a managing director and entrepreneur-in-residence at chipmaker Intel’s intrapreneurial incubator scheme called Emerging Growth and Incubation, where she led teams building new businesses.
Coca had come from industrial and power technology conglomerate General Electric (GE), where she had held a variety of managerial roles for nearly two decades at its GE Capital Real Estate division and GE Ventures, the company’s corporate venturing arm which she helped found.
Coca’s last role with GE Ventures was managing director of enterprise software, which she served for seven years from 2012, investing in enterprise technology developers on behalf of the unit. Her deals included rounds for Catalant Technologies, Octiv and Zinc.
In addition, Coca headed GE Ventures’ Edge initiative, which helped portfolio companies access GE’s network, know-how and resources to build and grow their projects.
Coca holds a bachelor of science degree in economics and finance with honours from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
