Top 50 Emerging Leaders 2021 continued (in alphabetical order by CVC unit): Andrea Course and Bo Li, venture principals, Shell Ventures
Andrea Course and Bo Li serve as venture principals at Shell Ventures, petroleum producer Shell’s corporate venturing vehicle. Course is based in Houston while Li is based in Beijing and both joined Shell Ventures in mid-2019.
Course concentrates out startup and scale-up companies that concentrate on energy transition through artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics technology, in addition to carbon management and other solutions such as carbon capture, carbon utilisation and methane detection.
“Prior to joining Shell, I worked as a venture principal at Schlumberger Technology Investments for two years, but technology has always been my passion,” said Course, who has spent more than a decade in the energy sector. Before venture capital investments, she worked on research and new product development for more than eight years.
Regarding Li who concentrates on mobility and power deals, Shell Ventures investment director Ren Qi said: “Bo Li is an experienced venture and private equity investment professional we hired from external that has more than 10 years in new energy and mobility sectors. Through his past career at state-owned enterprise and conglomerate, he has developed strong talents and ability to deal originating, screening and executing. Bo, with his personality, can and always provide insights and positive influence on entrepreneurs and other investment professionals, while he can hold on to his disciplines and be vigilance on projects and opportunities.”
Concerning Shell Ventures, Course added: “As a self-proclaimed environmentalist I am really proud of the strong focus on decarbonisation and renewable power Shell Ventures currently has, and how that is advancing the energy transition in the mobility and power sectors. On the personal side, I am very proud of having made the switch from engineering to the VC world and how this has allowed me to help others in the same position.”
