Top 50 Rising Stars 2022 (in alphabetical order by CVC unit): Victoria Lietha, engagement and venture partnership lead, ABB Technology Ventures
Victoria Lietha is a principal at ABB Technology Ventures (ATV), the strategic corporate venturing arm of Switzerland-listed industrial automation technology producer ABB, leading engagement and venture partnerships for the unit.
Kurt Kaltenegger, group vice-president and chief technology officer for ATV, said: “Victoria is excellent at developing long-term visions and keeping the big picture in mind, while still knowing when it is important to dive into details.
“Paired with a natural curiosity in really learning about new things, makes her a great contributor to our team, especially also in identifying investment opportunities further from the core and in challenging assumptions.”
Lietha added: “One of the things I enjoy the most is the opportunity to continuously deep dive into new topics and along the way learn from the best. I have the chance to not only connect with incredibly smart people inside ABB but also some of the most amazing and driven founders. With the breadth of investment themes at ABB, I can look at new solutions truly shaping how we produce, work, live and move.”
Her role includes venture capital fund investments from sourcing to investing and managing limited partnership relationships as well as direct investments in startups in ATV’s focus areas such as the industrial internet of things, robotics, electric transportation and distributed energy.
Having joined the unit in 2017, Lietha has been involved in the due diligence of dozens of unclosed deals, supported several deals and led two VC fund investments – one in Israel and one in China. She has co-led the investment in Israel-based artificial intelligence processor developer Hailo, and is leading another yet-to-be-disclosed deal.
