Adiari Vazquez, partner at Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2026.
Adiari Vazquez’s path to corporate investing was shaped by a deep technical foundation and a drive to tackle big challenges. With a PhD in engineering sciences from Harvard, she helped to spin out six deep tech companies from European research institutions as a venture builder and investor. This background gives her an edge in evaluating technologies at the fundamental science level, identifying breakthroughs before markets fully recognise their potential.
Vazquez is a partner at Amazon’s $2bn Climate Pledge Fund, where she built the fund’s European presence from the ground up. She previously invested with Siemens’s €1bn venture fund Next47, and also makes her own angel investments.
“Across all stages, domain expertise matters,” she says. “Deep-tech investing only works if you truly understand both the technology and the industrial systems it is trying to change.”
“Across all stages, domain expertise matters. Deep-tech investing only works if you truly understand both the technology and the industrial systems it is trying to change”
Her investment focus is on deep-technology companies that address challenges in the physical world through new materials, hardware and industrial processes, rather than lines of code.
Vazquez is excited by sectors where innovation has stalled for decades. “When transformative technology is applied to legacy industries you unlock new capabilities and durable value,” she says, “often with climate benefits as well.”
Based in Lisbon, Vazquez maintains deep relationships across the US and European deep tech ecosystems. Her prior work with the European Innovation Council and as an advisor to the European Commission on industrial innovation policy complements this cross-continental approach.
“Having seen the full journey from research lab to growth-stage company, I have a deep appreciation for what it takes to scale these companies globally,” she says. “The highest standard of corporate venture is not just deploying capital, but helping founders lift barriers to turn transformative technologies into solutions that reach commercial scale.”
The Emerging Leaders are mid-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Emerging Leaders here.
