Sarah Luppino, principal at M Ventures, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2026.
Sarah Luppino invests in deep tech on behalf of German science and technology company Merck KGaA’s M Ventures unit, and it is a chance to put her technical background to work in a world where experience in business and finance is more common. It can be fun too.
“When you are looking into new areas, it is like an intellectual jungle gym, a play space,” she says. “It is ‘let’s look at photonic computing, let’s understand new sustainable packaging solutions for life science products, let’s understand how healthtech works’. As long as you are eager and excited about learning, it is really interesting.”
Luppino earned a PhD in organic chemistry at MIT, before gaining exposure to the startup world through a stint at MIT spinout QD Vision. Seeing technically-minded people being left out of business decisions in the startup sphere made her determined to become business savvy, which led to consulting work, before she was hired at M Ventures.
“I would not say introverts cannot thrive in VC, but a lot of it is building a network, getting to know people, building trust in boards and with founders.”
“Having had exposure on the operational side and having gone through growing pains at a startup myself, when I talk to founders or the teammates in the portfolio companies and have those conversations, it is nice to be able to relate on that front,” she says.
“People appreciate the technical side in particular, because you have a lot of technical people in semiconductors, but sometimes people say there are more MBAs investing in deep tech. Technical founders especially really appreciate that background.”
Luppino has spent approximately five years at M Ventures and has board seats at four portfolio companies and an observer role at a fifth. A keen marathon runner, she also has a personality trait that helps in her role.
“I am an extrovert,” she says. “I would not say introverts cannot thrive in VC, but a lot of it is building a network, getting to know people, building trust in boards and with founders. That is also a pillar.”
The Rising Stars are early-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Rising Stars 2026 here.
