Rokas Pečiulaitis founded Contrarian Ventures in 2017, back when investing in climate tech was still considered contrarian – before it became “cool.” With a passion for building communities, Rokas believes deeply in the power of networks and collaboration. Rokas has led and was the first institutional check in a range of leading climate tech companies, including PVcase, BeZero Carbon, and Ember to name a few.

He dedicates significant time to enhancing the firm’s platform and has co-founded and spearheaded key climate tech ecosystem initiatives such as the Energy Tech Summit (Europe’s largest climate tech event), Climate 50 (a ranking of the world’s leading climate tech investors), and the Climate Brick (a framework for scaling climate ventures from pre-seed to IPO), the At Scale Foundation (a movement with a mission to support 1,000 climate tech companies, attracting

100,000 new professionals to the sector, and targeting a 1% net-new GDP impact), and the WinterFest European edition. He began his career as an inflation trader at Bank of America Merrill Lynch before transitioning to entrepreneurship and early-stage climate investing in 2016.

Outside of his professional life, he is committed to building social capital. He serves on multiple non-profit boards, including Vilniaus Marathon, Vilnius University Endowment (Board of Trustees), and Rupert Art Center (emerging artists residency and education programme). He is also the Co-founder and Chairman of the Origins Foundation, producing a docuseries about Litvaks and their cultural legacy.

Originally from Lithuania, Rokas holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Glasgow and studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Harvard Business School (Executive Program in PE & VC). He is a Kauffman Fellow (Class 25).