Biography
Biography
Sofiia
Bondar
Investment Analyst
I grew up in Ukraine, where entrepreneurship is not just admired but necessary, and I think that shaped how I see risk long before I understood what venture capital was.
My interest in building started with actually building something. During my undergrad, a university course project turned into LiteFarm, a microgreen farm I co-founded with three others. For the first time, I had real ownership over the decisions and the strategy, and that is where the entrepreneurial drive took hold.
From there I wanted to get as close to the early stage as possible. I became the first business hire at ilion Water Technologies, a deeptech water filtration spinout from ENS Paris, where I was the CEO's right hand and worked on our commercial strategy and the business plan for our pre-seed round. Being that close to a hard-science company taught me how technical, engineering-minded founders actually think, and it left me with one lesson from my colleagues that stuck: go as deep into a topic as you possibly can, and never settle, because there is always more to discover.
Alongside that, I spent time in the corporate finance team at Ÿnsect, a later-stage scale-up, where I first saw how VC funds operate, and then joined Partech's Investor Relations and Business Development team, working with corporate LPs and investment teams across Seed, Venture and Growth. That is where I realised I wanted a front-row seat to meeting founders and seeing innovation up close, which only the investment team really gets.
I am now studying at HEC Paris and have joined BlackWood as an Investment Analyst, based between Paris and Copenhagen. I am drawn to the hardest, most physical problems, the kind that start in a lab and take years to become a real business, and I am especially excited to spend time on cleantech while building up my understanding of fintech. Growing up between Ukraine and France taught me that ambition always has to be read in context, and I try to carry that into every founder I meet.
I grew up in Ukraine, where entrepreneurship is not just admired but necessary, and I think that shaped how I see risk long before I understood what venture capital was.
My interest in building started with actually building something. During my undergrad, a university course project turned into LiteFarm, a microgreen farm I co-founded with three others. For the first time, I had real ownership over the decisions and the strategy, and that is where the entrepreneurial drive took hold.
From there I wanted to get as close to the early stage as possible. I became the first business hire at ilion Water Technologies, a deeptech water filtration spinout from ENS Paris, where I was the CEO's right hand and worked on our commercial strategy and the business plan for our pre-seed round. Being that close to a hard-science company taught me how technical, engineering-minded founders actually think, and it left me with one lesson from my colleagues that stuck: go as deep into a topic as you possibly can, and never settle, because there is always more to discover.
Alongside that, I spent time in the corporate finance team at Ÿnsect, a later-stage scale-up, where I first saw how VC funds operate, and then joined Partech's Investor Relations and Business Development team, working with corporate LPs and investment teams across Seed, Venture and Growth. That is where I realised I wanted a front-row seat to meeting founders and seeing innovation up close, which only the investment team really gets.
I am now studying at HEC Paris and have joined BlackWood as an Investment Analyst, based between Paris and Copenhagen. I am drawn to the hardest, most physical problems, the kind that start in a lab and take years to become a real business, and I am especially excited to spend time on cleantech while building up my understanding of fintech. Growing up between Ukraine and France taught me that ambition always has to be read in context, and I try to carry that into every founder I meet.
Biography
Sofiia
Bondar
Investment Analyst
I grew up in Ukraine, where entrepreneurship is not just admired but necessary, and I think that shaped how I see risk long before I understood what venture capital was.
My interest in building started with actually building something. During my undergrad, a university course project turned into LiteFarm, a microgreen farm I co-founded with three others. For the first time, I had real ownership over the decisions and the strategy, and that is where the entrepreneurial drive took hold.
From there I wanted to get as close to the early stage as possible. I became the first business hire at ilion Water Technologies, a deeptech water filtration spinout from ENS Paris, where I was the CEO's right hand and worked on our commercial strategy and the business plan for our pre-seed round. Being that close to a hard-science company taught me how technical, engineering-minded founders actually think, and it left me with one lesson from my colleagues that stuck: go as deep into a topic as you possibly can, and never settle, because there is always more to discover.
Alongside that, I spent time in the corporate finance team at Ÿnsect, a later-stage scale-up, where I first saw how VC funds operate, and then joined Partech's Investor Relations and Business Development team, working with corporate LPs and investment teams across Seed, Venture and Growth. That is where I realised I wanted a front-row seat to meeting founders and seeing innovation up close, which only the investment team really gets.
I am now studying at HEC Paris and have joined BlackWood as an Investment Analyst, based between Paris and Copenhagen. I am drawn to the hardest, most physical problems, the kind that start in a lab and take years to become a real business, and I am especially excited to spend time on cleantech while building up my understanding of fintech. Growing up between Ukraine and France taught me that ambition always has to be read in context, and I try to carry that into every founder I meet.