Jinna Li (HBA ‘12) is a Co-Founder and Partner at Endgame Capital, a climate tech investment syndicate accelerating innovations to build a more sustainable world.
A Drive to Use “Business as a Force for Good”
Jinna’s entrepreneurial mindset emerged early—before even entering Ivey, she founded her first business, a 5,000-square-foot karaoke restaurant in Saskatoon.
Twelve years after graduating from Ivey, Jinna has amassed a rich array of global experiences in consulting, advertising, and entrepreneurship. In 2018, she pursued an MBA at INSEAD, where she embraced the concept of using business to create meaningful, positive change.
“After I finished my MBA, I asked myself: What can I do to make business a force for good?”
Empowered by a background in entrepreneurship and inspired to create a positive impact in the world, Jinna launched her second startup, SwapBox, a reusable packaging business. In two years, the company became one of the leading reusable packaging companies in the Netherlands helping to reduce countless plastic packaging waste.
Turning to Venture Capital for Climate Impact
After building success in her second entrepreneurial venture, Jinna continued asking herself, “how can I continue to contribute to society based on my interests and skill set?”
Jinna’s experience as an entrepreneur motivated her to stay in the world of startups, leading her to begin angel investing in early-stage companies with transformative solutions. During this time, she was also pregnant with her first child, which heightened her focus on addressing climate change — a direct threat to future generations.
Motivated by the urgency of the climate crisis, Jinna committed to focusing her investments on climate technologies. She began building an investment syndicate to enable larger investments in promising climate tech startups. Her expertise grew as she assessed diverse companies, from renewable energy solutions to alternative textile manufacturing.
In 2023, Jinna started Endgame Capital, a climate tech venture capital fund, alongside her partner John Mairlot, with the promise to accelerate the development and deployment of innovative solutions for a net-zero world. In its first year, Endgame backed seven climate tech startups each with the potential to reduce 100 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Role of Venture Capital in Climate Solutions
Jinna sees a clear role for Endgame to play in accelerating net-zero innovation. Early-stage venture capital is essential for funding high-risk startups that develop novel technologies. Equity financing fills a gap left by current financing solutions, including later-stage infrastructure funds or debt financing options for mature technologies: it enables startups to raise essential capital to perform research and development at an early stage, before they are able to commercialize and earn revenue to fund operations.
From innovations in battery storage to building energy monitoring systems, venture capital is instrumental in supporting technology during the early development phases. The breadth of opportunities highlights a fundamental truth Jinna notes about climate tech.
“It’s important to understand that climate tech is not a single vertical – it’s horizontal across every industry. There are new industries that will be made, like carbon accounting or monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) technologies. And that’s why I like it – there’s a lot of learning to do.”
Jinna sees climate technologies, particularly solutions that reduce carbon emissions, as a key mechanism to mitigate climate change and create a future-oriented world.
Imagining a Net-Zero Future
Jinna is highly motivated to work towards a better future. “I am excited about any technology that can transform industries.”
Bloom Labs, an Endgame Capital portfolio company, exemplifies how venture capital can catalyze impactful solutions. Bloom Labs transforms protein waste, such as chicken feathers, into high-performance textile fibers. These fibers outperform traditional materials like cashmere and polyester, requiring less water, fewer chemicals, and no new infrastructure to integrate into existing production systems.
“The textile material is the perfect solution for major fashion brands to decarbonize their scope 3 emissions with Bloom Labs’ superior quality material. It’s an example of a novel technology disrupting the traditional market of the fashion industry.”
Most importantly, Bloom Labs’ material is cheaper than current textiles used. Endgame backs technologies that are faster, better, and cheaper than incumbent products, challenging a key misconception that climate requires premium prices or consumer goodwill.
Bloom Labs’ superior product and strong unit economics has attracted interest from global fashion brands, signalling their ability to disrupt traditional supply chains.
The Future of Climate Impact
Jinna’s long-term goal for Endgame is to play a leading role in supporting companies that can help get us to net zero by 2050. With an initial focus on mitigation technologies, Endgame is addressing the urgent need to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere. However, Jinna also envisions a future where adaptation and resilience solutions, such as safeguards against natural disasters or innovations in water and food systems, become a key focus as the climate crisis evolves.
Jinna is optimistic about the role of corporations in the climate transition, noting significant players who are demonstrating leadership in sustainability. Philips, a global leader in healthcare technology, has made circular economy core to their operations by targeting 25 percent of revenue to come from circular economy products. IKEA is pioneering sustainable forestry practices and embedding recycled wood into supply chains.
However, Jinna highlights the importance of individuals working within larger companies to influence change.
“For those of us in leadership positions that can make real decisions, we must drive the conversation forward. Major change comes from industry transformation from the company level.”
For young professionals, especially those fired up about the climate crisis, Jinna’s advice is clear: don’t settle for making sustainability a side interest or hobby. “The opportunities in climate tech are endless. Every building block of our fossil fuel based economy will be replaced by net zero technologies and business models.,” she says. Jinna shares an important reminder: the traditional, proven career paths are not the only options available to young professionals.
“There’s a real profit and purpose here. We’re only one generation away from getting to net-zero by 2050.”
Endgame is now raising its inaugural fund to support more ambitious investments in the cleantech sector. The fund will focus on companies with the potential to mitigate 50 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions, leveraging proven technologies with a clear path to commercialization.
