From Gas Portfolios to Cap Tables
In 2013, Hannah Chelkowski was in London running risk models for European gas and power markets at Total S.A. She was mapping energy demand curves, balancing commodity portfolios, and building the kind of analytical machinery that turns chaotic data into defensible forecasts. It was not a typical route to venture capital.
That detour turns out to matter. When most early-stage investors are stress-testing startup unit economics, Chelkowski is pattern-matching against an entirely different register - the dynamics of large, regulated, capital-intensive systems where friction is the moat and the cost of being wrong is measured in hundreds of millions.
She arrived in San Francisco around 2017, landing as an analyst at Initialized Capital before moving to Inovia Capital in 2018. Three years at Inovia meant deal sourcing, board seats, and a front-row seat to how early-stage Canadian and American founders rebuild financial infrastructure. She left in 2021 to co-found Blank Ventures with Antoine Nivard and Abhi Tiwari.
Blank Ventures launched as a deliberate bet on concentration. A $65M fund. A short portfolio. A thesis planted squarely at the intersection of fintech and commerce - not broad B2B SaaS, not consumer payments, but the specific territory where money moves through trade.
I've always been motivated by economic development and how technology can revolutionize societies and promote sustainable growth.
- Hannah Chelkowski