For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Gabriela Toribio, Managing Director at telco giant Telefonica’s Brazilian corporate venture capital arms Vivo Ventures and Wayra. Vivo Ventures and Wayra have invested in 30+ startups in Brazil including a low-code integration platform Digibee. Prior to joining Telefonica, Gabriela launched venture capital arms in Votorantim and Companhia Siderurgica Nacional, two large industrial corporations in Brazil. In today's episode we will...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Roberto Dagnoni, an Endeavor Entrepreneur and the Executive Chairman and CEO at 2TM, a holding company of Mercado Bitcoin, the largest crypto exchange in Latin America that was valued at $2.1B after raising $200 million in Series B funding from the SoftBank Latin America Fund. Roberto has also invested in 60+ early stage startups including Brazilian digital bank Neon. In today's episode we will discuss:  1. From financial services to...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Alec Oxenford, serial entrepreneur, managing partner at Myelin VC, co-founder at online marketplace platforms OLX (acquired by Naspers after raising capital from the likes of Founders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners and General Catalyst) and letgo (merged with OfferUp). Alec is an important Argentinian contemporary art collector. In today's episode we will discuss:  1. Buying the dream: what venture capital and contemporary art have in...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Fabio Carrara, founder and CEO at Brazilian renewable energy firm Solfacil⁠, that has raised over $130m from the likes of QED, Fifth Wall, Softbank, VEF and Valor Capital. In today's episode we will discuss: 1. Window of opportunity: why market timing is everything? 2. The heat of the crowd: how to thrive in commoditized market? 3. Go slow to go fast: how to become an ecosystem player? 4. Solar space market in Brazil: market...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Eduardo della Maggiora, founder and CEO at LatAm's first social unicorn Betterfly, that hit $1b valuation after raising $125m in a Series C funding round led by Glade Brook Capital and joined by Greycroft, Mundi Ventures, Lightrock, QED Investors and DST Global Partners. The list of Betterfly's prior backers also includes the likes of Valor Capital, Endeavor Catalyst and the SoftBank Latin America Fund. Eduardo has represented Chile in six...

For this episode I am thrilled to welcome Patricia Moraes, Founder and Managing Partner at Unbox Capital, Sao Paulo-based venture capital firm that Patricia co-founded together with Luiza Trajano, Brazilian billionaire and the chairman of retailer Magazine Luiza. Unbox Capital portfolio includes the likes of Solinftec, Rock Content and Incognia. Prior to starting Unbox Capital, Patricia spent over 22 years as a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan. In today's episode we will discuss:  1....

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Lucas Vargas, CEO at Brazilian fintech Nomad, that has recently raised $61m in an investment round led by Tiger Global with participation from prior investors including Monashees, Stripes and Globo Ventures. Prior to joining Nomad, Lucas was CEO at Viva Real which he led through the merger with Grupo ZAP and acquisition by OLX, the leading marketplace group in Brazil. In today's episode we will discuss:  1. Raising growth capital...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Julio Vasconcellos, founding partner at Brazilian early stage venture capital firm Atlantico, founder at Canary, former Brazil country manager for Facebook and former entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) at Benchmark. I am also thrilled to welcome Ana Clara Martins, partner at Atlantico and co-founder at Brazil at Silicon Valley, one of the largest annual conferences that connect entrepreneurs, executives and investors from Brazil with global...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Veronica Serra, Founding Partner at Brazilian VC growth fund Innova Capital⁠, whose current investments include Semantix AI and Clearsale. Veronica is a former board member and investor of Mercado Libre and Movile-iFood and current board member of Endeavor Global and Harvard Business School Latam Advisory Board. In today's episode we will discuss:   1. Endeavor flywheel: insider's look into the global entrepreneurship powerhouse 2....

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Diego Barreto, CFO & VP of Strategy at iFood, the largest food tech company in Latin America; author of the best seller “New Economy” ('Nova Economia') and mentor at Endeavor. Prior to that Diego was Director of Finance at Suzano, the largest paper and pulp company in Latin America. In today's episode we will discuss:   1. Garage to riches: the secret sauce of iFood success 2. Brazilian gig economy: what are the trends that will shape...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Gabriela Gonçalves, founder and managing partner at Namari Capital; managing partner at Brasil Venture Debt, whose portfolio includes the likes of Exact Sales (acquired by RD Station), Solfacil and Digibee. Prior to that Gabriela was a co-founder and managing director at Rocket Internet-backed Lazada (acquired by Alibaba). We hope to make in person recordings our new normal, so please do check out our new YouTube channel. In today's...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Pedro Sirotsky Melzer, partner at Patria Investments; founding partner at Igah Ventures, whose portfolio includes the likes of Infra Commerce, Unico, Avenue Securities, Hashdex, Conexa Saude, CRM&Bonus and more. We hope to make in person recordings our new normal, so please do check out our new YouTube channel. In today's episode we will discuss:   1. Deconstructing VC decision making framework: how does Igah evaluate startups? 2. From...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Fersen Lambranho, Brazilian entrepreneur and investor; chairman of the board of GP Investments and G2D Investments, member of the board of Centauro, Spice Private Equity and The Craftory. Fersen is also the former CEO of Lojas Americanas and the current board member of several non-profits including São Paulo Museum of Art. Additionally, he actively invests in deep tech initiatives in the USA, UK and Brazil through his family office Volpini...

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Cassio Bobsin, Endeavor entrepreneur and the founder and CEO at Zenvia. Zenvia is LatAm’s leading customer experience communications platform and the first Latam-based SaaS company to IPO on Nasdaq. Cassio is also the founder of WOW Accelerator, the largest independent startup accelerator in Brazil. We hope to make in person recordings our new normal, so please do check out our new YouTube channel. In today's episode we will discuss:   1....

For this in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Vander Corteze, founder and CEO at Brazil's leading at home healthcare company Beep Saude, backed by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), Valor Capital Group, Banco Bradesco, DNA Capital and the founder of Nubank David Velez. Prior to that, Vander founded a Brazilian chain of occupational health clinics BR Med, and prior to that he served as an emergency doctor at a fire department in Rio de Janeiro. We hope to make in person recordings our...

For our third in studio episode I am thrilled to welcome Gustavo Brigatto, founder and chief editor of Startups Brazil, a media platform  that covers tech and venture capital in Latin America and beyond. Before becoming a founder, Gustavo spent 15 years as a business journalist, 12 of which were at Valor Economico, the largest economics, finance and business newspaper in Brazil. We hope to make in person recordings our new normal so please do check out our new YouTube channel. In today's...

April 27: For our second in studio episode, I am thrilled to welcome Talita Lacerda, CEO at Petlove, the largest pet e-commerce platform in Brazil and Latin America, that has raised over $225M+ from some of the best investors in Latin America including L Catterton, Riverwood Capital, SoftBank, Kaszek, Monashees, Globo Ventures, Porto Seguro and Tarpon. Petlove has recently announced its plan to go public within 2-3 years.  We hope to make in person recordings our new normal so please do...

April 18: For our first in person episode ever released I am thrilled to welcome Jose Renato Hopf, the serial entrepreneur and the founder of GetNet, which became one of the largest companies in Latin American was acquired by Santander in 2014 for just south of $500M. Jose Renato is also a founder of venture builder 4ALL and co-founder and president at South Summit Brazil, the leading tech summit in the South of Brazil that dragged over 22000 attendees, 900 speakers and over 3000 thousand...

March 21: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Bernardo Milesy, founder & managing partner at GLOCAL,  the first certified B Corp  agrifoodtech venture capital firm, whose portfolio includes the likes of Agrofy, Frizata and Kilimo In today's episode we will discuss:   1. Why impact investing is a lucrative business opportunity from venture capital standpoint?  2. Which agrifoodtech industries are ripe for unicorn production in Latin...

March 13: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with George Roche, investment director at Yara Growth Ventures,  the corporate venture capital arm of Yara International, the world's leading crop nutrition and agriculture company out of Norway with $11b market cap. Yara Growth Ventures portfolio includes the likes of SP Ventures, Agrolend and Agrofy.  In today's episode we will discuss:   1. What is George's startup evaluation framework?  2. Why 'No, I...

February 21: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Camilla Junqueira, managing director at Endeavor Brazil,  the leading global community of, by and for high impact entrepreneurs.  In today's episode we will discuss:  1. What makes Endeavor so good at building community? What are the lessons that founders can learn from Endeavor's approach towards building community?? 2. What's next for Endeavor? Hint: it has everything to do with globalizing...

February 14: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Adolfo Roullion, founder and CEO at Frizata,  a direct-to-consumer vertically integrated frozen food tech company that has raised ~ $10M from the likes of the founder of Mercado Libre Marcos Galperin,  SP Ventures and Norte. In today's episode we will discuss:  1. What are the building blocks of 25 year strong partnership between Adolfo and his co-founder Jose Robledo?  2. Why big food companies...

February 2: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Victor Santos, founder and CEO at Liv Up, a São Paulo-based D2C healthy frozen food company that has raised over $70M from the likes of Kaszek, ThornTree Capital Partners, Lofoten Capital and many more. In today's episode we will discuss:  1. What are the core skills required to manage complex businesses that combine tech and operations capabilities? 2. What are the most important lessons of...

January 24: For this episode of the J Curve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Francisco Jardim, co-founder and general partner at SP Ventures, a São Paulo-based pioneer venture capital investor in agrifoodtech space in Latin America whose portfolio include the likes of Agrolend,  Agrofy and Frizata and that's backed by corporate and industry giants like Yara Growth Ventures, Syngenta and Banco do Brasil.  In today's episode we will discuss:  1. What are the ultimate traits...

January 17: For the first episode of the J Curve in 2023 I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Alan Glezer, co-founder and CFO at Agrolend that has recently raised over $27M in Series B led by Lightrock  and joined by Yara Growth Ventures, SP Ventures and Valor Capital Group. In today's episode we will learn:  1. Profitability vs growth. What should founders focus on during adverse market environment? 2. What are the focus areas in agriculture Alan is excited about? 3. What is...