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Silicon Valley Bank and LAVCA look forward to hosting you for an update on LAVCA’s 2025 VC/Tech Mid-Year Trends for Latin America. In the first half of 2025, Latin America’s venture ecosystem has maintained steady VC deployment following the 2022 market adjustment, with early-stage and seed activity remaining at the forefront. Carlos Ramos de la Vega, LAVCA’s Managing Director, Venture Capital, will review Q2/H1 data from the third edition of our Ecosystem Insights report, highlighting a renewed dynamism in Spanish-speaking Latin America, marked by Mexican startups overtaking Brazil in venture investment for the first time in 15 years, investor strategies around AI, an expanding pipeline of new startups, the rise of emerging hubs, and updates on women-led startups and corporate participation in VC. We will then feature a panel discussion with Antoine Colaço (Valor Capital Group), Lara Lemann (MAYA Capital), Bianca Martinelli (Alexia Ventures), and Hector Sepulveda (NAZCA) to share their perspectives on the market and expectations for the second half of the year and beyond.
Antoine Colaço is a Managing Partner and COO at Valor Capital Group. Prior to joining Valor, Mr. Colaço was at Google for 9 years serving in a wide range of capacities. He was most recently COO of Global Partnerships, supporting all of Google’s partnerships. Previously, he established Google’s India presence by founding its operations in Hyderabad and grew its Latin American presence by launching offices and online AdWords operations in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. More recently, he headed the Reseller Channel for Asia-Pacific and LATAM and was the COO for the APAC and LATAM regions.
Prior to joining Google, Mr. Colaço was in Business Development for Yahoo! Finance. Antoine also held roles at Goldman Sachs, Development Bank of Singapore, and CSC Healthcare. Mr. Colaço received his BSE, cum laude, from Princeton University, in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a certificate in Public and International Affairs from the School of Public and International Affairs. He also has an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Bianca Martinelli is a Partner at Alexia Ventures, an early-stage VC firm investing in top Latin American founders transforming industries through software and AI. Previously, she spent 12 years at Endeavor, leading global operations and driving expansion into Italy, Spain, Peru, and Ecuador. She later served as VP of International Expansion at RD Station, spearheading its entry into Mexico and Colombia.Bianca holds a business degree from FGV EAESP, specialized in entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School, and is a Kauffman Fellow and an Endeavor mentor.
Héctor's entrepreneurial journey began in 2001, during which he founded seven companies and achieved three successful exits. In 2013, he co-founded Intangible, Mexico's first minority-focused "Company Builder," aimed at fostering technological entrepreneurship.
In 2014, he co-founded Nazca, an early-stage Latin American venture capital firm. Nazca has supported some of the region’s most talented founders and companies, including Kavak, Jüsto, Albo, Ben & Frank, ZeBrands, Wonderbrands, Somos, Bia, Yuno, and Urbanic. As part of Nazca’s broader company-building strategy, Héctor also helped create businesses such as Creze, Urbvan, TrueHome, Fairplay, and Fillip.
Héctor is a Global Endeavor Entrepreneur, holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and an OPM from Harvard Business School.
Lara Lemann is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of MAYA Capital, a leading early-stage venture capital firm focused on Latin America. MAYA has invested in over 55 startups driving innovation in fintech, digital infrastructure, and AI-enabled solutions across the region. Prior to founding MAYA, she worked across both the public and private sectors in Brazil. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University.
Carlos Ramos de la Vega is the Director of Venture Capital at LAVCA. In this role, Carlos coordinates the organization’s relationships with venture investors, maintains the LatAm Venture Bulletin, the industry’s leading source of VC/tech news in the region, and supports the generation of products and services for Latin America’s venture capital community. Carlos is also on the Mexican Council of Foreign Relations (COMEXI), where he was nominated to aid in building bridges between Mexico and other global markets.
Prior to joining LAVCA, Carlos was an Analyst within the Mergers & Acquisition Group in UBS based in New York, where he was responsible for the analysis and due diligence of cross-border transactions between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Prior to joining UBS, Carlos was a consultant for the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) and Microsoft supporting the production of “Mexico’s ITC Entrepreneurs”, a comprehensive study of the state of the technology ecosystem in Mexico aimed at fostering public-private partnerships and institutional cooperation.
Carlos also served as the Coordinator for the Mexican Stock Exchange’s integration into the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA) and led the development of the technology innovation index used by UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology as a benchmark to support the University’s network-wide strategic initiatives.
Carlos is an Ambassador for Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO). He received his B.S. in Economics with honors distinction and Minors in Industrial Engineering and Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Andy Tsao is a Managing Director and Head of SVB’s Global Gateway, which assists innovation companies in the emerging markets with their US and international market expansion. He brings more than 20 years of experience banking dynamic companies in technology industries worldwide.
In his roles, Andy manages SVB’s relationships with venture capital and private equity firms outside the U.S., helps emerging market technology companies as they seek U.S. market entry, and U.S. companies as they seek to expand abroad. In both capacities, Tsao provides these firms with strategic advice and banking services, including debt financing, based on a deep understanding of their needs.
Previously, Andy led and helped found SVB’s U.K.-based operation, SVB Financial Group UK Ltd, which was established in 2004, Andy is on the boards of TiE Silicon Valley, Asia America MultiTechnology Association Silicon Valley, Asia Society of Northern California, and BayBrazil. Tsao earned a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and an MBA from Boston University.
Nicolas Toro is the Head of Latam Markets at SVB’s Global Gateway, which supports Latam’s innovation economy as its main US banking partner. Previously he was the Manager of Entrepreneurship and Access to Capital at Endeavor Colombia and Endeavor Catalyst. Nicolas holds a Masters from Columbia University and resides in Miami.
All non-SVB named companies listed are independent third parties and are not affiliated with Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company.
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