More info here in the Brazilian press (Valor).
We're inaugurating our presence in Latin America by partnering with Gustavo S. Carvalhal Ribas as its Venture Partner and head of LatAm and opening an office in São Paulo, Brazil.
We've been traditionally focused on the pre-seed and seed stages, and have lately expanded to also making Series A investments with the launch of Leadwind. This allows us to be one of the only firms in the region to be able to write cheques from €100K to +€10M.
Leadwind is the natural evolution of the firm’s vision and signals a significant geographic, industry and stage expansion for us.
After successfully completing an initial close of Leadwind in April, at €140M, we proceed with our strategy in strengthening our global presence and bridging the Southern European and Latin American venture capital ecosystems by establishing a local office and hiring a local team.
We've partnered with strategic investors which will bring significant value to the fund’s portfolio companies in the form of distribution channels and vertical industries know-how. The fund is backed by key corporates in the region like Telefonica/Vivo, BBVA, Go Hub, Proeduca or SATEC among others, as well as institutional investors such as AXIS-ICO via the Fond-ICO Next Tech initiative, seasoned entrepreneurs and family offices. A final closing for the €250M fund is expected by early 2023, with more than €180M in capital commitments already secured to date.
We strongly believe in the role of corporations to collaborate with scaleups to enable global reach and distribution in a symbiotic dynamic, where both parties can generate meaningful revenues and create new verticals for their customers. Cooperation with the Wayra Hubs across LatAm will enable early access to best founders in the region and tech and market validation for deep tech ventures.
With an expected final close of €250M and with the ability to make investments starting at €5M, Leadwind paves the way for a new wave of entrepreneurship and the creation of leading technologies that compete at a global level.
Gustavo S. Carvalhal Ribas, K Fund’s Venture Partner and head of its Latin American operations, brings an experience and track record of more than 15 years working in the Brazilian and Latin American financial markets, having founded and operated three asset management operations and conducted a diverse number of investment transactions, including IPOs, M&As and unicorns.
“The local ecosystem is ready, we see great entrepreneurs around us daily, from Barcelona or Madrid, to Lisbon, Porto or São Paulo, showcasing that Silicon Valley is an attitude, tackling complex projects without fear and creating winning global projects”, says Miguel Arias, K Fund’s General Partner.
“There are currently a number of firms bridging the Latin American and the US venture capital ecosystems. K Fund, through Leadwind and its corporate backers, will forge that bridge with Southern Europe, significantly helping our portfolio companies with their global strategies”, says Gustavo S. Carvalhal Ribas, K Fund’s Venture Partner and head of LatAm operations.
“All these local hubs have prestigious universities, access to sophisticated and experienced talent and growing networks of entrepreneurs who succeeded in the past and are helping create networks of trusted peers for newcomers (plus these are great places to live in). There is also strong public and corporate support, since it is now well understood that scale ups are critical factors in the creation of quality jobs and wealth, with an expected growth of 10% year over year until 2025, as stated in the European Startups Report.”, adds Miguel.
We believe that the combination of the fund’s size, prior experience of our managers as founders and operators, as well as the deep intimacy that will be built with founders due to local proximity, will become key attributes in its target markets.
“By establishing a local office, we signal our long-term commitment to the region and to our portfolio companies and partners”, says Ribas. “São Paulo is the initial step of our focus and expansion in Latin America.”
With Leadwind we will make investments at the intersection of enabling technologies such as IoT, networks, cloud services, AI or blockchain, where we expect that the most promising and impactful new businesses and industries will be created during the following years despite the current economic macro conditions.
In the past few years, more than 1,000 startups have raised between €1M and €5M in Southern Europe and Latin America, illustrating the market opportunity that exists. The Leadwind team has proactively reached out to more than 100 scaleups to date and the pipeline will only continue to grow in the near future. “We have already met some great teams that have developed incredible technologies, we have deployed our first investments over the last months and are eager to help our founders get to the next stage and compete at a global level”, adds Arias.
More info here in the Brazilian press (Valor).
We're inaugurating our presence in Latin America by partnering with Gustavo S. Carvalhal Ribas as its Venture Partner and head of LatAm and opening an office in São Paulo, Brazil.
We've been traditionally focused on the pre-seed and seed stages, and have lately expanded to also making Series A investments with the launch of Leadwind. This allows us to be one of the only firms in the region to be able to write cheques from €100K to +€10M.
Leadwind is the natural evolution of the firm’s vision and signals a significant geographic, industry and stage expansion for us.
After successfully completing an initial close of Leadwind in April, at €140M, we proceed with our strategy in strengthening our global presence and bridging the Southern European and Latin American venture capital ecosystems by establishing a local office and hiring a local team.
We've partnered with strategic investors which will bring significant value to the fund’s portfolio companies in the form of distribution channels and vertical industries know-how. The fund is backed by key corporates in the region like Telefonica/Vivo, BBVA, Go Hub, Proeduca or SATEC among others, as well as institutional investors such as AXIS-ICO via the Fond-ICO Next Tech initiative, seasoned entrepreneurs and family offices. A final closing for the €250M fund is expected by early 2023, with more than €180M in capital commitments already secured to date.
We strongly believe in the role of corporations to collaborate with scaleups to enable global reach and distribution in a symbiotic dynamic, where both parties can generate meaningful revenues and create new verticals for their customers. Cooperation with the Wayra Hubs across LatAm will enable early access to best founders in the region and tech and market validation for deep tech ventures.
With an expected final close of €250M and with the ability to make investments starting at €5M, Leadwind paves the way for a new wave of entrepreneurship and the creation of leading technologies that compete at a global level.
Gustavo S. Carvalhal Ribas, K Fund’s Venture Partner and head of its Latin American operations, brings an experience and track record of more than 15 years working in the Brazilian and Latin American financial markets, having founded and operated three asset management operations and conducted a diverse number of investment transactions, including IPOs, M&As and unicorns.
“The local ecosystem is ready, we see great entrepreneurs around us daily, from Barcelona or Madrid, to Lisbon, Porto or São Paulo, showcasing that Silicon Valley is an attitude, tackling complex projects without fear and creating winning global projects”, says Miguel Arias, K Fund’s General Partner.
“There are currently a number of firms bridging the Latin American and the US venture capital ecosystems. K Fund, through Leadwind and its corporate backers, will forge that bridge with Southern Europe, significantly helping our portfolio companies with their global strategies”, says Gustavo S. Carvalhal Ribas, K Fund’s Venture Partner and head of LatAm operations.
“All these local hubs have prestigious universities, access to sophisticated and experienced talent and growing networks of entrepreneurs who succeeded in the past and are helping create networks of trusted peers for newcomers (plus these are great places to live in). There is also strong public and corporate support, since it is now well understood that scale ups are critical factors in the creation of quality jobs and wealth, with an expected growth of 10% year over year until 2025, as stated in the European Startups Report.”, adds Miguel.
We believe that the combination of the fund’s size, prior experience of our managers as founders and operators, as well as the deep intimacy that will be built with founders due to local proximity, will become key attributes in its target markets.
“By establishing a local office, we signal our long-term commitment to the region and to our portfolio companies and partners”, says Ribas. “São Paulo is the initial step of our focus and expansion in Latin America.”
With Leadwind we will make investments at the intersection of enabling technologies such as IoT, networks, cloud services, AI or blockchain, where we expect that the most promising and impactful new businesses and industries will be created during the following years despite the current economic macro conditions.
In the past few years, more than 1,000 startups have raised between €1M and €5M in Southern Europe and Latin America, illustrating the market opportunity that exists. The Leadwind team has proactively reached out to more than 100 scaleups to date and the pipeline will only continue to grow in the near future. “We have already met some great teams that have developed incredible technologies, we have deployed our first investments over the last months and are eager to help our founders get to the next stage and compete at a global level”, adds Arias.
