Luca Cafici

🚀 This one’s for the founders: a masterclass in execution and innovation. This week, I sat down with Adhemar M., founder and CEO of Kovi, a Brazilian company redefining mobility through car subscriptions and connected tech in a market plagued by high costs and limited credit access. Backed by ~$145M in funding from the likes of Valor Capital Group, monashees, MAYA CAPITAL, Globo Ventures, Norte Ventures and Peter Thiel's family office, Kovi is addressing high car costs, tough credit barriers, and insurance gaps in one of the world’s most exciting markets. What we covered 👇🏻 ​🔑 Driving innovation: How Brazil’s mobility challenges are powering market transformation ​🤝 Connect the dots: Building stronger founder/VC partnerships through transparency and market education ⚙️ Complexity doesn’t scale: Lessons in building efficient, scalable operations 🌐 Break down silos: Creating synergy between tech and operations in a startup ​⚡ Clean win: How Brazil’s renewable edge and gig economy lead the EV growth Link in comments—don’t miss this one! 🎧 PS: Thank you Vander Corteze, MD for the intro to Adhemar and for some excellent question suggestions 👏🏻

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If you are curious to learn about angel funds, their difference to other angel investing models and how it reduces the risk of investing in startups, come listen to this episode of VC10X podcast. Here, Prashant Choubey and I talk about this and much more. Thank you Prashant for this conversation! #angelinvesting #startups #innovation #angels #angelfunds #coreangels

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Fundraise like a Brazilian Steakhouse... Startups often kick off their fundraise far too prematurely, long before they have their fundraise details and fundraising assets game-time ready. Tundra Angels once had an experience where one of our investors remarked, "The founders aren’t ready for this. It feels like we are pulling all of this information out of them. This information should all be assembled already.” Just like an experience at a Brazilian Steakhouse, I see startup fundraising in a very binary way: Green Card 💚 - “I’m fundraising” - means that you have your fundraising dialed in and all of your fundraising assets in place to send out at a moment’s notice. Red Card 🔴- “I’m not fundraising” - means that you don’t have all of your fundraising assets in place. Don’t flip your card and say you’re fundraising until you’re game-time ready. ✅ Startups should assume that they will only get one shot with an investor. Don’t waste your one impression by making the wrong impression by telling investors you are fundraising when you are not “game-time ready” to bring in investor funds. ✅ ------------------ What does "game-time ready" mean? I go into this and more in the article 👇 "Fundraise Like a Brazilian Steakhouse" https://lnkd.in/gZuQW894

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Brazil is a crypto hub and if you’re a VC not paying attention to this region your missing out.. After being here only a few days, have met many incredible founders, investors, and startup talent. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next few years there are most exits and VCs coming out of Brazil. #crypto #web3 #blockchain #latam #emergingmarkets #investors #founders #builders #startups

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Inspiration for entrepreneurs: :   'My advice is to focus on the importance of forging a long term relationship, whether with colleagues, partners, or customers. It is often easy to get caught up in short term decisions.'   @Sheila Lirio Marcelo, Founder of Care.com   #RelationshipBuilding #LongTermSuccess   Develop lasting business relationships with The Cantillon's guidance.

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‌I recently returned from spending a week in São Paulo, where I had the pleasure of visiting friends and loved ones. In addition to reconnecting, I engaged in productive discussions with founders, fellow venture capitalists, and other asset allocators. ✈ 👨‍💻 👊 The trip was filled with great meetings, offering valuable insights and market perspectives on early-stage venture capital and the fintech ecosystem in Brazil. 🎯 🌎 💡 #VCs #earlystage #investments #networking

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When celebrities invest cash into startups they often get lower valuations in exchange for promotion. And I believe that is exactly what happened with Ronaldo’s latest investment in wearable technology company WHOOP. The Portuguese soccer icon just invested and became an official global ambassador for Whoop, the wearable technology company. “Whoop has had a transformative impact on my life both on and off the pitch,” Ronaldo said in a statement. “I wear Whoop while training, sleeping, and recovering. It’s been one of the most important tools helping me elevate my game and monitor my health.” The financial details of the investment have not been disclosed, but according to Whoop, the deal represents one of Ronaldo’s “most significant investments to date.” Although it could definitely be true that Ronaldo invested cash, I don’t believe he paid the full price for it (but this is just an assumption). Often when celebrities invest, they get discounted valuations or do a part equity deal in exchange for promoting the company. Ronaldo for example has 629 million followers on Instagram and is the most followed person on the platform. One post about a company and the website will probably blow up (which is exactly what Ronaldo did this morning btw announcing his partnership with Whoop). Besides getting a financial injection, most often the startups receiving the celebrity investment also gain a lot of social exposure, which they normally have to pay millions of dollars for. So it makes sense to do a part equity deal or offer a lower valuation. What do you think? 

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NU is not seen as a tech company it’s still seen by people as a bank and it’s that that is driving the growth. And this growth is because TRUST is flowing into the digital banking market. Trust is all that is needed for people to leave ‘traditional’ banks and go to new digital banks like Nubank, Wise, Revolut, TymeBank and others. Why? Because of UX. These new banks’ UX is still light years ahead of tranditional banks. UX isn’t just the UI of an app or a website it’s how you feel when you interact with them. There is such a big difference between the new and traditional banks the the only thing stopping a massive exodus (this is already starting) is trust. We should expect to see way more growth as more people switch. We are still at the beginning of ‘the early majority’.

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Square, Mercado Libre, Rappi, Zillow, and Stripe alumni have founded 1,511 startups over the last decade. That's a lot! And about 12% of these founders are building a fintech company. What is it about the DNA of these firms that they attract a lot of would-be founders? Some of the great fintech companies founded by ex-employees of this group include Pomelo, Ontop, Persona, Mundi, AgentSync, Divvy Homes, and Pacaso Square - 355 total startups, 32 in fintech Mercado Libre - 282 total startups, 37 in fintech Zillow - 294 total startups, 22 in fintech Rappi - 290 total startups, 28 in fintech Stripe - 290 total startups, 25 in fintech Read our full report ➡ https://bit.ly/GGMVFF Andrew Endicott Paula You David Erickson Kirstie Irmana Kristofer Jenk Josh Jagota Gilgamesh Ventures The Wharton School

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𝗔 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 🚀 After a decade in tech investing at Hellman & Friedman and Apax I’m thrilled to announce my journey as 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁 Heritage Holdings. Our mission? 𝗧𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀, founders, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵, superior portfolio construction and access to 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀. 𝙰̲ ̲𝙷̲𝚎̲𝚊̲𝚛̲𝚝̲𝚏̲𝚎̲𝚕̲𝚝̲ ̲𝚃̲𝚑̲𝚊̲𝚗̲𝚔̲ ̲𝚈̲𝚘̲𝚞̲ My deepest gratitude to Apax and my partners Mark Beith Marcelo Gigliani Daniel O'Keefe. Building a leading EU growth equity platform together has been remarkable. Shoutout to Agostino Vikram Aurelia Shashwat Ela Chana Ishan Thore and Lucas You are rockstars. 🙏 Watching Tide Pricefx ClearBank and Faculty all grow from <$5M in revenue at the time of our first meeting, to combined >$500m in revenue, showed me the art of the possible. Dr. Oliver Prill Ronak Sheth Charles McManus Marcin Cichon Marc Warner — you are inspiring. 𝚆̲𝚑̲𝚢̲ ̲𝙷̲𝚎̲𝚛̲𝚒̲𝚝̲𝚊̲𝚐̲𝚎̲?̲ My journey began when, at the age of 22, after 4yrs learning the ropes as a software founder, I started working with big banks at McKinsey. I met extraordinary professionals, but was struck by profound problems of this legacy industry. A decade in fintech deepened this awareness: 1. Entrepreneurs spend a lifetime building a legacy, but 90%+ of these are gone by the 3rd gen 2. Wealth products are often sub par, and very expensive. Access to quality alternative assets is even worse. 3. Investing is complex, and only few really use proper portfolio construction. 4. Family offices build a lot in house that could be better/cheaper joining forces with others 5. Everyone talks about Tech/AI, but large organizations are very far behind. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 This is a trillion-dollar industry with multiple tailwinds: 1. Increasing UHNWIs 2. Growing exposure to private markets by families 3. Unprecedented wealth shifts to next gens 4. New AI use cases for workflow automation Tech proposition have emerged for mass market, but nobody has really cracked the problem with a modern tech stack, for UHNWI, where needs are more complex. 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 “𝟭𝟬𝘅 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿” 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀. I’m thrilled to partner with my cofounder Lucio Di Ciaccio, tech investing veteran and one of the sharpest minds I know, as well with an exceptional team of partners, with a unique level of grit and industry experience. We are grateful to be backed in this mission by some of the most prominent families globally. If you know someone interested in transforming this industry, 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗠 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁. Stay tuned.

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This fintech company disrupted the entire industry in 6 years. Its Brex. They turned a small startup into a $12.3B giant. How? Here’s the story: Henrique Dubugras and his co-founder, Pedro Franceschi, dropped out of Stanford to start Brex in 2017. They wanted to solve a real pain point they experienced firsthand, "startups’ difficulty in securing corporate credit cards". Traditional banks failed to serve startups with no credit history, so they thought of building a financial services platform that addressed these challenges. Built from scratch, no relying on third-party processors. Brex created a solution for startups: No personal guarantees, fast signups, and higher limits. Now it's $12.3B company. And here's how they did it in just 6 years: 1. Targeted User Acquisition Cold emails, billboards, and champagne, their growth strategy was unorthodox but effective. They built a pipeline by marketing where their users hung out, even on LinkedIn.     2. Nailing Retention Early Brex understood retention was critical. They used churn data to improve customer service and even developed white-glove support to keep customers happy. 3. Iterating for Scale From a simple corporate card, Brex grew into a financial platform. They created multiple revenue streams — expense management, bill pay, and even venture debt.     4. Creating a Moat The founders kept adding value with features like a cash management account and travel integration. Customers were more likely to stay, leading to strong expansion revenue.     5. Non-traditional marketing They experimented with unique tactics, driving demo bookings through creative campaigns — this set them apart from competitors.     When faced with growing pains, Brex doubled down on venture-backed startups, offloading SMBs to maintain their premium positioning. Brex’s journey proves that success comes from understanding your market’s pain points and solving them better than anyone else. What can you take from this? Focus on retention, find creative marketing channels, and don’t be afraid to pivot. #startup #casestudy

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One other thing on Nubank. Something you don’t hear enough about is their SME banking product. Micro and small enterprises are an essential (and massive!) part of the Brazilian economy, accounting for 93.7% of all legally constituted companies (20.3 million). Right now, Nubank has 2.6 million SME customers, growing 44% year over year. That leaves a lot of the market untapped and a huge upside potential for them. Watch this segment in quarters to come. If they can replicate their success here as they did with consumers, there's a ton of upside potential.

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Being an investor in the gaming space and a Brazilian tax payer, it's imperative that the industry and government work together to find solutions. Kudos to the central bank for releasing this rarely seen level of detail given their ownership and oversight of the PIX payment system. The numbers released for August are staggering: - R$3bn of Handle wagered by Bolsa Familia (social welfare) beneficiaries - That equates to 20% of total Bolsa Familia $ transferred during the month - 25% of all social beneficiaries placed bets Across the board legalization of online gambling (I would argue that the authors are misguided in just labeling it sports betting) needs to be accompanied by real responsible gaming efforts. Given the PIX system, hopefully the Brazilian gaming regulators can work with government and industry RG leaders to devise new and efficient guardrails. #responsibleGaming #igaming #iCasino #onlineSportsBetting #BraziliGaming

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This week, I had the incredible honor of moderating a panel on "Institutional Allocations to Venture Capital" at the inaugural Brazil LP Summit for Portfolio Summits. With over 150 allocators from around the world in attendance, we explored how venture capital can drive access to groundbreaking technologies and address critical issues such as climate change and diversity. Alongside esteemed panelists – Carolina Assis from Turim, Rony Porat from IDB Bank, and Thomaz Figueiredo from Provence Partners – we delved into the strategic importance of these investments in fostering long-term growth and portfolio diversification. A big thank you to the organizers and participants for making this event a platform for impactful discussions and innovative strategies! Looking forward to more dynamic collaborations in the future. #VentureCapital #PrivateInvestments #LPSummit #InstitutionalInvestors #FinanceInnovation #InvestmentStrategy #GlobalAllocators #PortfolioDiversification #CapitalMarkets #InvestmentInsights

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In a weird way, market adversity and cash constraints faced by the growth-stage founders in Brazil and some other emerging markets are their golden ticket to the billion dollar startup club 🦄 The ‘foie gras effect’ sees startups in the US force-fed capital only to collapse under the weight of hyper growth (HBR). Today we see it happening with AI startups - they scale pre-maturely, burn tons of cash and raise at crazy valuations they won’t be able to justify in the future rounds of financing. We’ve seen this show before with crypto, D2C brands etc. Well that’s almost never (cuz forget 2021 funding craziness) the case in Brazilian tech investing especially at growth stage. While I don’t have data on LatAm, in 2022, in emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region, there was over 5 times as much capital deployed in early stage VC than in Growth Equity. I imagine its pretty comparable. So what does it mean? That means that founders in Brazil & certain emerging markets are more financially savvy, long-term focused and bake resiliency and adaptability into their mode of operations. Businesses they build tend to be problem-driven, faster to profitability and more complex than your average B2B SaaS. That also means that global Series B+++ investors should pay more attention to Brazil, LatAm and certain other emerging markets. Loggi CEO Thibaud Lecuyer who joined me on this week’s episode of The J Curve talked a lot about the opportunities that Brazilian market has to offer. Short snippet of that conversation 👇 To watch / listen to the full episode head over to our channels on Apple, Spotify and YouTube 🎙️

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Have you ever wondered how angel investors choose the next big startup? 🌟 Join us for an inspiring conversation with Cintia Mano, CEO of COREangels International! Discover how hands-on angel investors are supporting early-stage startups globally. 🔹 Learn about Cintia's journey from the corporate world to angel investing. 🔹 Insights into the crucial role of early-stage funding and mentorship. 🔹 The future of COREangels and expanding their network of passionate investors. Don’t miss out! Tune in now: https://ow.ly/Rb5E50SL6TC #StartupFunding #AngelInvesting #Entrepreneurship #COREangels #InvestorConnect

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Incredible positive leadership by Marcelo Claure and his team; we share his conviction for delivering outsized returns by leveraging diversity. In fact, we believe the time is now because in a world where AI can easily summarize and draw insights from the world’s information, we will increasingly commoditize conventional ideas and will pay a higher premium for non-conventional thinking. This non-conventional thinking will have to come from uncommon entrepreneurs and will be fueled by diversity of thought. This is why diversity in entrepreneurship will be an even more important driver of outsized venture returns.

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Wing Venture Capital is excited to unveil today the "Angels' Share 100", an exclusive list of the most active angel investors in the most promising startups in B2B technology. This project's mission is to serve as an information and relationship platform for the founder and angel community. Building a successful B2B technology company is hard work, and as early-stage investors and long-term company builders ourselves, we know we need all the help we can get! An important source of help has been the individual investors we work with. Individuals investing alongside us have consistently made powerful contributions to ultimate success. So we set out to study these “angels” in our midst. Who are they? Where did they come from? What allows them to make a difference? https://lnkd.in/gfFs4-bu

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A rapidly maturing startup ecosystem, heightened due diligence practices, and a steady pipeline of startups gearing up for public markets, India is clearly the promised land for investors and entrepreneurs alike. In a recent interview with Vibhuti Sharma from DealStreetAsia, I delved into how India remains a key focus for RTP Global. We discussed how with our new $1B fund, we are doubling down on the region's potential, backed by our dedicated team in India supporting early-stage entrepreneurs. India is an essential part of RTP Global's long-term vision, and we remain committed to nurturing innovative startups that can scale globally

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