Fundamental

~Looking back on 2024~ We took a moment this month to look back on the year with the team, and we want to share about Fundamental’s achievements! Special thanks to everyone who was part of the journey - we could not have done it without you. ❤️ Corentin Larue, Maxime Braun, Sarah Linder, Dulce María Hernández Rojas, Jorge Martinez Mora, Gina Hollenbach, Hannah Chow Russell, Elías Vázquez Solano, Omar Alvarez, Giovana Hernández Constantino, Rodmar Zavala, Rosaura Landeros, Elfid Torres

Meet our Co-Founder Elfid Torres at Building Bridges in Geneva, Switzerland! Fundamental, together with elea, Social Nest Foundation, Maastricht Sustainability Institute, will share the newest insights on Impact Investing in Latin America, based on their on-the-ground experiences. Don’t miss their collective wisdom and join their session on Thursday, December 12. Details: 📅 Building Bridges Conference, the power of finance for sustainability When: December 9 -12, 2024 Where: Geneva, Switzerland 👨👨👦👦 Stop by and say hi to our team during the event! Will we see you there? 👀 Marta del Castillo, Tina Ruchti, Kiia Strömmer #BuildingBridges2024 #ImpactInnovation #SustainableFinance #FundamentalVentures #MakingAnImpact #LatAm

¡Últimos días para votar! 🗳️ En Fundamental, creemos que las tecnologías emergentes como AI no son solo una herramienta, sino el corazón de soluciones escalables que enfrentan los desafíos sociales y económicos más urgentes. 🌍 Nuestro taller, "Impacto a través del Venture Studio", ha sido seleccionado entre las 12 finalistas del FLII2025. Maxime Braun de Fundamental y Juan Carlos de Urzaiz de COCOCO Ventures te mostrarán cómo crear las startups tecnológicas de impacto que llevarán a una economía más inclusiva y sostenible. 💡 1️⃣ Vota con este link: http://bit.ly/3ZkaAXs 2️⃣ Encuentra nuestra propuesta bajo el track: "Actions for Tech-Driven Impact" 3️⃣ Selecciona la propuesta D: "Impacto a través del Venture Studio..." 📅 Fecha límite: 2 de diciembre ¡Cada voto cuenta! Ayúdanos compartiendo este mensaje. 🙌✨ #FLII2025 #FLIICountdown #AgendaCreatorFLII2025 #FLIIagendacreator.

🌱 Building a sustainable future for local producers in Mexico, together with Fourfold Foundation🌱 A special thanks to Valerie Remoquillo-Jenni and Lena Gampp —your visit energized the team, and we’re excited to keep building this journey of growth and impact together. Corentin Larue, Maxime Braun, Valerie Remoquillo-Jenni, Lena Gampp, Hugo Sánchez Martínez, Victoria Lizárraga Peña, Stiftung Fourfold, #Agriculture #Sustainability #Impact #SocialEnterprise #CommunityDevelopment #AgricultureLeadership

Vote for us! Necesitamos tu apoyo para llevar nuestra propuesta a la conferencia FLII 2025 🚀 En Fundamental, creemos que las tecnologías emergentes no son solo una herramienta, sino el corazón de soluciones escalables que enfrentan los desafíos sociales y económicos más urgentes. 🌍 ¿Y cómo lo hacemos? Eso te queremos mostrar en nuestro taller: "Impacto a través del Venture Studio: Creando Startups que Apalancan Tecnologías Emergentes para el Bien", seleccionado entre las 12 finalistas (¡de 150 propuestas!) para el @FLII 2025. Liderado por Maxime Braun de Fundamental y Juan Carlos de Urzaiz de COCOCO Ventures, en este taller exploramos cómo la inteligencia artificial y la metodología ágil de un venture studio pueden generar soluciones disruptivas. Ambos estudios tienen una misión clara: crear las próximas startups tecnológicas de impacto que aceleren el camino hacia una economía más inclusiva y sostenible. ¡Ahora necesitamos tu voto! 🙌 1️⃣ Vota con este link: http://bit.ly/3ZkaAXs 2️⃣ Encuentra nuestra propuesta bajo el track 3: "Actions for Tech-Driven Impact" 3️⃣ Selecciona la propuesta D: "Impacto a través del Venture Studio..." 📅 Último día para votar: 2 de diciembre Cada voto cuenta para llevar esta visión al escenario del FLII. ¡Gracias por ayudarnos a promover soluciones que realmente marcan la diferencia! 💪🌟 #FLII2025 #FLIICountdown #AgendaCreatorFLII2025 #FLIIagendacreator.

How do we get to know our users’ pain points, especially in a low-tech industry without much available user data? As a studio that works with tech solutions for economically and digitally excluded users, we face a paradox as much of the information we need on their behavior is not digitally available. Earlier this year, we started to dig into a new social challenge. After extensive desk research, we developed several hypotheses about the users and their needs. In this low-digitized context, focus groups become highly relevant to gather information to understand their experience and challenges, while also giving us an opportunity to ground-truth our hypotheses. So last month, we brought in a group of tradesmen for a focus group here in Mexico City to listen to fundamental challenges that affect their workplace, financial stability, and well-being. Want to learn some interesting tidbits? 👪 When to do a focus group Conduct a focus group when you are ready to test and ground-truth some of your key hypotheses and identify users’ biggest pain points (needs/challenges). Stay open-minded that some of your core assumptions may be both confirmed and challenged. 📙 How to do a focus group Rent a room with a one-way mirror so your colleagues can listen in behind the scenes. We recommend a group between 6-10 people to get diverse perspectives while giving everyone chances to talk. For potentially sensitive topics, include a disclosure before the conversation starts so participants feel free sharing their honest feedback. Lastly, make sure you compensate them for their time and sharing their opinions! 💎 Value from the focus group Through open-ended yet targeted questions, hearing their pain points and challenges ultimately helps us identify where current market-solutions end, and where there might be opportunities to shape a relevant solution. This customer-centric approach in the design process helps us prioritize features for the final solution. 💫 What were key take-aways from our session with tradesmen? Here 's two. 1. Referrals rule: word of mouth and referrals are the main form of acquiring new clients, and cash remains king for payments. The sector still relies heavily on these traditional methods. 2. The cost of tools: for tradesmen, every hour spent acquiring tools/materials is an hour of lost income and missed job opportunities. With better access to tools and financing, tradesmen could boost productivity and income by focusing fully on their craft. Both insights have implications on any following solution design: eg. if we’re trying to bring a digital solution to this space, how would this have to be designed to overcome those challenges? If you’re working in the social innovation and entrepreneurship space, how do you ground-truth with the people you’re trying to reach and impact? How do you get closer to the very problem you’re trying to solve? Let us know in the comments! 👇 Corentin Larue, Maxime Braun, Gina Hollenbach

Excited to share that Simón is now among Mexico’s Top 100 Early Stage Startups by NuMundo Ventures! This recognition highlights promising tech ventures tackling key challenges in LatAm. Simón was selected in the HR tech sector for empowering thousands of frontline workers and small retailers in the CPG industry through microlearning upskilling. 👏 Big kudos to the team for their dedication and growth this year! Matthieu Dahirel, Pablo Gabriel Campos Cordero, Alexis Ávila, Omar Alvarez, Elías Vázquez Solano, Rodmar Zavala, Corentin Larue, Maxime Braun

✨Announcing New Partnership!✨ We love announcing new partnerships, and here’s another one! GitLab Foundation, focused on improving the lifetime earnings of vulnerable communities, will support Trófica (previously Reciclamos Juntos) as it transitions into a social venture promoting social mobility for waste collectors in Colombia. As Trófica formalizes into a venture, Gitlab’s #investment supports the following priorities:  - increase capacity to handle larger volumes - connect with the recycling market through CAPEX investments - optimize waste routes, and digitalize processes. Last month, Ellie Bertani, Roger Joseph Perez, Eric Talbert from Gitlab Foundation visited Trófica’s recycling centers in Cartagena. We are grateful for Gitlab’s enthusiasm and trust in our vision for Trófica’s growth and sustainability. We look forward to impacting waste collectors’ livelihoods together! ♻💸 Jesús Alberto Cruz, Maxime Braun, Corentin Larue, Gina Hollenbach, Jaime Fernández, Giovana Hernández Constantino, Sarah Linder

The courage to create something new: Happy Birthday FUNDES 🥳 In a world constantly chasing the “next big thing,” we sometimes forget how powerful time and experience are in driving innovation. Why does this matter? This week, in Mexico City, we celebrated 40 years of FUNDES making an impact across Latin America, alongside partners from all corners of the globe. Fundamental our venture studio, is a direct product of FUNDES’ legacy. What began as a “crazy idea” evolved into a project, a business unit, and eventually, an independent company. It’s living proof of FUNDES’ ability to not only spot opportunities but to give its people the freedom to go beyond the familiar and build something bold. Today, as Fundamental we’re building tech startups, but we stand on the shoulders of FUNDES' four decades of expertise in sustainable development. We tap into its deep knowledge of working with micro and small businesses, its experience with LATAM’s traditional economy, and its solid partner networks—all critical to our studio’s and its ventures' progress. The anniversary night was more than a celebration—it was a tribute to a great and insightful past and an exciting look toward the future. ¡Feliz aniversario FUNDES! 🎉 Andreas Eggenberg, Elfid Torres, Mauricio Ramírez, Corentin Larue, Florencia Colunga Gascón Randolph Salazar Maxime Braun Omar Alvarez Giovana Hernández Constantino

#Venture #Update ⚡️ This week, our board meetings are taking place, a great opportunity to provide an update on our ventures’ progress! We recently wrapped up our 2024 mid-year report and shared it during our first collective partner call. The goal was to exchange insights and gather feedback across all our investors. Discussions covered our method for accelerating ventures while minimizing risks, tech solutions for users with limited digital capabilities and connectivity, and the power of complementing entrepreneurs’ skills. Curious about the milestones we hit? A big one is that all of our startups have reached the monthly $10k USD revenue mark. Check out some more highlights from the first half of this year. Jesús Alberto Cruz, Jaime Fernández, Lorena Chacón Carrera, Pablo Gabriel Campos Cordero, Matthieu Dahirel, Victoria Lizárraga Peña