Daniel de Macedo has been leading Algar Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) division of Brazil-based conglomerate Grupo Algar, as strategy and innovation manager since May 2016. He supports and coordinates corporate innovation and strategic investments.
Clau Sganzerla, vice-president of strategy and innovation at Algar, said in his nomination of de Macedo: “Daniel was key to the initial steps of a large corporation [Algar] in the CVC journey, despite the organisation’s natural inertia and ‘anti-bodies’ to real innovation.
“Doing always more with less and swimming against the tide, Daniel led two successful corporate venture programs – yearly rounds of screening and engagement with scale-ups. A few of those scale-ups that participated in Algar Ventures program, although not invested by Algar Ventures, survived the valley of death and raised substantial rounds of investment, such as Live Up, Zissou, Cobli, Sensidia and Beblue.
“In such a short period of time, Daniel was able to put Algar’s name on Brazil’s CVC ecosystem leveraging his creativity, networking, negotiation skills, determination and firm belief in the CVC model.”
De Macedo believes CVC can generate value for the parent through connections with startups and the innovation ecosystem, noting: “Alignment of the strategic and financial objectives with CVC initiatives is [a form] of art. In my point of view, if done properly, it could become a powerful tool for transforming and sustaining the organisation. While this is a tremendous challenge, I find myself motivated by this mission.”
Algar Ventures has been in operation for three years and it has had one exit, resulting in a five-times return. However, de Macedo said his biggest challenge has been demonstrating to the market that the unit’s approach is legitimate investment, realising the return like a VC fund, without strategic privilege.
Before Algar, de Macedo worked at American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil in São Paulo as a regional manager for more than six years, where he held several roles including regional manager. He graduated in business administration from ESAMC and holds two MBAs, one in finance and another in marketing, from Fundação Getulio Vargas.
