Andre Maciel, former managing partner at Japan-headquartered telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s $5bn Latin America-focused fund, has raised $50m for the first close of an independent venture capital firm.
Maciel set up Volpe Capital in 2019 with SoftBank’s backing, and its first fund also has investment bank BTG Pactual as a cornerstone limited partner. Marcelo Claure, head of SoftBank LatAm, and the $5bn fund’s managing partners, Paulo Passoni and Shu Nyattta, have also invested in the fund.
Volpe Capital plans to invest in up to 20 early stage companies at series A stage, with a primary focus on the Brazilian market, according to regional trade body Lavca.
Maciel spoke at the last Corporate Venture in Brasil conference and said in the keynote his team had been so busy they had barely slept in the previous six months. SoftBank’s deals at that time, in late 2019, had covered a spectrum from fitness (Gympass) to e-commerce delivery (Loggi) and fintech (Creditas) with an overarching theme of data.
Photo of Andre Maciel courtesy of LinkedIn.
