Chile-listed petroleum supplier Compañía de Petróleos de Chile (Copec) publicly launched a US-based corporate venture capital subsidiary called Wind Ventures yesterday.
Formed in late 2019, Wind Ventures is targeting global energy, mobility and retail technology developers, and will facilitate their entry into the Latin America market. It will generally invest roughly $1m to $10m per deal across series A to C rounds, as well as pursuing follow-on funding opportunities.
The fund has provided $30m for energy storage technology producer Stem, and $2.5m each for Spain-focused energy storage system operator Ampere Energy and Cargo, a ride hailing platform that also offers an in-car retail service.
Copec has additionally formed joint venture arrangements with Stem and Ampere, helping them access the Chilean and broader Latin American markets.
Wind Ventures is headed by Brian Walsh, who had specialised in corporate venturing at IT product producer Konica Minolta and consulting firm McKinsey & Company before moving to Wind Ventures in late 2019.
Walsh is joined by Sean Simpson, a former investment manager at carmaker General Motors’ GM Ventures unit, and Bob Ma, an alumnus of venture capital firm Soma Capital.
Regarding his team and the vehicle’s outlook, Walsh said: “With the addition of Sean Simpson and Bob Ma, Wind Ventures is bringing a distinct offering to the Silicon Valley and global innovation ecosystems as a professional venture capital team with strong connective tissue back to Latin America.”
Leonardo Ljubetic, Copec’s chief corporate development and strategy officer, added: “Wind Ventures is the concrete manifestation of our vision, in which major global trends converge, such as digitalisation, along with the decentralisation and decarbonisation of the energy matrix.
“Brian, Sean and Bob will certainly help achieve our goal which is no other than bringing Chile and the region towards a new era of sustainability.”
