M12 may be Microsoft’s largest corporate venture unit, but it was not the company’s first. That fund, Microsoft Participações, was launched by chief operating officer Franklin Luzes, in Brazil in 2012.
Luzes was initially co-founder and CEO of e-learning company MHW, joining Microsoft in 2002 after his e-learning startup was acquired. Microsoft Participações was set up to counter a shortfall in funding for local startups, back when CVC was thin on the ground in Brazil, and it has expanded its outlook in the years since.
In 2013, the fund invested in banks, agribusinesses and tech companies for a joint micro fund called BR Startups. Luzes was named a GCV Rising Star the following year, but the next step came when he learned that only 2% of VC funding worldwide went to female founders.
“I want to select the brightest and best people in Brazil who are resilient, innovative and have the mindset that they want to make a positive impact in society and their own lives”
“We decided to create a second fund, WE Ventures, and the by-laws of the fund state that every company needs to have at least one female founder and one woman in the C-suite – CEO, COO, CTO, whatever – and in the cap table,” he says. “It was the first fund in Brazil dedicated to fostering women’s entrepreneurship.”
Luzes took on a new challenge in 2022 as sales lead for Digital Natives, which focuses on commercial partnerships between Microsoft and Brazilian cloud software unicorns.
His spare time is spent kayaking and playing beach tennis on the shores of Rio, but his professional aim is clear.
“I want to select the brightest and best people in Brazil who are resilient, innovative and have the mindset that they want to make a positive impact in society and their own lives,” he says.
“It is very easy for me as a Microsoft executive director in Brazil just to look at the tech side. I am not saying it is not important, but other people can evaluate technology. Few can look in people’s eyes and say: ‘I trust you, I am confident you will be a vibrant entrepreneur in this country’.”
See the full list of GCV Emerging Leaders for 2024 here.