Latin America is seeing a surge of women leading CVC units. Juliana Innecco, head of corporate venture capital at Torq Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Brazilian software company Sinqia, is one of these standout women shaping the industry.
Innecco also serves as vice president of the Brazilian Association of Corporate Venture Capital, a nonprofit that aims to grow corporate investment and innovation in the region.
Innecco came from an operational background. She worked as an engineer in environmental projects at Brazilian startup Cobrape. Her background gave her the knowledge and creative vision around business innovation.
“It is important to have some type of synergy. We have to understand if we can address some of the pain points from clients together”
Seven years later she transitioned into the realm of software development. “I do not like to stay in my comfort zone,” she says. “Working in software gave me an understanding of how startups operated and once I joined French digital payments company Ingenico, I fell in love with the work and later moved to Sinqia.
Innecco began her career at Torq Labs as the head of innovation in 2021. Several months later she was promoted to her current position in which she oversees the investment strategy and leads her team to build relationships with the most promising startups.
“We have a very clear understanding about our role as investors,” says Innecco. “It is important to have some type of synergy. We have to understand if we can address some of the pain points for clients together,” she says.
Founded in 2018, Torq Ventures invests in the financial and IT sectors, with a particular focus on payments, artificial intelligence, blockchain and embedded finance startups. The unit has four companies in its portfolio including Brazilian fintech firm Celcoin, which raised $31m in funding, and has more than 100 startups in its ecosystem. In 2024, Torq Ventures aims to expand its operations to other Latin American countries, having a specific investment thesis to address this emerging market.
See the full list of GCV Rising Stars for 2024 here.