Luiz Fernando Silva Néto joined RX Ventures when it was launched in 2022 and is excited to be part of building a venture fund and constructing a portfolio from the very beginning.
“It has been a fun ride,” says Néto. “Part of being there in the very early days is evangelising the fund not only externally but internally. After almost two years of the fund, we are already seeing strategic returns in terms of revenue gains and margin gains.”
RX Ventures is the corporate venture unit of Lojas Renner, a Brazilian fashion and lifestyle retail brand. The $30m fund invests in fashion and lifestyle, retail tech and e-commerce, logistics, fi ntech and marketing tech. It has four companies in its portfolio and aims to have total of approximately 15.
Néto comes from a background in venture capital. He was an associate at ACE Startups, an early-stage venture capital specialist that runs accelerator programmes in Brazil. He also co-founded Emerging Venture Capital Fellows, a community for venture capital professionals.
RX Ventures is structured independently of its parent company. This gives it the ability to make decisions quickly and be competitive in financing deals. “The leaders here decided to create a fund that is more ‘VC’ than ‘C’ in terms of how we invest,” says Néto.
“After almost two years of the fund, we are already seeing strategic returns in terms of revenue gains and margin gains”
The team do, however, collaborate with the parent’s business units to help its portfolio companies grow. “So far this journey of balancing being independent and the dependence of generating projects together with the parent is a good part of the job,” he says.
Néto is spending time analysing how artificial intelligence will upend the retail sector. The unit invested in a generative AI company that carries out “conversational commerce” with customers. The investment quickly generated value, he says. “I see fi-rsthand the shifts in the behaviour of how people purchase things, not only on the digital side but with technology in store.”
See the full list of GCV Rising Stars for 2024 here.