AAA SoftBank appoints partners for Latin America funds

SoftBank appoints partners for Latin America funds

SBLA Advisers Corp, the unit that manages the Latin American funds of telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, has appointed Rodrigo Baer and Marco Camhaji as managing partners.

Baer and Camhaji will operate out of São Paulo, Brazil and will focus on sourcing and facilitating early-stage investments in the Latin America region.

Both men will report to SoftBank executive vice-president and chief operating officer Marcelo Claure. The appointments follow the announcement of a $3bn allocation to SoftBank’s Latin American Fund II last week.

Baer had been a partner at Redpoint eVentures, a venture capital partnership between VC firms Redpoint Ventures and E.ventures, since 2014. He co-founded Brazil-based VC fund Warehouse Investments, was an engagement manager at management consulting firm McKinsey and has worked at healthcare-focused VC vehicle Aurora Funds.

Camhaji was previously a business development principal at e-commerce group Amazon, where he worked on strategic partnerships with financial technology companies in Latin America. He was also CEO of Brazil-based invoice financing firm Adianta from 2017 to 2020, after serving as a partner at Redpoint eVentures from 2015 to 2016.

Camhaji was also a founding partner at Brazil-based VC firm Yellow Ventures but appears to have transitioned to an adviser role, according to the firm’s website.

Claure said: “With the addition of Rodrigo and Marco to our world-class investment team, as well as the launch of our second Latin America Fund, we will be better able to identify great entrepreneurs and support them at every step of their lifecycle.”