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Marco Casas Talks About Closing Gaps of Access To Capital, Opportunity & Outcomes Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

VCFamilia member Marco Casas is a Venezuelan-born professional who has been named to Business Insider's "100 rising stars who represent the future of venture capital." His career extends across early-stage ventures and global public companies. Marco is passionate about fintech and other disruptive technologies closing gaps of access to capital, opportunity, and outcomes.

Marco pursues these interests via a partnerships and business development full-time role at American Express, and via Angel investing and active participation in organizations like VCFamilia, a Latinx in tech community, Toy Ventures, an operator-led venture fund, Rally Cap Ventures, an emerging markets fintech fund, On Deck Fintech and the Council of Foreign Relations, where Marco is a Term Member.

Marco received his BA in political science from Middlebury College and MBA degrees from Columbia and London Business School. He's a proud Latinx immigrant, now settled in New York by way of Swaziland and Russia. Outside of work, Marco is active in the community, serving on the associate board of the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club. He is a happy husband and father of two girls.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcocasas/

Samantha Batista Talks About Connect Early-stage Founders to Investors Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

VCFamilia member Samantha Batista is a native New Yorker who deeply admires entrepreneurial hustle. Sam started her career on Wall Street before making her way to investing in 2015. Since then, she's worked on debt and equity transactions in both the U.S. and Latin America across several different industries. In 2017, she co-founded Who Is Raising?—a deal sourcing newsletter that aims to connect early-stage founders to investors. Today, she is an investor at a Mexico-based family office and consults and advises companies on growth strategies, fundraising strategies, and business development. She also runs syndicates on pre-seed and seed stage transactions.

https://www.whoisraising.vc/about-us

Carlos Antequera Talks About Revenue-Based Financing To Raise Growth Capital Oct 07, 2021

Show notes

A VCFamilia member, Carlos is currently the co-founder of Novel Capital a Kansas City firm that leverages Revenue-Based Financing to provide growth capital to early-stage software companies that don't fit the traditional venture or banking models. In the last two years, Novel has invested over $9M in 26 companies across the US and Canada. He is an active member of the prestigious Kauffman Fellows and Pipeline Entrepreneurial Fellowship. In addition, he serves as board member for LeanLab Education and the Enterprise Bank & Trust Advisory Board.

Prior to Novel, Carlos was the cofounder and CEO of Netchemia for 14 years. Under Carlos' leadership, Netchemia grew to provide their Talent Management platform to over 3,500 school districts across the country and was recognized as one of the leading technology companies in K-12 education. Netchemia received many accolades including being named District Administration Magazine's top products. Of all the recognition, Carlos is most proud of his company being named one of Kansas City's "Best Companies to Work For." In 2015, Carlos successfully sold Netchemia to Vista Private Equity, one of the best PE firms in the world. Carlos immigrated to the United States from the highest city in the world, La Paz, Bolivia, when he was 18 years old. He studied computer science and graduated from Washburn University with a bachelor's degree. Later, he completed his MBA at the University of Kansas. He lives in Kansas City with his wife, a children's author. In his free time, he enjoys giving back to the entrepreneurial community as a mentor and advisor, traveling, dancing salsa, and experimenting with tasty cocktail recipes that he can share with friends and family.

https://novelgp.com/

Taj Ahmad Eldridge Talks About Diverse Capital and Increasing Underrepresented Voices in Cleantech Oct 06, 2021

Show notes

Taj Ahmad Eldridge is a 25+ year investment professional whose career has included high level executive roles in banking, asset management, alternative investments, and entrepreneurship. As General Partner of Include Venture Partners and Senior Director of Investments at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), Taj has built a longstanding career with expertise in the fields of fintech, media, energy, transportation, and the circular economy. Taj is also one of the 70 Black Investors in Bevy.com - a $325 million virtual conference platform as noted in AfroTech.

At LACI, Taj established both the LACI Impact Fund I (LIF I) and the LACI Debt Fund to allow cleantech companies to grow with diverse capital. These funds utilize an equity impact lens to encourage invested companies to have environmental, economic, and social impact - particularly on increasing the number of underrepresented voices in the cleantech industry. In addition, Taj created programs such as LACI Investor Talks (LIT), the LACI Investor in Residence program, and the Player to CEO Athlete-Investor Impact Summit Series with JP Morgan Chase. Taj has been named one of the 53 Investors to Watch in 2021 by Pitchbook & 101 Black Titans in Tech while nurturing and building a team of investment activists.

Prior to LACI, Taj was the Director for the Incubator at the University of California in Riverside, California. During his tenure as Director, Taj's team brought a $10M venture fund (Highlander Fund) to the Inland Empire - the first for the region. Because of Taj's focus on blending entertainment, policy, and entrepreneurship, the region was named the #4 city in the United States for Diverse Entrepreneurs via Entrepreneur Magazine.

Taj began his career as a banker and economist with Wells Fargo Bank, UBS Investment Bank, and TRW Investments. Taj has also been a Founder, Board Member, and Investor in companies such as ILTG Media, Boswell Official Apparel, Voter, Xtopoly, Rookielook, iListen, KYC Hospitality, KIGT, Majira Project, CleanTek Capital and ConCreates. Taj also serves on the Climate Finance Advisory Team of the Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP), the Executive Board of the Homeboy Industries Ventures Fund, and The Majira Project - a Boston Consulting Group Venture Studio.

Taj has been profiled in publications such as Impact Alpha, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pitchbook, Forbes, GreenBiz, Entrepreneur Magazine, and more regarding his tireless efforts on achieving alpha while also advancing equity.

Taj has a BA degree in poetry & literature from Texas A&M University-Commerce, an MBA degree in International Business from Pepperdine University, and studied geopolitical economics at Claremont Graduate University as a PhD. Taj also studied abroad at The Universidad Adolfo Ibanez in Santiago, Chile, The Universidad Do Porto in Porto, Portugal, and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in Hong Kong, China.

Taj is an avid audiobook bibliophile and a lover of music of all genres.

Jesús Salas Talks About Investing to Drive Economic Inclusion Oct 05, 2021

Show notes

A VCFamilia member, Jesús Salas is rooted in the belief that making culturally conscious investments is a path to increasing opportunity and positive economic outcomes for otherwise overlooked communities and founders. Jesús is a former Associate with Omidyar Network where he supported the sourcing and evaluation of venture investments and tools that catalyzed the supply of purpose-driven technology. Jesús has worked domestically and abroad in a variety of capacities such as a management consultant, impact investor and investment banker with global organizations working across industries ranging from agriculture, education, and financial technology.

Outside of Slauson & Co., Jesús is involved in a range of organizations committed to increasing diversity at all professional levels. These efforts include the Toigo Foundation, the Access Project, and VCFamilia. Jesús is a 2021 HBCUvc Emerging Venture Leaders Award recipient and a Board Member of Microlumbia- Columbia Business School's student-run impact investing fund.

Jesús is from the northside of Fort Worth, Texas and is the son of Mexican immigrants. Jesús is a proud first-generation graduate of Stanford University, holds an MBA from Columbia University and recently completed a fellowship with the Just Economy Institute.

Adriana Embus-Figueroa Talks About Incubators and Resources for Startups Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

A VCFamilia Member, Adriana C. Embus Figueroa is a first-generation Afro-Latina working at the intersection of business, policy, and technology. Currently, Adriana serves on the Investments Team at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI). In this role, she manages the LACI Impact and Debt Funds and supports entrepreneurs in accessing and securing capital from investors across the world.

Prior to LACI, Adriana served as a Financial Analyst at Samuel A. Ramirez & Co., Inc., the largest Latino investment banking firm in the country. There, she focused on providing quantitative banking analysis and support for the procurement of funds for local, regional and national capital improvement projects. Prior to Ramirez, Adriana worked as a Development Analyst for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, helping daily to secure funding for the more than 10,000 scholarships HSF distributes to Latino students nationwide.

Outside of work, Adriana is a member of the member of the Young Alumni Board for 21st Century Leaders; a delegate for the National Alumnae Strategy Task Force for Girls Incorporated; and an active young alumna of the Yale Latino Alumni Association.

Ms. Embus Figueroa graduated with honors from Yale with a B.A. in Ethnicity, Race & Migration and Political Science, and was a QuestBridge Scholar. She is of Colombian & Puerto-Rican descent, and was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia.

Mars Garza Talks About Her Passion for Entrepreneurship, Investment , Tech and Cultura Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

Mariana Garza is an associate at XYZ Venture Capital. While at school she researched venture capital, innovation, and intellectual property and interned at Bessemer Venture Partners on the investment team and on the entrepreneur selection and growth team at Endeavor Global. Outside of her interests in entrepreneurship and tech, Mariana loves todo stand-up comedy and boxing and talk about Mexican art and culture. Mariana goes by Mars (like the planet) and is based on the East Coast. She graduated from Harvard College in May of 2020 with an Honors concentration in Economics and a secondary in the History of Art and Architecture.

Leandro Bedolla Talks About Accelerators, Midwest Startups, and Breaking into VC Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

A VCFamilia member, Leandro Bedolla is a VC at M25 in Chicago, the most active Pre-Seed and Seed stage firm investing in Midwest-based startups across most industries (14 states, 117 companies). He sources and meets with founders, conducts analysis and due diligence, supports portfolio companies and firm operations, and initiatives including MidwestStartups.com and the Midwest Startup City Rankings. Additionally, Leandro volunteers with LatinxVC co-leading the Breaking into VC Fellowship, VCFamilia, mentors for Techstars and NVCA/Venture Forward's VC University, and was recognized by HBCUvc as a 2021 Emerging Venture Leader. Previously, Leandro was an associate for the Techstars Anywhere accelerator, Tech Coast Angels' volunteer analyst program, and built up Startup San Diego's ecosystem as MD of sponsorships and a lead organizer for San Diego Startup Week. He graduated from Valparaiso University, grew up in Illinois, and is originally from Central Mexico.

Daisy Garcia Talks About Her Journey into Investing in Travel and Hospitality Startups Sep 29, 2021

Show notes

A VCFamilia member, Daisy Garcia is a passionate Sr. Investment Analyst at JetBlue Technology Ventures, where she optimizes investments by conducting in-depth analyses and due diligence of early stage startups. Her analytical focus is on startups that operate at the intersection of travel, hospitality, and technology. Some of her areas of interest include artificial intelligence, sustainability, and cybersecurity.

She previously lived in Sweden for over two years, where she worked with an early stage VC and angel syndicate, while acquiring an international education. Her career has also taken her abroad to Israel, Uganda, India, and Latvia. She holds dual MSCs in International Business from the Stockholm School of Economics, and double BAs in Mathematics and Environmental Economics from UC Berkeley.

https://www.jetblueventures.com/

Ashley Aydin Talks About Investing in Health & Wellness, Fintech, and the Future of Work Sep 28, 2021

Show notes

VCFamilia member Ashley Aydin, a Principal at Vamos Ventures talks about early stage investing in critical areas. She started her career in Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley and moved into strategic roles at Y-Combinator Shoptiques.com, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Estee Lauder. She has been an investor at Brand Foundry Ventures, Founders Factory and Dorm Room Ventures.

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