Four years ago, an idea came to me while exercising on the roof of my apartment in Mexico City. It was the dark force calling me: most investors in Latin America had never operated a company, let alone created a startup in the region. Yet, they were the ones deciding where to invest across the region. Why not join forces with other founders and start investing together? Maybe, just maybe, we could do things differently.
Then, in 2020, Allison Campbell, Daniel Vogel, Federico Ranero, Liza Shvartzman, Javier Mata, Miguel Garcia, Alejandro Maza, Arturo Correa, Eduardo Paulsen, and I joined forces to start investing as a syndicate. After two years of investing our own money, we confirmed our hypothesis: we were receiving more than 95% of the deal flow in Spanish-speaking LATAM. Even the most important funds in the region wanted to co-invest with us. The dark force was growing stronger.
The first strike came when we decided it was time to raise our first institutional fund, but one piece was missing. While we had an edge as entrepreneurs, we also faced biases—whether from being overly optimistic or having insider perspectives. That’s when Patricio Aznar, with over a decade of experience in Latin American venture capital, joined the team. The empire had found its leader.
That brings us to today. We’ve made 35 investments, with more than $18M USD in AUM. Our LPs include Tiger Global, Femsa Ventures, Glisco Partners, Angel Ventures, Nazca, and numerous founders from regional startups. Last Monday, we celebrated our first Bridge Day, marking the culmination of our initial chapter in the industry.
Here are our four key messages:
First, there’s no better time to invest in Latin America: The technological transformation of the region represents a one-trillion-dollar opportunity. Valuations are more favorable for investors than in the past five years. We are in the least competitive VC market worldwide, with Latam delivering more exits than India or Southeast Asia. International investors have maintained their presence in the region, and Latam VC funds outperform all other regions globally. We now see more examples of region-born companies going global. Investing in a Latam VC fund, on average, yields a 1.6x better return than the S&P 500. Finally, the raw material is here: half of the university students in the region aspire to entrepreneurship—not to be the next Carlos Slim, but to follow in the footsteps of David Vélez.
At the GP Roundtable at Bridge Latam Day, Daniel Vogel (CEO at Bitso and GP at Bridge), Federico Ranero (CEO at Draiver and GP at Bridge), Javier Mata (CEO at Yalo and GP at Bridge), and Mariana Castillo (Co-CEO at Ben & Frank) spoke about the opportunities and challenges for their companies, moderated by René Lankenau (CEO at Whitepaper MX).
Second, funds led by founders generate 30% better returns. At Bridge, our partners have contributed over 1,596 hours to the firm, from generating deal flow to supporting our portfolio companies. One standout example is Koywe. Miguel Garcia, CEO of Infosel and Partner at Bridge, introduced us to Ignacio Detmer, an enthusiastic founder from OLX. Ignacio shared his vision of establishing on- and off-ramp rails for crypto in Latin America, and we invested in their first round. During this week’s Partners’ Roundtable at Bridge Day, Daniel Vogel explained to Rene Lankenau from Whitepaper how he navigates banking roadblocks for the crypto industry at Bitso. His insights directly helped Koywe overcome similar obstacles. Today, Koywe provides on- and off-ramps for nearly all crypto companies in Latam. We’ve achieved more than 4x our investment, and Daniel Vogel now serves on Koywe’s board.
“The difference between Bridge and other funds is that we’re still operating and solving day-to-day problems, enabling us to help entrepreneurs more practically, rather than just sharing experience or abstract advice,” said Daniel Vogel.
In the coming months, we’ll announce two more unicorn founders joining Bridge. We are building the Founders Fund of the region, aiming to persuade Latin America’s top entrepreneurs to join the dark side of the force and together reign over the Latin American galaxy.
Third, we believe that to achieve good returns in Latam, you must invest early and have the option to exit early. The best funds in the region—Kaszek in Nubank, Hi Ventures in Cornershop, and Nazca in Kavak—were all small funds (under $50M). Since then, funds in the region have expanded, leaving a whitespace for us in the pre-seed stage. The last panel at Bridge Day featured conversations with four portfolio companies, including Auba and Abaco, ideal examples of companies we backed at the pre-seed stage, later followed by larger funds. Now, the risk is similar for all, but we retain more optionality and potential for higher returns.
Founders Roundtable at Bridge Latam Day. Speakers were Edoardo Dellepiane (Co-founder at Niko Energy), Alejandro McCormack (Co-founder at Ábaco), Francoise Lavertu (Co-founder at Ábaco), and Lorena Ostos (Co-founder at Plenna), moderated by Javier Morodo (General Partner at Revolution Capital).
“Bridge invested in us even before I joined the company,” said Francois Lavertu, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Auba and former Head of Tesla in Latin America.
ourth and final, it’s time for our second act. We’re raising our second fund, a $30-40M USD fund with the same strategy but greater ownership from day one. If you feel the dark force calling, let us know—the feeling has never been stronger. The empire has struck back.
