Photo by Luisa Dorr

When Monica Saggioro Leal (MBA 2018) and her business partner, Lara Lemann, started MAYA Capital, a tech-focused, Brazilian VC firm launched in 2018, they wanted to take a hands-on approach with their startup investments in their first 12 months. They wanted to support successful launches because they believe tech entrepreneurs have the power to catalyze transformation in Latin America.

MAYA Capital starts by supporting the first round of funding—getting the team off and running, in order to raise the second round. “Most of the funds in this region invest, and that’s it,” notes Saggioro Leal. “If the company is struggling, they’re not going to try to help much. At MAYA, this is completely different. Our investing team is responsible not only for finding new, great opportunities for investment but also for following these companies after that investment.”

Part of that hands-on guidance comes in talent acquisition, go-to-market strategy, fundraising, and customer acquisition. It helps that Saggioro Leal and Lemann have an extensive network in Brazil that benefits their investments through client and partnership introductions.

The tech MAYA is funding also is fulfilling its transformative mission. Alice, for example, is a Brazilian startup upending the health care industry, offering insurance coverage combined with proprietary primary care, delivered digitally and in person, as Latin America works to catch up to the digital options available in more mature markets. Alude supports the real estate industry through a platform that allows brokers to digitize their operations, enabling access to a larger client base and performance data, options that so far have not reached their full potential in Latin American countries. Another startup, Diferente, tackles food waste. According to Forbes, the region’s annual loss in food supplies represents 6 percent of the global total. Diferente rescues organic food seen as "imperfect" by the traditional market and sells food baskets at a fraction of the cost of “perfect” produce.

MAYA Capital itself is creating change as an organization, in part by being the only female-funded VC firm in the region. “We want to bring diversity to the VC field in Latin America. Gender diversity is a great start but we don’t have many investors talking about other types of minorities,” says Saggioro Leal.

Transformation starts with new ideas, and Saggioro Leal and Lemann want to bring those new ideas to life. “We really see the tech startups more prepared to take care of the world’s and Latin America’s main problems,” says Saggioro Leal.

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