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. Even so, they were warned by other venture capitalists not to get too involved in their portfolio, as it would be a waste of time and companies should be left to do their own thing. But this was a maturing VC ecosystem in Latin America, says Saggioro Leal. "We started to realize that Latin America was going through a very special moment, because we were seeing the elements of a thriving venture capital system," she says. "A lot of the best talent was flowing to tech, and companies needed funding to support founders in different cycles." She and Lemann believed their hands-on approach in that first round, going from zero to one, would be beneficial. "It really helps companies gain more traction quickly."

For Saggioro Leal and Lemann, success for these startups means more than just a return on investment. They want to build a movement. The deeper mission of MAYA is to catalyze, transform, and empower entrepreneurs in Latin America.

When MAYA invests in a startup, the goal is to support the first round of funding—launching the team and putting it in a position to successfully raise a second round. "Most of the funds in this region invest, and that's it," explains Saggioro Leal. "If the company is struggling, those funders are 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. We hold monthly calls with clients to proactively understand what companies need to achieve in order to raise a subsequent round."

Part of that hands-on guidance comes in the form of market strategy, fundraising, and talent and customer acquisition. It helps that Saggioro Leal and Lemann have an extensive network in Brazil that can benefit their investments through client and partnership introductions. One example: Saggioro Leal introduced NotCo, a food-tech company that uses artificial intelligence to create sustainable and accessible plant-based foods, to executives at Starbucks and Burger King Latin America (where Saggioro Leal was formerly a regional director and then head of operations). "NotCo is now selling in Burger King in several countries because of this intro. And they're starting to test in Starbucks," she says. "So there are a lot of things that we can do to help founders get started. We bring to the table very strategic investors who can also help unlock partnerships or who can help founders think through problems."

The tech MAYA is funding is also fulfilling its transformative mission. Alice, for example, is a Brazilian startup that is 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 digital options already available in more mature markets. Another firm, 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.

As the first female-funded VC firm in the region, MAYA Capital also is creating cultural change as an organization. "We want to bring diversity to the VC field in Latin America," says Saggioro Leal—and that extends beyond gender. "In Brazil, more than 50 percent of the population is Black, yet you don't see any investors who are Black, and you rarely find Black founders. We have connected to entrepreneurial hubs outside of São Paulo, and also with institutions like the Black Founders Fund from Google and the Instituto Brasileiro de Diversidade e Inclusao, to touch on other founder profiles."

Transformation starts with new ideas, and Saggioro Leal and Lemann want to bring those new ideas to life. "We really see the tech startups as more prepared to take care of the world's and Latin America's main problems," says Saggioro Leal. "It's a privilege to invest in amazing talent."

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