Tech Talents LatAm #26
Introducing Tech Talents Pro; ex-Head of Product at Hotmart in stealth; ex-General Manager at Rappi launches a new SaaS; the best AI notetaker; and much more...
Welcome to Tech Talents! In this newsletter, I share real-time key talent movements in the LatAm tech ecosystem, including founders entering and exiting stealth mode, executive-level movements in unicorns, and partner-level changes in local VC firms.
This edition of Tech Talents is brought to you by Carey Olsen.
Carey Olsen is a leading offshore law firm advising financial institutions, corporations and private clients on Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey law.
Cayman Islands corporate partner Trevor McCabe advises Latin American start-ups, growth companies and venture capital firms on their investment rounds, M&A and exits across all stages of company development. Trevor has an established track-record of helping entrepreneurs and management in the technology sector solve complex legal matters. For more information, please contact Trevor.
Here’s a quick look at what you’ll find in this week’s edition:
Introducing Tech Talents Pro: A premium subscription for deeper, faster insights
🤫 Talents Entering Stealth: With profiles like the ex-Head of Product at Hotmart and ex-Head at Novartis
📖 What I’ve Been Reading Recently: New VC strategy, OpenAI wants to become the new Apple, and more
🎊 Startup Launches: Including a new restaurant SaaS by the ex-GM of Rappi
👨💻 Practical AI Tips for Founders and VCs: The best AI notetaker I found
👋 Co-Founder Matching Tool: Request beta access
Let’s dive in…
Introducing Tech Talents Pro
Today, I am excited to introduce Tech Talents Pro: a premium subscription to my newsletter, designed for VCs, founders, and recruiters who need faster and more comprehensive talent intelligence.
Here’s what you get with the subscription:
Weekly Talent Movements: Timing is everything for investors, and getting to founders earlier can make all the difference in winning deals. With this subscription, you’ll receive fresh talent movements every week instead of every two weeks, giving you earlier visibility into top talent.
Talents to Watch: Access to high-potential individuals likely to make significant career moves soon. Whether they're starting something new, joining a scaleup, or exploring new opportunities, this gives you early visibility into tomorrow's key players.
Enhanced Profiles: Make faster, more informed prioritization of profiles with industry-related tags and a breakdown of time spent in past roles.
Try Tech Talents Pro for free here:
Nothing Changes for Free Subscribers
Your bi-weekly Tech Talents newsletter will continue exactly as it is today. You'll still receive the same talent movements, recommended reads, and all other sections you've come to expect completely free.
Tech Talents Pro simply offers a more intensive experience for those who need faster, more comprehensive talent intelligence to make better investment and hiring decisions.
🤫 Talents Entering Stealth
Talents with relevant experiences who have just entered stealth mode.
Leonardo Carvalho – Building something new at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Scaleup Experience, Unicorn Experience, Ex-Corporate
Previous Experience: Ex-Design at Paggo, ex-Product Designer at Itaú Unibanco, ex-Product Designer at C6 Bank, ex-Product Designer at Fiverr, ex-Product Designer at Zro Bank, ex-Product Designer at Mesa Mobile Thinking, ex-Designer at Joy Street, California Institute of the Arts, Universidade Católica de Pernambuco.
Headquarters: Recife, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 8 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Carlos Berna – Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Ex-Corporate, Unicorn Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Country Manager at Hybrid Ecosystem LatAm, ex-Country Head at Cabify, ex-Head of City Operations at Beat, ex-Pricing & Market Intelligence Supervisor at Beat, ex-Pricing Manager at Meritor, ex-Senior Pricing Latam at Belcorp, Bachelor's degree in Economics from Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon.
Headquarters: Mexico
Time in Current Position: 2 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Marcio Ramos – Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Ex-Big Tech, Ex-Corporate, Investor, Ex-Consultant
Previous Experience: Ex-Head of Commercial Excellence at Novartis, ex-International Digital & Multichannel Associate Director at Eli Lilly, ex-Digital Marketing Senior Consultant at Accenture, ex-Business Development Executive at Andrade Gutierrez, Bachelor's degree in Marketing from ESPM.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Geraldo Tomaz – Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup
Stealth Description: “Validando uma tese sobre o mercado de agentes de IA.”
Founder Highlights: Technical Founder, Unicorn Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Product Director at Hotmart, ex-Product Manager at Passei Direto, ex-Product Manager at Estácio, ex-Full Stack Web Developer at Estácio. Stanford GSB LEAD Business Program, Bachelor's in Information Systems from Universidade Estacio de Sá.
Headquarters: Brazil
Time in Current Position: 2 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Israel Saba – Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters, Top University, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Lead AI Ops Engineer & IT/Security Specialist at Enter, ex-Founder at Sababa, ex-Product Manager at Basement, ex-General Manager (Interim) at Quinosan Laboratório Químico, ex-Founder at Aparatuss, ex-Project Engineer at Atlas Copco Brasil. MBA from University of Cambridge, Bachelor's in Engineering from USP.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Cuauhtli Padilla Arias – Co-Founder & CTO at Stealth Startup
Stealth Description: Building the next-gen, AI-powered CMS, lightweight, fast, and ready for agents, to make the future of websites happen.
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Previous Exit, Ex-Big Tech, Investor, Y Combinator Alumni, Ex-Consultant, Unicorn Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Co-Founder & CTO at Sunu Inc., ex-Developer at CTS Corporation, ex-Product Designer and Developer at CINVESTAV, Guadalajara, ex-Developer at Freescale Semiconductor, Bachelor's in Engineering in Mechatronics from Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Headquarters: Jalisco, México
Time in Current Position: 4 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Vinícius Soares - Product at Stealth Startup
Stealth Description: Building a full-stack AI company that will redefine how professional services are delivered in Brazil’s most traditional industries, starting with financial operations and accounting.
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Previous Exit, Top University
Previous Experience: Ex-Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Monetus (acquired by Banco Santander), ex-Product Lead at Santander's Escrow Business Unit, ex-Partner at Toro Investimentos, Columbia University Mechanical Engineering.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 2 months
Founding Team: Mateus Ribeiro, Caio Menezes, Danilo Augusto.
Ask for an Intro: Click here
📖 What I’ve Been Reading Recently
OpenAI wants to become the new Apple. The AI giant recently acquired io, a hardware company founded by Jony Ive, who was behind the design of the original iPhone and many other iconic Apple products. This move signals OpenAI’s intent to compete directly with Apple in the hardware space, even though its first product reportedly won’t aim to replace smartphones. Rumors suggest the upcoming device will be pocket-sized, screenless, and, of course, have AI at its core to interpret and respond to the user’s surroundings.
Bay Area VCs are experimenting with a new model: acquiring traditional businesses and augmenting them with AI. Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, and Thrive Capital are among the firms adopting this strategy, which is very different from the traditional VC approach of investing early in a company’s lifecycle. Accounting firms, customer service centers, and property management companies are among the targets. Once acquired, these businesses are infused with AI tools to streamline back-office operations, administrative tasks, and other processes. While still in the experimental phase, this strategy could gain momentum as investors continue testing the boundaries of AI’s transformative potential.
VC firm NfX released a deep dive on voice AI, outlining where they see the most promising opportunities in the space today. These include AI voice not just augmenting but fully replacing human labor in certain tasks, using voice as a wedge into previously inaccessible markets, and leveraging AI voice to generate proprietary data that can further enhance general-purpose AI tools.
🎊 Startup Launches
Founders who have just publicly announced what they are working on.
Settle
Overview
Startup Description: Settle helps companies that sell to the government increase revenue and improve operational efficiency.
Industry: Govtech, AI
Team Size: 7
Time in Stealth: 9 months
Founder Profile
Alice Iglesia - CEO at Settle
Previously featured as a Stealth Founder in Tech Talents #6 over 8 months ago.
Founder Highlights: Ex-Investor, Ex-Consultant, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Venture Partner at Canary, ex-Chief Product Officer and Product & Operations Director at Pier Seguradora, ex-Director of Lending Operations and Loans Conversion, Director of Lending Operations, Head of Operations, and Head of Engagement at Guiabolso, ex-Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company, UNICAMP Electrical Engineering degree.
Headquarters: Bahia, Brazil
Founding Team: Martin Chao, Fábio Kirihata, Mateus Brum, Bruno Augusto de Araujo Ortiz
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Reorder
Overview
Startup Description: Turn diners into loyal customers, grow your margins, and own the experience, no fees, no middlemen.
Industry: SaaS
Team Size: 1
Time in Stealth: 9 months
Founder Profile
Agustín Sartorio – Founder & CEO at Reorder
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Ex-Big Tech, Ex-Corporate, Latitud Fellow, Masters, Unicorn Experience, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Growth Lead at Streamable and Superwave, ex-Growth Lead at Hopin Session, ex-General Manager - Launcher at Rappi, ex-Marketing Manager & Launching team at Uber, ex-Co-founder at UruguayPass, ex-Co-founder at Uruguay360, Master in Management of Technology Companies from Universidad ORT Uruguay, Licenciatura en Sistemas from Universidad ORT Uruguay.
Headquarters: Montevideo, Uruguay
Ask for an Intro: Click here
👨💻 Practical AI Tips for Founders and VCs
Sharing AI tips and tools to help founders and VCs be more effective in their day-to-day activities.
I have been looking for a great AI meeting notetaker for a while, and I think I’ve finally found one: Granola. It not only produces high-quality notes, but also works without requiring a bot to join your online meetings, unlike most other AI notetakers.
Here’s how to get started:
Visit Granola.ai and download the iPhone app (Windows app coming soon).
Sign in using your Google Calendar (Outlook integration coming soon).
When a meeting starts, you will receive a notification on your iPhone lock screen prompting you to start recording. You can also start the recording manually within the app.
During the meeting, you can add your own notes to enrich the transcription.
After the meeting, you will be able to access the AI-generated notes in the app, edit, ask questions, and share them with team members.
Just a heads-up: I have no incentive to promote third-party tools here. I am simply sharing what’s been useful for me in the hopes it helps make your day-to-day more efficient.
🦄 Unicorn Movements
Promotions, new hires, and other movements in local unicorns’ executive-level.
Marie-Elise Droga – Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at EBANX
Previous Role: Chief Revenue Officer at Consumer Edge
Previous Experience: Ex-SVP, Head of Fintech Partnerships - Global & North America at Visa, ex-SVP, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at Western Union MBA from Solvay Brussels School, Bachelor's in Business Administration from ESCP Business School.
Headquarters: United States
Time in Current Position: 1 month
👋 Looking for a Co-Founder?
I am testing a new curated and private tool aimed at making meaningful connections between potential co-founders in the LatAm tech community. If you are:
Looking for a Co-Founder to join you in a new project,
Looking for a “late” Co-Founder to join an existing startup or
Simply looking to network with like-minded individuals,
I would love your input. Right now, I'm starting with a small, invite-only group to ensure it truly creates value. If you're interested in being part of this initial test and helping shape this solution, click the link below:
If you have any feedback or suggestions about Tech Talents LatAm, please share them with me through my LinkedIn.