Tech Talents LatAm #25
AI tips for founders and VCs, ex-Leaders at Alice start something new in health, ex-Partner at Celcoin building, ex-Head of New Products at Stori in stealth, 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.
We have a packed edition this week, so here’s a quick look at what you’ll find:
📖 What I’ve Been Reading Recently
👋 New Co-Founder Matching Tool (Beta)
👨💻 Practical AI Tips for Founders and VCs
🤫 Talent Movements — Stealth, Announced Startups, and unicorn movements.
As always, feel free to skip directly to this week’s talent movements by clicking here. Let’s dive in…
📖 What I’ve Been Reading Recently
Almost half of all US-based unicorn founders are immigrants. This data comes from Stanford professor Ilya Strebulaev, who recently conducted an in-depth study on global unicorns and shared his main findings on his LinkedIn page. It’s a strong testament to how much US innovation relies on global talent. In case you’re wondering, LatAm is home to 15 of these unicorn founders — 9 from Brazil, 4 from Argentina, and 2 from Guatemala.
Meta is the latest big tech company reportedly working on stablecoin support across its platforms as a form of payout to creators. In simple terms, stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged to a fiat currency like the US dollar. This technology enables more efficient payments, which, if implemented by Meta, could mean more money in the hands of creators. The social media giant joins Stripe, Coinbase, and Visa among the companies that have recently made significant moves into the space.
Clay and Rippling both announced tender offers to their employees last week. This means employees at these companies will have the opportunity to sell at least a portion of their vested equity to investors. Tender offers are seen as a great way to share a startup’s success with employees by providing a liquidity event ahead of traditional exits like an IPO or acquisition. With ongoing macro uncertainty and companies taking longer to go public, we can expect to see more of these transactions from high-profile tech startups — hopefully including some in Latin America as well.
Apple is exploring the possibility of replacing Google with AI alternatives in its web browser’s search bar. For context, Apple has used Google as the default search engine in Safari since the iPhone's launch in 2007 — a deal that reportedly earns Apple around $20 billion per year. Among the alternatives being considered are Perplexity and DeepSeek.
👋 [NEW] 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:
👨💻 [NEW] 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.
As many of you know, I am a heavy user of AI tools — whether in my VC job, as a builder, or simply to boost my personal productivity. I imagine many of you could benefit from some of the strategies and tools I use, so I’m testing out this new section in the newsletter to share them.
If you'd like to see more tips like this, feel free to click the links below, share with others, or reply to this email — I’d love your feedback!
Test your Startup Thesis with this Custom GPT
Are you a founder or have a startup idea, and want to improve your pitch? A good way to do so is by using “Mean VC” — an AI that simulates a venture capital meeting, complete with thought-provoking questions, hard criticism, and even sarcasm.
It is very easy to try it:
Click here to access the Custom GPT. These are versions of ChatGPT customized and fine-tuned for specific use cases.
Send a simple message such as “Hey, I'd love to pitch you my startup idea” or “Can you help identify key competitors for [your quick pitch here] and how we can outperform them?”
Then follow the AI’s prompts and see where the conversation goes…
🤫 Talents Entering Stealth
Talents with relevant experiences who have just entered stealth mode.
André Leite & Felipe Cabral – Founders designing a new way to care for your health
Founder Highlights: Ex-Consultant, Ex-Corporate, Top University, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Sales Director | Brokers at Alice, ex-Grow Mobility Operations, ex-Planning and Process Analyst at Yellow, ex-Associate Consultant at Bain & Company. Graduation in Business Administration from FGV.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Potential Co-Founder: Felipe Cabral
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Andre Fellin – Building Something New at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Previous Exit, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-CPO at LUZ, ex-Partner | Credit Infra at Celcoin, ex-Co-Founder & CEO at Flow Finance, ex-Associate at SYM Investments, Bachelor's in Business Administration from Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Ask for an Intro: Click here
José Antonio Tena Sendra – Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Unicorn Experience, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Co-Director at Founder Institute, ex-Head of New Products & Expansion at Stori, ex-Head of Product - Paga con Rappi at Rappi, ex-Co-Founder & CEO at Piktia, ex-Head of Design at Suggestic, ex-Partner - Products & Digital Media at EnElAire. Bachelor's in Interactive Design from Universidad Iberoamericana.
Headquarters: Mexico City, Mexico
Time in Current Position: 4 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Rafael Leonardo de Almeida – CTO at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Technical Founder, Ex-Corporate, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Head of Technology & Security at idwall, ex-Head of Information & Cyber Security at Zup Innovation, ex-IT Manager at Serasa.
Headquarters: Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Renato Cavalheiro – Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Masters, Top University, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Vice President of Operations at Geopagos, ex-Head Of Operations at Hash, ex-Technical Sales Engineer at Pagar.me, Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, Bachelor's in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from UNICAMP.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 2 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Douglas Sanches – Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Ex-Big Tech, Top University, Unicorn Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Business Architect | Product Operations at Nubank, ex-Operations Analyst at 99Food | DiDi, ex-Strategy & Operations Coordinator at Uber. Industrial Engineering from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.
Headquarters: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 year, 10 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Mateus Parra Sgarbosa – Founder at Stealth Startup
Stealth Description: Currently in the ideation phase of an AI startup focused on reinventing accounting in Brazil.
Founder Highlights: Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: Ex-Head of Finance at Azos, ex-Investment Banking at Unio Partners, ex-Investment Banking at Condere, Bachelor of Business Administration from ICN Business School, Bachelor of Arts in Economics from FACAMP.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Ask for an Intro: Click here
🎊 Startup Launches
Founders who have just publicly announced what they are working on.
workmatte.ai
Overview
Startup Description: workmatte.ai is a platform that allows you to create, train and operate conversational artificial intelligence agents, integrated with your systems, documents and communication channels such as WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft Teams and website.
Industry: AI
Team Size: 2
Time in Stealth: 9 months
Founder Profile
Rafael Viana - Founder at workmatte.ai
Previously featured as a Stealth Founder in Tech Talents #11 over 6 months ago.
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Investor, Ex-Consultant
Previous Experience: Ex-CTO & Co-Founder at Caf, ex-Co-founder & CTO at Whatsgon Inc., ex-Full Stack Developer at Zap Saúde, ex-Technology Project Manager at BPS Tecnologia da Informação, degree in Computer Science from Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul.
Headquarters: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Loto
Overview
Startup Description: Our comprehensive business platform provides credit and debit cards and software that offers real-time visibility, transparency and efficiency in expense management.
Industry: Fintech
Team Size: 2
Time in Stealth: 6 months
Founders Profiles
Daniel Camacho – Co-Founder & CEO at Loto LatAm
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Ex-Corporate, Ex-Investor
Previous Experience: Ex-CFO and Strategy Lead at Alfred, ex-Investment Banking Associate at JPMorgan Chase & Co., ex-Private Equity Analyst at Teka Capital, ex-Co-Owner and Co-Founder at Solanca. Bachelor's degree in Finance from Bentley University.
Headquarters: Bogotá, Colombia
Co-Founder: Pedro Ignacio Morales Hernandez (COO)
Ask for an Intro: Click here
🦄 Unicorn Movements
Promotions, new hires, and other movements in local unicorns’ executive-level.
Carlos Cima – Head of Engineering at LATAM Airlines
Previous Role: CTO at Loggi
Previous Experience: Ex-Vice President, Technology at SoftBank Group International, ex-CTO at Linio, ex-CTO at Rocket Internet AG, ex-Technology Director at Grupo TV1, MBA in Business Administration from FGV EAESP, BSc in Computer Engineering from Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Headquarters: United States
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Rodrigo Shimizu – Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Claro Brasil
Previous Role: Chief Revenue Officer at Dock
Previous Experience: Ex-B2B Marketing Director at Oi, ex-Strategy and Marketing Director at Ticket, ex-Managing Principal at Indra, ex-Marketing Director at Telefônica Brasil. Bachelor's in Telecommunications Engineering from Universidade de São Paulo, MBA in General Management from FGV.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Reminder: I’m giving away access to a structured database of key executives in LatAm unicorns. This database currently features over 120 profiles from 20 organizations, including all the usual Tech Talents information — tags, previous experience, LinkedIn links, time in current position, and more.
To gain access, simply share this newsletter with two friends using your personal link below, and the database will be delivered straight to your email inbox.
If you have any feedback or suggestions about Tech Talents LatAm, please share them with me through my LinkedIn.