Ualá Founder Raises US $30 Million for Latin American Venture Capital Fund
The founder of Argentine fintech Ualá, Pierpaolo Barbieri, is launching a venture capital firm that has raised US$30 million from a roster of investors, including General Catalyst, Brevan Howard founder Alan Howard and others.
Through his new firm 17Sigma, Barbieri will focus on betting on early-stage startups in Latin America. Backers also include former SoftBank executives Marcelo Claure and Paulo Passoni, Adam Neumann’s 166 2nd, MongoDB founder Kevin Ryan, Rappi co-founder Sebastián Mejia, Greenmantle LLC’s managing director Niall Ferguson and former Key Square senior managing director Diego Dayenoff.
The launch comes after a record year for startup funding in Latin America in 2021, with about US$15 billion raised, helping to mint 17 new companies worth US$1 billion or more, according to data from the Association for Private Capital Investments in Latin America.
Barbieri, 34, is the founder of one of those new unicorns, Buenos Aires-based financial services startup Ualá, which operates in Mexico and Colombia in addition to its home country. The company was valued at US$2.5 billion in its latest funding round.
Photo courtesy of Danial Igdery.
Source: Buenos Aires Times (link opens in a new window)
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- fintech, startups, venture capital
