FinTech: Mexico 2015

• Aspiria bridges the gap between bank loans and typical consumer credit for small businesses.

• Banlinea sells software to financial institutions that allows them to offer online credit applications and integrated credit applications on e-commerce sites.

• *BillPocket facilitates payments for more than 5,500 Mexican merchants using their mobile points of sale.

• Chapulin is a technology provider, offering mobile remittances to underbanked U.S. Hispanics and the businesses that serve them.

• ComproPago enables e-commerce platforms to accept cash payments.

• *Credilikeme is an online lending platform that uses Facebook to reach, analyze, and engage borrowers.

• El Buen Socio provides affordable loans with flexible payment plans to socially and environmentally impactful entrepreneurs.

• Kiwi is a financial platform that allows low-income families to plan and pay for products and services without taking on debt, while allowing merchants to widen their customer base and increase sales.

• Netero partners with local retailers and service providers to offer immigrants in the US a way to send prepaid store credit to their relatives in their country of origin.

• Volabit is an mobile wallet for Bitcoin and pesos that users can deposit into with cash at corner stores.

• yotepresto.com is a peer to peer lending platform that brings both lenders and borrowers online to facilitate lower interest rates.

• Zave App helps people build savings and avoid interest payments by making saving easy.

*Peer-selected for investment

Our mentors bring years of experience as investors, entrepreneurs, and experts. Mentors for this program included:

César Salazar
César Salazar is a Partner at 500 Startups. Since 2011, he has invested in over 70 early-stage companies in Latin America, Europe and the United States. In 2014, Revista Expansión –the major business outlet in the country– recognised his contributions and potential, featuring him on the cover of its “30 Promesas en los 30” issue. César is a founding partner of Mexican.VC, the first Silicon Valley seed fund dedicated to Mexican startups. In 2012, 500 Startups acquired Mexican.VC and brought César in as the 6th member of its investment team. As a speaker, he has been invited to present in forums such as EmTech by MIT Technology Review, Google, Stanford, Kellogg, Wharton, Harvard, and Spain Startup and Investor Summit. Additionally, César is an Endeavor Mentor and a Regional Advisor to UP Global, the largest entrepreneurship education initiative in the world.

Gustavo Alvarez
Gustavo is the Regional Director for Latin America of UP Global, the power behind Startup Weekend. He is also the co-founder of Fondeadora, Mexico’s first crowdfunding platform. He is very interested in entrepreneurship and human behavior. He worked for a few years at an alcoholic beverage company but realized that he didn’t find working for a large corporation fulfilling. For that reason he founded his first venture when he was 26, and two years later launched Fondeadora. In his capacity as Regional Director at UP Global he also works as a Global Facilitator and Organizer for Startup Weekend keeping him involved with aspiring entrepreneurs. He simply enjoys helping entrepreneurs become better entrepreneurs.

Andres Fontao
Andres Fontao is co-founder and partner of finnovista a tribe of financial services professionals, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists that believe in the power of smart collaborative networks to transform the financial services industry. At finnovista, Andres has pioneered fintech events, startup competitions and bank-sponsored open innovation programs throughout Europe and Latin America under different brands, including Next Bank, Innotribe and BBVA Open Talent brands. Prior to starting finnovista, Andres spent time with a Silicon Valley-based fintech start-up leading expansion into Europe and LATAM. Before that, he was head of mobile banking at Bankinter. Andres has also worked as a consultant to mobile operators in Europe and Mexico. Andres holds a BA from Middlebury College in Vermont (USA) and MBA from IE Business School in Madrid.

Daphne S. Leger
Daphne S. Leger is COO of Frogtek, a social enterprise startup that works to empower microentreneurs in emerging markets through the power of technology. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in International Relations from The American University. Daphne is originally from France and is an avid global nomad. She started her academic and professional career in international development and worked in the World Bank’s Results Unit prior to business school. Daphne is incredibly passionate about business at the Base of the Pyramid as well as marketing, innovation and social impact at the BOP. Daphne moved to Mexico City in July 2012 to lead Frogtek’s marketing efforts and became COO at Frogtek in January 2014.
@daphneleger

Gabriela Zapata Alvarez
Gabriela is a consultant on financial inclusion with 20 years of experience in the design, execution, and analysis of programs, as well as public policy and strategy in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Gabriela was a Senior Program Officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation concerning financial services for the poor, as well as director of the Project for Technical Assistance to Rural Microfinance (PATMIR) at the Department of Agriculture in Mexico. Currently she is collaborating with MetLife Foundation, CGAP, Bankable Frontier Associates, and others on a variety of projects including applied product innovation, correspondent banking and related technologies, behavioral economics and gender. She holds a Master in Rural Development from Cornell University.

Laura Ortiz Montemayor
Laura is the founder of SVX.MX where she is bringing the model of SVX.CA (formerly the Social Venture Exchange) to Mexico. SVX.MX connects social entrepreneurs with impact investing funds and private equity funds both in Mexico and abroad. Laura’s mission is to make impact investments turn mainstream in Mexico, and to use private capital as a tool for reducing inequality and addressing social challenges in Mexico. Prior to founding SVX.MX Laura worked for some of Mexico’s top banks including BBVA Bancomer and Citigroup.

Vincent Turner
Vincent started his first tech company in Australia at age 17, the country’s first map based real estate listing site. Moved on to financial software at 22, raising venture capital and developing software that was used by 90% of Australian banks. Moved to San Francisco 3 years ago to start Planwise, which is now a venture funded (NAR invested) startup with 6 employees. We are focused on helping people make better financial decisions. Also investor & adviser to a handful of other startups, run the SF fintech meetup and founded fin-tech.org

Eduardo Mapes
Eduardo has more than 25 years of experience as an institutional investor in private equity and venture capital in Mexico. Currently he is the principal at the Northgate Mexico Fund (CKD), managing $250 million to invest in mid-size enterprises as well as in private equity and venture capital funds. In 2006 he founded Fondo de Fondos (Fund of Funds), under his tutelage Fondo de Fondos has invested $300 million across 38 PE and VC funds covering a portfolio of over 140 companies. Previously Eduardo worked at Nacional Financiera in private equity for over 17 years. During that time he designed Mexico’s first technology focused seed capital fund through a partnership between Nacional Financiera and CONACYT, Mexico’s national council for science and technology. Currently Eduardo is also a mentor for the highly respected New Ventures Mexico accelerator.

Joana Videgain
Joana became convinced of the power of SGB and Social entrepreneurship in Mexico where she participated at the launching of the first mapping of Impact Investor Sector (GIIMAP) project. Joana is determined to bring the finance skills she developed as a financial controller at various European industrial companies in France, Hungary, and Spain to the emerging social entrepreneurship space. Joana holds a BA in finance from Rouen Business School, an MBA from EGADE Business School, and is currently studying at Upeace, the UN University, to earn a MA in sustainable peace in contemporary world. When she is not working or studying, Joana enjoys travelling, climbing, and team sports.

Rafael de Haro
Rafael is a partner at Variv Capital, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage technology opportunities. He is also a co-founder of Lifedots, a New York based mobile software company. Before Variv and Lifedots, Rafael was an associate attorney at the New York law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle and an investment-banking associate in the M&A Group at JPMorgan in their London office. Rafael studied law at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, specialized in international law at the Universite Pantheon-Assas in Paris and has an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business in New York.

Catriona Forrester
Catriona’s international equities experience of over seven years as both an analyst and portfolio manager has provided her with expertise in financial modelling and analysis, portfolio management, building relationships with investors, and contributing to capital raising efforts. She has a BA from University of New South Wales and postgraduate degrees in finance, accounting, and commercial law from Macquarie University, DeakinUniversity and University of Technology, Sydney.

Adolfo Babatz
Adolfo is the co-founder & CEO of Clip. The company is based in Redwood City, California and Mexico City. Before Clip, Adolfo was responsible for Customer Engagement for PayPal LatinAmerica. Before moving into the product team Adolfo led the team that opened PayPal in Mexico.
Right before PayPal, Adolfo studied his MBA at MIT where he specialized in Entrepreneurship & Economics of Information. Prior to MIT, Adolfo was part of the founding team at The Carlyle Group Mexico where he worked as an analyst. Before joining Carlyle, Adolfo worked as an advisor for the Executive VicePresident of GrupoDesc, one of Mexico’s largest industrial conglomerates.

Samara Salas
Samara is obsessed with customer service through the user experience, Samara has dedicated her career to the area of services for companies such as Nokia Networks Solution as e-Service Manager for Latam and PayPal as Account Manager for Mexico. Currently at Clip she is Head of Customer Happiness, where she carries the philosophy of a company totally focused on the customer to provide a service excellence across all members of Clip.

Montse Mora
Montse is a partner at Spectron Desarollo where she directs impact investments. Spectron invests in early and seed stage enterprises with social impact in the sectors of education, health, technology and development of micro-businesses. Montse is passionate about entrepreneurs with social missions and she dedicates much of her time to leading actions that strengthen the ecosystem of support for social entrepreneurs. Previously she worked 8 years at McKinsey & Company consulting on strategy and operations in Latin America, Europe and Africa. She is an engineer and possesses an MBA from ESADE Business School in Barcelona.

Claudia Ludlow
Claudia is currently Finance Manager at Clickonero, an e-commerce startup that just closed its round B of fundraising. Previously to Clickonero, Claudia was Project Manager at Angel Ventures México. She started her professional career as a Transfer Pricing Consultant for Deloitte. She then joined Angel Ventures México team as a Financial Analyst before assuming the role of Project Manager. She has worked with startups seeking to raise seed capital through Angel Ventures México’s angel investor network, and she has represented the company in forums in Latin America and Europe. Claudia is also a member of the leadership team of Allium – Mexico City, a non-profit focused on generating economic empowerment for women all over the world. Claudia earned a degree in Business with a Minor in Finance from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), graduating in 2008.

Antoine Cocle
Antoine is the former Director of Entrepreneur Services at Agora Partnerships, where he managed the accelerator and the Capital Advisory Services area, providing Latin American entrepreneurs with human and social capital as well as access to financial capital. Antoine is currently working with a Mexican family office, helping them to develop an impact investment strategy.
Previously, he has held several positions in the financial industry, first at AXA and then at J.P. Morgan where he worked on project finance and as an investor specialist within the Private Bank.
Antoine has a Master in Public Administration from Columbia University (USA) and a Master in Business Engineering from the Solvay Business School (Belgium).

Ana Martínez
Ana Martínez is a business journalists who specializes in technology and telecommunications. She is currently a reporter at El Financiero-Bloomberg, where she’s covered Facebook, América Móvil and the main telcos and tech companies around the world; previously she was a writer for Foreign Affairs Latin America. She is a tech enthusiast with a special interest in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Martínez attended Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and is currently pursuing a degree international studies, to that end she is working on her thesis project about internet frontiers and the new battles around the concept of sovereignty.

Pablo Coballasi
Pablo is as co-founder and Managing Director of PC Capital Partners. Before PC Capital, Pablo worked as a Vice President for FondElec Group, one of the first private equity firms to invest in Latin America, where he helped managed a Private Equity portfolio of over US $600 MM of mainly energy and telecom investments in Brazil, Mexico and the United States. Before FondElec, Mr. Coballasi worked as a consultant for Deloitte Consulting/Braxton Associates and served clients in Mexico, Argentina, Central America and the United States. Mr. Coballasi holds a BE in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Adriana Peon
Adriana is Head of SMBs for PayPal Mexico, leading all merchant acquisition and growth efforts. Most recently, Adriana worked at McKinsey & Co as an associate in San Francisco for the Marketing and Sales practice. Prior to that, Adriana worked at PepsiCo Foods Mexico leading business process reengineering to transform the company into an agile and flexible FMCG company. Adriana has had internship experiences that include working at an early stage startup in San Francisco, at a startup accelerator in Mexico and doing new business development at DuPont Brazil. Adriana holds a BA and MA in Psychology from NYU and an MBA from Stanford.

Michael Aleles
Michael is the founder of Quippi, a fee free gift card based remittance system that operates between the United States and Mexico. He has more than 20 years of experience in managerial positions in Silicon Valley, Latin America, and other markets. Before founding Quippi Michael held several senior management positions at Intel Capital (the largest corporate venture capital fund in the world), PriceSmart (a NASDAQ listed company that operates in Latin America as a big-box retailer, similar to Cosco), and at Tango (an enterprise in the field of mobile computing backed by venture capital from Silicon Valley). Michael worked and lived in Latin America for more than ten years and is fluent in Spanish. He graduated from the University of California – Berkeley with a BA in Economics and from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan with an MBA.

Fernando De Obeso
Fernando is the founder of Salud Fácil, an enterprise with a mission to help combat one of the most serious problems in Mexico, access to healthcare for the lowest income people. Salud Fácil joins two business models, healthcare and financial services, as a complete solution to patient needs. Fernando’s involvement in microfinance and business at the bottom of the pyramid began in 2005. Previously he founded a consulting firm, was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, and served as a brand manager at Procter and Gamble. He studied industrial engineering at the Panamerican University and holds and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Rich Ambrose
Rich is co-founder of Pomona Impact and is passionate about spurring on positive change across Mexico, Central America and Ecuador through impact investing. He is also the co-founder of Impact Hub Antigua and Chamba, to co-working spaces in Guatemala that have enormous potential to catalyze innovation and anchor the entrepreneurial ecosystem. He remains actively involved in the entrepreneurship space, judging Startup Weekend events, collaborating with universities and investing in promising in Small Growing Businesses (SGBs) across the region. Rich has over 10 years of experience working in private equity and structured finance at EMP Global, Latin American Partners and OPIC. Having spent most of his childhood in Central America, Rich is fluent in Spanish. He holds a BA from Furman University and MBA from Georgetown.

Marcus Dantus
Marcus is a recognized serial entrepreneur with eighteen years as an executive manager, entrepreneur and mentor in both Mexico and the US, heading startups in the ITC and life sciences sectors. He currently heads Startup Mexico, Mexico’s first entrepreneurial super hub, a 35,000 sqf facility especially designed to foster collaboration and innovation and hosts aspiring entrepreneurs, startups, seed funds, corporations and a variety of services aimed at newly created companies. Marcus also teaches entrepreneurship and innovation at IPADE, Mexico’s top graduate business school and heads the startup creation and the thesis modules at ISDI’s Master in Internet Business program. Previously, he founded and headed Wayra Mexico, Telefónica´s startup accelerator, focused primarily on IT and Communication high-impact businesses. He has been CEO and founder of several companies in the past, including Mexico.com, Simitel, Peerant and Abdeo Medical. Marcus has also won several entrepreneurship and innovation awards including Mexico’s top entrepreneurial award from Vicente Fox’s hands and the Intel Challenge Award in both 2004 and 2008. His companies have produced business cases that are studied at several universities in Mexico. He remains committed to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in Mexico, both as an academic and as an investor, board member, policy maker and advisor in over 30 companies. He studied computer science and administration at ITESM in Mexico and Communications in the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

Adalberto Flores
Adalberto is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kueski, the first and fastest online short-term lending company in Latin America. Before Kueski, Adalberto started, grew and managed all operations of Ooyala Mexico, the largest International division of Ooyala, Inc. Adalberto opened two offices in two different cities, encompassing software engineers, technical support, data science, sales, marketing, account management, HR, G&A, etc. Adalberto was awarded Mexico’s University Student of the Year for Finance by Ernst & Young and CNN-Expansion (2007). He was also awarded the top prize at the Intel Entrepreneurship Challenge in Mexico (2009), the top prize in the E100 Mexico West Entrepreneurship Recognition (2012) and named the most outstanding Industrial & Systems Engineer alumni from Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM), Guadalajara (2012). Adalberto can speak, read and write Chinese-Mandarin, Portuguese, English and Spanish. He has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and a minor in Systems Engineering from Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM).

Nicolas Demeilliers
Nicolas worked for 6 years for BNP Paribas syndicating structured financings in EMEA. Since 2012, he travelled to Southeast Asia, was a volunteer consultant for Challenges Worldwide in Tanzania and developed an accelerator program for social entrepreneurs in Mexico as a Fellow of LGT Venture Philanthropy, a global impact investor.

Ana Paula González
Ana Paula González is the Business Strategy Director at New Ventures, where she leads sourcing for the investment fund (Adobe Capital) and the acceleration programs, oversees acceleration and investment portfolio technical assistance programs and is building the company’s business intelligence unit. Previous to New Ventures, Ms. González was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Mexico City, where she worked in private equity, consumer goods and financial services industries, supporting clients on topics such as: investment strategies, IPOs, market entry and go-to-market strategies and organizational restructuring. Ms. González holds an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School, where she obtained the “Nathan Gantcher Prize for Social Enterprise” and obtained an undergraduate degree in Business with honors from Tec de Monterrey campus Guadalajara.New Ventures’ mission is to catalyze social and environmental companies. It seeks to spearhead the next generation of innovative enterprises that, in addition to being profitable, are solving the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. New Ventures has become the leading platform that catalyzes these entrepreneurs and strengthens the ecosystem that supports them through three main areas: financing, acceleration, and promotion. New Ventures seek to be the inflection point of models that solve social and environmental challenges, are profitable, are innovative, have great potential to scale and are led by committed and capable teams.

Katia Dumon
Katia Dumont joined ANDE as the Central America and Mexico Chapter Coordinator in 2012. The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) is a global network of organizations that propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets. ANDE members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that SGBs will create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits. Ever since joining the team, Katia has been leading the ANDE initiatives at a local level, supporting members and project support ranging from the Global Impact Investment Map (GIIMAP) in Mexico to the study of Creating Opportunities: Strengthening the Ecosystem for Women Entrepreneurs in Mexico. Previously, Katia worked for two years at MTQ Consulting with social and development programs in the Central American region. While there, she proposed and evaluated a variety of projects focused on economic inclusion for at-risk youth and local fishermen. Katia received a B.A. in International Affairs and Sociocultural Anthropology at the George Washington University and recently finished her MBA in Creative Enterprises at the Complutense University in Madrid.

Xavier Faz
Mr. Faz leads CGAP’s work on Digital Finance Frontiers, a global initiative that promotes experimentation in the use of technology and digital channels to expand access to financial services for lower income segments. As a technical advisor he contributed to CGAP’s early investments on business model innovation, and associated research on alternative banking models. He also led early exploration into analyzing markets and developing strategies for financial inclusion. Mr. Faz is CGAP’s Regional Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean.Previous to CGAP, Mr. Faz was Director of Strategic Planning for a development bank in Mexico, where he led the deployment of a retail payments switch for nonbank financial institutions, and was a consultant with McKinsey & Company advising organizations in the public and private sectors on strategy, technology and business model innovation.Mr. Faz has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Stanford University and an Engineering degree in Electronic Systems from the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, México.

Paul Breloff
Paul Breloff is the founding managing director of the Accion Venture Lab. He has advised CGAP (an independent research center focused on financial inclusion and housed at the World Bank) on policy and technical issues related to branchless banking and has been engaged by Root Capital, Shell Foundation, BRAC, and others on access-to-finance issues in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Previously, Paul worked with SKS Microfinance, India’s largest microfinance institution, leading business development and strategic initiatives and assisting on capital raising. While at SKS, he led new product launches and managed strategic partnerships across mobile/mobile banking, energy, education, water, and rural distribution. He has also practiced corporate law with Mayer Brown, worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co., and worked as an advertising account executive for Leo Burnett. Paul has a bachelor of arts from Amherst College and a law degree from Yale Law School.

Vikas Raj
Vikas Raj is the Director of Investments at Venture Lab, leading the group’s work on sourcing, evaluating and structuring investments. Prior to joining Accion, Vikas worked in investment banking at Evercore Partners, where he advised on multiple corporate transactions with aggregate value of over $45 billion. Previously, Vikas worked in microfinance, primarily in India, at Ujjivan and Catalyst Microfinance Investors (CMI). At Ujjivan, Vikas co-led the establishment of the firm’s first lending branches in Delhi and helped lead the firm’s Series B financing round. At CMI, Vikas was responsible for establishing and investing in the Fund’s greenfield MFIs in India, Nigeria and the Philippines. Vikas also co-led Columbia Business School’s student-run Microfinance Investment Fund. Vikas started his career at Deloitte Consulting, where he was in the Corporate Strategy group. Vikas has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University.

Jackie Hyland
Jackie Hyland is a senior investment analyst with Venture Lab, supporting the team’s global deal activity and portfolio engagement from DC. Prior to joining Accion, Jackie was an investment analyst at Compass Group Asset Management in Mexico City where she was part of the real estate private equity team. Jackie also worked at Angel Ventures Mexico as a Fulbright Binational Business Scholar, where she managed deal analysis and strategic entrepreneurial initiatives with the local entrepreneur ecosystem. Previous to that, Jackie founded a women’s entrepreneurial mentoring program in Panama in partnership with Vital Voices and the U.S. State Department’s Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas initiative. Jackie began her career working for a local health and development non-profit in Panama, leading business and microfinance projects in rural communities. Jackie holds a bachelor of arts in International Relations and Journalism from Baylor University and a graduate certificate in Business from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).

Francisco Solsona
Francisco is regional lead for Developer Relations at Google in Spanish-speaking Latam, focused on increasing the number of high-quality apps by advocating Google developer platforms and open technologies to developers and entrepreneurs. He executes global programs, and supports dozens of developer, and entrepreneur groups; as well as a network of experts; to promote the growth of local digital ecosystems. He has a long teaching experience in CS, and wrote two books on computing foundations.

David Arana
David is the founder & CEO of Konfío, an online lending platform that uses innovative credit algorithms and alternative data analysis to help micro-businesses in Latin America who do not have access to credit obtain affordable working capital loans. The digital platform allows for low-cost customer acquisition and rapid credit assessment which enables lower rates compared to traditional brick and mortar lenders. Prior to this he spent over 6 years at Deutsche Bank, based in New York, NY as Vice President of the Credit Derivatives Structuring division for Latin America. During this time he created tailor-made solutions throughout the region using cross-product derivatives, driving revenue north of USD 35 million in 2012, and USD 15 million annually from 2008-2011. He also led the development of a proprietary alpha-generating rules-based index used for corporate liability management, structured distribution of corporate credit risk, and built rates, foreign exchange, credit, and hybrid models to price and measure risk accurately. David received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was recognized as a National Society of Collegiate Scholar in 2005, a Hispanic Recognition Scholar in 2003, and he won the Rensselaer Math & Science Medal and Scholarship in 2003. He speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese as a native, having lived throughout the United States, Brazil and Mexico since an early age.

Cristina Fernandes
Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Coordinator at the Innovation, Science and Technology MInistry of Jalisco. Teacher and Academic Coordinator of Development of Enterprises with Social Impact at Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Guadalajara. Mentor at Incuba Social. Cofounder of the Social Valley. Brazilian, graduated in Social Communications, with posgraduate degrees in NGOs Administration and Globalization & Culture. Has been working with social innovation, entrepreneurship and development for 10 years in emerging economies countries such as Brazil, India and Mexico.

Hernán Fernández Lamadrid
Hernán es maestro en administración de empresas (MBA) por el MIT Sloan School of Management y licenciado en derecho por el ITAM. Su experiencia profesional la desarrolló en la firma de consultoría estratégica Booz & Co., en calidad de consultor de negocios, y en PWC, como abogado corporativo en las oficinas de México y Francia. En el transcurso de su maestría, Hernán trabajó como consultor para la iniciativa de negocios sustentables del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (UNDP-GSB), en Nueva York y Paraguay, así como para Tecnonexo, una empresa Endeavor en Argentina. Hernán es Socio Fundador de Angel Ventures México, Red de Ángeles Inversionistas líder en el país. Actualmente opera en México D.F., Puebla, Sonora, Guadalajara, Tijuana/San Diego y próximamente San Luis Potosí. Ha recibido más de 3000 Propuestas de Inversión, realizando 590 Planes de Negocio, 120 Fichas de Inversión, presentando 90 Proyectos, de los cuales 11 han logrado una inversión por un monto total de 10.8 millones de dólares. En 2013, además de la expansión regional de Angel Ventures en Estados Unidos (San Diego) y Colombia (Bogotá), entró en operación el Fondo de Coinversión AVM-I, para coinvertir en proyectos con inversionistas calificados y estratégicos, dentro y fuera de la Red con un tamaño objetivo de 20 millones de dólares logrando cerrar 10 inversiones hasta el 2014.

José Martínez López
Jose has experience in the food and beverage, metalworking and cement industries in several production areas such as production, maintenance, quality and logistics, as well as strategic planning and development of new initiatives. He has developed continuous improvement projects related to increased productivity, reduced wastage, improving the level of customer service, reduced costs and increased use of alternative fuels in the operation. He is certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt and Lean Manufacturing by the Air Academy Associates Six Sigma. Also he holds a diploma in advanced transactional tools and Design of Experiments. Actually he works at FEMSA as an Environmental Sustainability Officer. Also he coordinates FEMSA’s Entrepreneurship Supporting Platform. Jose has a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering with minor in Environmental Management and Entrepreneurial Development from the Tec de Monterrey and Master degree in Renewable Energies from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

Gabriel Leon
Gabriel is the head of the risks, operations and core payments teams of Clip. He has . focused his career on financial services with emphasis in card processing, e-commerce and mobile payments. Before Clip, Gabriel was responsible of the Global Core Payments team for PayPal Mexico and cooperating with the LATAM team for regional projects. Right before PayPal, Gabriel was the country manager of MercadoPago México (the payments solution for the largest e-commerce website in México and Latam) He took the platform out of MercadoLibre to offer it as a payment platform to several e-commerce websites in the country. As part of his background he worked for PROSA (the largest switch in LATAM) first as a project manager and then as Business Development Manager handling products 100% related to transactional payments. Finally as part of his payments experience, he started his career at Accenture working as a analyst and consultant with the Financial Services unit, participating in several projects related with banking and insurance companies.

Julio Salazar
Julio advises global corporations, NGO’s, social enterprises and entrepreneurs on innovation in business strategy, organizational culture and social impact. Trained as a marketer with a minor in advertising, Julio holds a masters in business innovation and strategic design. He has spent six years working with clients applying innovation and entrepreneurial methodologies to organizational challenges ranging from context & user understanding to go-to-market product/program implementation.

Julio Garza
Julio is a serial entrepreneur with great experience in designing strategies and value propositions for entrepreneurs. He has had the opportunity to create, launch, and fail, or succeed in a variety of businesses. Following his passion and building on his experience he created Impulsa tu Idea (a pro bono consultancy for entrepreneurs), World Innovation Expo (a platform for entrepreneurs in Mexico and 15 other countries), and Innovation Revolution (a platform for innovation that benefits marginalized areas and public universities). Julio graduated from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City (ITESM, CCM). Prior to working for Grupo GarSof Julio was a founder, employee, and managing partner of several companies spanning the industries of events management, marketing, creative agencies, insurance, logistics, and operations. Currently Julio is the director of both World Innovation Expo and Impulsa tu Idea, an angel investor, a consultant to 9 enterprises and 2 investment funds, and an advisor to a variety of enterprises.

Hugo Lopez
HUGO LÓPEZ COLL is a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP in Mexico City. Hugo represents domestic and international clients on restructuring and insolvency procedures, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, capital markets, regulatory and compliance matters, real estate, shareholders´ disputes, and gaming issues. Hugo advises Mexican entities and their holding companies, both in regulated and non-regulated industries, on regulatory and compliance matters with several Mexican laws. Hugo regularly assists clients with issues arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the OECD Convention and the UN Convention Against Corruption. Admitted in New York and in Mexico, Hugo graduated, with honors, from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and studied an LL.M. at Columbia Law School. He is a course professor on corporations as well as on credit transactions and negotiable instruments both at the Universidad Iberoamericana and at the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). Hugo is also a regular speaker and commentator at business seminars and conferences.

Jonathan Lewy
Jon cofounded Investomex, an angel fund made by entrepreneurs. Investomex seeks out teams from around the world looking for distribution and monetization platforms in emerging markets and helps them with strategic advice, growth financing, distribution and M&A. He first came to Mexico in 2002, a country he fell in love with and a place where he saw a bunch of opportunities. He cofounded Wise Media Group, a company innovating in outdoor advertising. He also started to represent Drake Finance in Mexico, a bank offering loans of EXIMBank. After that he returned to outdoor advertising with Europro. Jon started his first business while in college where he transformed the school cafeteria and restaurant, feeding 2000 students every day. Jon speaks fluently French, Dutch, Hebrew, English and Spanish.

Mariana Conde
Mariana is the founder & CEO of Vakita Capital. She is a seasoned executive experienced in strategy and management of large branch networks, retail sales and customer experience. Strong skills in customer and channel strategy, in-store design and communications. Built sales and customer experience propositions in México and Latam in the retail banking and food franchise industries. Recently I founded the first Mexican equity crowdfunding platform, Vakita Capital, which has now evolved into a small VC fund.

Enrique Zambrano
Enrique is Co-Founder and CEO of Bebitos, Mexico’s leading baby-related eCommerce company. Prior to joining the company he worked at the Climate Corporation, where he defined the company’s long term international strategy. The Climate Corporation is a San Francisco based data analytics company that protects the agriculture industry from the financial impact of adverse weather events. Before joining the Climate Corporation, he launched Grupo Hinux, a truck dealership of the HINO brand (A Toyota Group Company). There he served as the General Manager where he oversaw all areas of operation and was able to grow the business to $4m during the first year of operation. He has also worked at Sigma Alimentos, the largest Mexican food company, in logistics and marketing, and at McKinsey & Company as a summer associate. Enrique holds an MBA (2011) and BS in MS&E (2005) from Stanford University.

Salvador Sanchez Lan

Eduardo Beltran
Eduardo is the founder of TiendaMaxx, which seeks to empower “Mom and Pop” stores in Mexico. He was born into a happy family and is an engineer by profession, but has worked as a management consultant and marketer. Eduardo is a recent MBA graduate. He is always motivated to create better lives and opportunities for under-privileged individuals and communities. Eduardo is flexible, collaborative and optimistic.

Caroline Brandt
Caroline is a microfinance consultant specialized in credit methodologies and social performance management. She supported Microfinance Institutions in Mexico, the Caribbean, Sub Saharan Africa and Mena regions in critical steps of their development: developing products and marketing strategies, reengineering credit methodologies, launching startups and reshaping business models. As an assessor accredited by the Smart Campaign at Acción, she led client protection assessments and designed tools to improve social performance. Caroline started in microfinance more than 10 years ago, as Investigation Manager and then Financial Services Lead at Al Amana, the largest MFI in the Mena region. She graduated from Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence and holds a Master in Development Economics from Paris La Sorbonne.

Valerie Aizpuru
Valerie Aizpuru was an investment professional at Rothenberg Ventures, a VC firm based in Silicon Valley that has invested in 50+ technology-enabled, high-growth early stage ventures. At Rothenberg, Valerie was responsible for screening, performing diligence, and analyzing investment opportunities. She met with more than 600 entrepreneurs and also provided support to the portfolio companies. Valerie holds an MBA from Hult International Business School (San Francisco and London). At Hult,Valerie was one of the founding members of the Venture Club which started an acceleration and mentoring program to help students develop their entrepreneurial ideas. Prior to Business School, Valerie spent 4+ years in investment banking at Banorte-Ixe. There she participated in the origination and execution of IPOs, corporate bonds and M&A transactions. Valerie has a passionate entrepreneurial spirit and enjoys actively working with Founders.

Pepe Villatoro
Pepe Villatoro is co-founder of FUCKUP Nights, an international movement which organizes events to talk about failures and has been replicated in more than 80 cities and 30 countries. He is a partner of Avanza Group, a company that gives credit to SMEs and invests in entrepreneurs. He is a member of the Board of Crowdfunder Latin America, a p2p platform that connects entrepreneurs with investors.

Thomas Baldwin
Tom Baldwin is a Senior Associate at LIV Capital and is responsible for leading the firm’s early stage investing efforts. Previously, Tom was an Associate at Valor Capital Group, a venture fund focused on early-to-late stage Brazilian technology companies. At Valor, Tom screened over 100 investment opportunities and participated in over 10 transactions ranging in stage from Seed to Series C. Prior to Valor, Tom spent three years working in the investment banking and equity research divisions of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York City. Tom also spent a year acting as Chief of Staff at African Leadership Academy, a Johannesburg-based venture that seeks to develop Africa’s next generation of leaders. Tom holds an AB, Magna Cum Laude, in International Relations from Brown University, an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School. He speaks fluent English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Fermin Bueno
Fermin is a venture capital & innovation professional with extensive investment, operations, product strategy, and technology experience in high-tech digital markets. Fermin is a co-founder and partner at Finnovista, an impact organization accelerating FinTech entrepreneurship in growth markets. At Finnovista, Fermin has pioneered a FinTech innovation platform driven by a smart collaborative network that manifests itself through startup competitions, acceleration programs, FinTech events and corporate-sponsored open innovation programs in Europe, the US, and Latin America. Before Finnovista, Fermin helped launch an impact startup accelerator and a 185M-euro impact investment fund in Spain, where he managed startup investments in FinTech, mobile, enterprise software and semiconductors. Fermin has also worked as a management consultant and technology researcher in early mobile technologies in Europe. Fermin holds a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Sevilla, and a MBA from IE Business School (Spain).

Mariana Mazon Gutierrez
Mariana is head of Industry and Investor Relations at IGNIA, a venture capital firm that invests in high growth enterprises targeting the base of the socio-economic pyramid in Mexico. Mariana manages relationships with the Fund’s partners as well as communications, representing IGNIA at investing forums, social impact measuring and reporting, legal compliance, fundraising, and building strategic partnerships. Previously Mariana worked for Ashden in the UK, a leading nonprofit supporting renewable energy companies globally. Mariana lead the International Program, and created a network of investors for Ashden supported companies. She also built the business development program, helping companies to develop business plans, secure funding and expand to new geographies. Prior to Ashden, Mariana worked at EnviroBusiness and the Water Advisory Council. Mariana holds a MSc in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BSc in International Politics from Georgetown University.

Juan Sandoval Esparza
Juan Sandoval is the Director of the Social Impact Fund at Nacional Monte de Piedad. Previously, he was founding partner of Alza Capital, a boutique investment banking firm. He has extensive experience in corporate finance, particularly in the valuation and sale of companies. He spent 15 years at Banamex in the Corporate and Investment Banking division. Currently he is Director of the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos (LA Chapter). His transaction experience includes various industries including financial institutions, supermarkets, department stores, distributors, auto parts, entertainment, food and beverage, chemical, government, and more. He has participated in financing transactions, placement of capital markets, derivatives transactions and M&A transactions. He has also worked as financial advisor to several companies to obtain financing through private capital. Juan holds a degree in Actuarial Science from Anahuac University and a Master in Business Administration from Duke University.

Program Sponsors

About Accion Venture Lab Accion Venture Lab is the leading seed-stage investment firm for financial inclusion. Accion Venture Lab, since inception in 2012, has invested in 17 enterprises and screened nearly 1,000 companies in the financial inclusion space. V-Lab is part of Accion, a world pioneer in microfinance who over the last 40 years has helped build 63 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 32 countries on four continents. Four of V-Lab’s 17 investments work in Mexico, and Accion has worked actively in the Mexican market for the last 2 decades, including an early investment in microfinance leader Compartamos.

About The MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth   The MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth was created to foster collaborative relationships between academia, governments, nonprofits, the social design community, and the private sector. Through the advancement of research and strategic philanthropic investments, the Center will support and enable those historically excluded from financial services and serve as a catalyst for change.

Program Co-Investors

About Pomona Impact Pomona Impact makes investments in Small Growing Businesses across Mexico, Central America, and Ecuador. In particular, it targets firms that improve the lives of people living in the bottom of the economic pyramid and benefit the environment. Pomona Impact seek to add value to portfolio companies through strategic advisory, financial structuring, and introductions to potential partners, and also actively seeks to build the entrepreneurial ecosystems in its target region by developing co-working spaces with substantial skill-building programming. They have launched two co-working spaces in Guatemala and intend to develop additional co-working projects in Central America.