Felipe Valencia is one of the co-founders of Veronorte, a venture capital investment firm based out of Colombia. In the first decade, Veronorte focused on managing Corporate Venture Programs for some of the largest Corporations in Latam.
These days, they’re diving into a Fund of Funds investment strategy in the Venture Capital space. For the last 12 years, Veronorte has invested in over 25 startups across the U.S., India, Europe, Mexico, and Colombia, and in more than 12 Venture Capital funds, primarily in the U.S.
With over 20 years of experience under his belt, Felipe has dabbled in various fields like robotics, the internet, international trade, and infrastructure project management.
Felipe graduated summa cum laude with a Mechanical Engineering degree from EAFIT University. He also holds a Master’s in Web Communication from the European Institute of Design in Rome and an MBA from the University of Chicago, where he focused on entrepreneurship and finance.
Felipe’s journey has taken him all over the world: He worked for AVG – Robotics in Los Angeles, did research and development in Mechatronics at Siemens in Germany, and was the Commercial and Strategic Director of Indexcol in Colombia. He also served as the Commercial Attaché at the Colombian Embassy in China and led the Proexport office there. Most recently, he was involved in business development at Pierson Capital in Beijing and managed infrastructure projects in Mexico.
You can find Felipe on his socials here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felipevalencia/
Veronorte: https://veronorte.com/
And huge thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Alchemist Accelerator: https://alchemistaccelerator.com/superclusters
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.
Brought to you by Alchemist Accelerator.
OUTLINE:
[00:00] Intro
[02:54] Felipe’s teenage years under a life of terror
[10:01] How Medellin has changed over the years
[13:12] Tales from Felipe’s travels across 10 cities in 4 continents
[17:53] How did Felipe made his foray into VC?
[22:46] How did Felipe meet his co-founding partner Camilo?
[26:31] How Felipe pitched a VC fund without a track record
[39:16] How did Felipe and Camilo think about compensation in Fund I?
[47:40] How did Veronorte transition from a VC fund to a fund of funds?
[55:14] The Monte Carlo simulation of fund of funds strategies
[1:03:04] How much better does a venture fund need to do than public markets?
[1:05:46] How did Veronorte get into top tier established funds?
[1:12:00] What coffee brand did Felipe bring on his visits to the US?
[1:13:38] How did Veronorte close Latam family offices in their fund of funds?
[1:17:04] How does Veronorte communicate with their LPs?
[1:23:58] The difference between an emerging firm and a frontier firm
[1:28:55] Portfolio construction at Veronorte
[1:34:50] What podcasts does Felipe listen to?
[1:38:19] Felipe’s advice for the wanderlust
[1:43:39] Thank you to Alchemist Accelerator for sponsoring!
[1:44:39] If you enjoyed this episode, albeit longer, please do leave a like and share it with one friend who’d enjoy this episode!
SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Veronorte
- IVP
- Menlo Ventures
- NFX
- Reach Capital
- XYZ
- Enzo Cavalie
- Metallica
- Guns N’ Roses
- Medellin Cartel
- Pablo Escobar
- Siemens
- University of Chicago
- University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- Camilo Botero Gaviria
- Aileen Lee
- Andreessen Horowitz
- Cowboy Ventures
- Steven Kaplan
- Luke Skywalker
- Tatooine
- Harvard University
- Stanford University
- University of California, Berkeley
- Jaap Vriesendorp
- Bouke Marsman
- Marktlink Capital
- Exit Windows Matter More Than Entry Windows | Jaap Vriesendorp | Superclusters | S2E6
- Abe Finkelstein
- Vintage Investment Partners
- How One of VC’s Biggest LPs Builds Relationships | Abe Finkelstein | Superclusters | S2E1
- The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
- Tim Urban
- Wait But Why
- “The Tail End” by Tim Urban
- Fondo de Fondos es una Estrategia que Puede Superar al Mercado – whitepaper on Veronorte’s strategy shift to fund of funds
- Next Legacy
- New Enterprise Associates
- Sequoia Capital
- Foundation Capital
- Ribbit Capital
- Andrew Rea
- Taxwire
- Pergamino Coffee
- Veronorte’s Substack
- James Currier
- Asha Tea House
- All-In Podcast
- 20VC
- Harry Stebbings
SELECT QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“Diversification is a good way to control dispersion of returns.” – Felipe Valencia
“Every time they go to a meeting, they go with a present.” – Felipe Valencia, on building relationships
“This is an access class, not an asset class. And to show access, you need to bring these established firms. It’s not that we will invest in any shiny name, and we have passed on amazing firms that have an amazing brand because they don’t fit in our strategy.” – Felipe Valencia
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