Nido Ventures, a fund focused on small businesses run by two Mexican women

Nido Ventures, founded by Mexicans Ana Caro Mexia and María Gutierrez, has just shut down. The first fund is worth seven million dollars. This is a significant milestone, considering that this venture firm has two women behind it, which is a rarity in the ecosystem.

Mexia and Gutierrez were born in Mexico, but have lived in the United States for more than a decade. Their paths crossed at Stanford, and it was then that a friendship developed that led to Nido Ventures.

They both share the vision of wanting to become founders. After his time at Stanford University, Gutierrez began working as a supply chain specialist for Apple And Mexía has managed to rise on LinkedIn To become a senior software engineer.

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The pandemic has given them the opportunity to work to help Mexican startups. An experience that got them started Participation in some companies in the country as private investors.

“We soon realized that there was Few Spanish-speaking tech investors. “The only exception was Brazil,” Mexia explains in an interview with the British newspaper “Daily Mail”. D + I – Spanish. “At that time, we had a strong network of contacts in Mexico and also in Silicon Valley, having spent ten years there.” After their first forays, they decided to go one step further and set about doing so Raise capital for your own fund, Which they were able to successfully complete this summer.

Latinos and women

Both founders consider that there is Unique market opportunity in Latin America And among Latino founders living in the United States. Their investments will primarily focus on companies that are in the early stages, whether pre-seed or seed.

“the Latino founders have incredible passion “They have proven time and time again that they can achieve a lot with very little resources,” says Mexia. “Mexico’s ecosystem is going through a golden phase. There are countless family businesses that need innovation and digital transformation.”

In fact, this country has becomeUnited States factoryCompanies like Tesla have already begun opening factories there. In fact, in the same month Mexico managed to become the main trading ally of the United States, overtaking China.

The opportunity in Latin America is clear and Nido Ventures will focus on betting on those projects that offer solutions to companies. Its main interesting sectors are infrastructure Financial technologyB2B markets and software. They will also explore companies that offer solutions Across bordersThat is, between several countries.

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“We are very proud to have been able to close our first fund. We announced our mission last year, while we were studying for our master’s degree at Stanford and the markets were not going through their best moment,” says the co-founder. “This is just the beginning, but it’s important, given that We are two organizations and this is something you don’t see every day.. Now we have to show that our way of seeing the world will bring good returns.

The movement of capital was not long in coming. Mexía confirms that 25 startups will benefit and They already have 14 investments. The rest will be selected based on the proposed business model, founder and team composition, market size and potential, and the company’s valuation will be studied.

“We want to have a big impact with the first fund. Our portfolio has Teams that represent great diversity In the future, we do not rule out the idea of ​​launching a special fund targeting female founders exclusively.”

The journey to get to this point has not been easy. Some of the companies Nido Ventures has invested in It suffered the consequences of the fall of Silicon Valley Bank. Mexia sees this moment as the first big challenge they had to face as founders: “It was our first crisis, but we went into activation mode and solved it quickly. “If we can get out of this mode, we can do anything.”