Happy Sunday!
Itau BBA Tech Founders Summit 2022: Two Days. 750+ people in person. 300+ founders. 100+ investment funds. 2600 people online. Naturally, I wasn’t able to pursue my daily reading routine this past week due to the Summit. I usually read one hour per day as soon as I wake up to select the relevant news I will send out to you every Sunday. Completely impossible to be done with the organization of the event. Therefore, I will focus this week on the event and the key takeaways from each of the panels.
Even though the summit was organized by Itau BBA, we had several important partners I would like to thank. Namely: Softbank, Endeavor, General Atlantic, Riverwood, Cubo, Astella, Valor Capital Group, Monashees, Oria Capital and Mandi Ventures.
I would also like to acknowledge all the founders, executives and members of the different Funds that supported the event by participating in the different panels and giving great insights. Many are readers of this newsletter – and I am truly thankful for you taking the time to attend and speak on our event given your hectic agendas.
Also special thanks for all of those who attended. Feedbacks are also most welcome! Shoot them my way ;)
Next week I will go back to the usual newsletter format!
Now – let’s go ahead to the Itau BBA Tech Founders Summit 2022… Please bear in mind that these are strictly my opinion, based on my background and personal interests. Feel free to share this newsletter with anyone who might be interested – to subscribe, just click on the link below!
Day 1:
Opening speech by Milton Maluhy, CEO Itau Unibanco - followed by a conversation he had with the Global CEO AWS - Adam Selipsky.
Itau Unibanco will launch a new corporate venture capital structure, led by previous Redpoint Eventures members - Anderson Thees and Manoel Lemos - together with Pedro Prates, Co-Head at Cubo.
AWS helping startups to grow: leader cloud provider for startups worldwide - 90% of the unicorns in Brazil are using AWS.
E-Commerce: Digital Commerce Evolution and Perspectives with Tiago Dalvi (Founder, CEO Olist), Kai Schoppen (CEO & Founder Infracommerce), Alejandro Vasquez (Co-Founder and CCO at Nuvemshop) with moderation by Thiago Macruz (Head of Research at Itau BBA)
Brazil is in the beginning of its digitalization process and the penetration of e-commerce in LatAm is still low; fulfillment is very important and complements omnichannel strategy. Omnicommerce is the evolution of omnichannel.
The country has the size of Europe with ¼ of the continent’s population. Therefore infrastructure gaps are expected. In 10 years, the investments made by the private market will pay off and we will not be that far from more mature regions.
Ecosystems: Creditas (CFO Miguel Rodrigues); Loft (Kristian Huber Co-Founder and VP of Business); Moderation by Ana Cerchiari (Head of Digital Cash Management and Open Banking)
Creditas started out as a financial product, and migrated to services thus becoming an ecosystem with time. Loft had the vision of being a full platform for the real estate market in Brazil since the beginning.
Cultural fit and integration is the biggest challenge when acquiring new companies to compose the ecosystem – it is therefore very important to invest in internal communication to make sure that the vision of the future for the company as a whole is clear to all new personnel.
Edtech: Life Long learning & Tech Education - Alura (Guilherme Silveira, Co-Founder); Descomplica (Daniel Pedrino, Head of Faculdade Descomplica); Trybe (Co- Founder Claudio Lensing) Moderation by Bruno Pierobon (ZUP founder)
The future of education will not be traditional as we know it - companies have a very important role and should teach employees constantly. 5 year olds of today will most probably not attend a university as we view them today.
Investor Panel: Empowering Entrepreneurship and contributing to innovation
Laura Constantini (Co Founder Astella); Philip Trauer (Principal at Valor); Rodrigo Aldrighi (Principal at Monashees); Alex Szapiro (Managing Partner & Leader of Operations at Softbank); Moderation by Phillip Schulumpf (Head Kinea Ventures)
The “no bullshit” policy is important both in pitches and in the dynamics with VCs. Invested companies should address problems first to get help when needed.
Games: How Web 3.0 Revolutionizes Play to Earn; Bruno Bittencourt (CEO Loud); Luiz Otavio Neto (CEO Dux Crypto); Moderation by ME (correct, please don’t laugh)
The way you earn varies from game to game, but each week seems to reveal another new strategy, platform, or idea. Many are new strategies, and while some have “triple-A” 3D animation and graphics, others are simpler and use basic one-dimensional graphics for the gameplay.
Some of these games are actually tied to a token on the blockchain. The game developer creates their own token, not too unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, and it can be bought or sold on the open market and used in the game as currency.
Technology Optimizing Processes & Boosting Efficiency; Fabien Mendez (Founder Loggi); Federico Vega (Founder Frete.com); Moderation by Thiago Maceira (Head of Tech Coverage within Itau BBA Investment Banking)
Machine Learning is essential for both companies - diminishes stolen packages and optmizes routs constantly to boost efficiency of the operations.
Companies need to have financial discipline even though there is a lack of qualified labor force.
Oria & Mandi: The ins and outs of specialist funds; Piero Rosatelli (Managing Partner Oria); Antonio Salles (Co-Founder Mandi); Moderation by Thiago Maceira (Head of Tech Coverage within Itau BBA Investment Banking)
Day 2:
Going Global; Joao del Valle (Co-Founder & CEO at Ebanx); Daniel Costa (Co-Founder and Chairman at Take Blip); Moderation by Gabriela Denadai (Head of Client Strategy at Itau BBA)
Before thinking about going global, operations in the country company was founded needs to be very smooth.
Ebanx is currently present in 58 countries, while Take Blip’s solutions is used in 150+ countries.
How Blockchain and DeFi are Changing Financial Services; Luis Silva (Founder Cloudwalk); Pablo de Mello (Partner & CCO Cloudwalk); Bruno Caratori (Co-Founder Hashdex); Moderation by Marcos Cavagnoli (Head of Cash Management, Open Finance and Crypto Payments at Itau Unibanco)
DeFi facilitates dealing with peers algorithmically in a secure environment enabled with blockchain technology. Traditional finance systems are built on trust, while DeFi is built on technical code.
Third parties in financial transactions have resulted in a lack of confidence with miscellaneous transfers or transactions in many instances. Intermediaries in the current system have to lead to hacks and fraudulent activities like money laundering.
DeFi will change financial institutions similar as to how the Internet changed our interactions today.
Creators Economy; Fernando Cirne (CEO Locaweb); Natasha Cavalieri (General Manager Hotmart); Felipe Oliva (Co-Founder and CEO at Squid); Moderation by Thaiza Akemi Head of Social Media and Communications at Itau Unibanco
With more than 50 million independent content creators, curators, and community builders fueling this new trend, this generation of micro-entrepreneurs is currently valued at $20 billion with estimations that it could grow to a $104.2 billion market in 2022 — with $800 million in venture capital invested in companies that focuses on creators.
Data Security; Bernardo Lustosa (CEO Clearsale); Diego Martins (CEO & Founder at Unico) ; Moderation by Moises Nascimento (Director of Data Analytics at Itau Unibanco).
While information has always been a valuable commodity, it has never been as available and prized as it is in business today. In the digital information age, that value continues to grow as companies expand and extend their global reach. Protecting proprietary information must be a top priority for companies and organizations. If they fail, and a data breach occurs, companies may lose customers and their clients’ trust. And without trust, they have no business.
Investor Panel: Martin Escobari (President and CIO General Atlantic); Rodrigo Catunda (Managing Partner General Atlantic); Joaquim Lima (Managing Partner at Riverwood); Igor Piquet (Managing Director at Endeavor Scale Up Ventures); Moderation by Cristiano Guimaraes Head of Corporate Investment Banking, Distribution and Itau International
A good fund manager knows its strength and weaknesses - including when and why they might have passed a good investment to avoid the same mistake in the future.
Persistence is key - GA waited 10 years to invest in a company when the moment was right.
The future today Founder and CEO - Special panel by Amy Webb (President of the Future Institute) with moderation by Ricardo Guerra (CTO Itau Unibanco)
What am I reading?
What did I listen/watch?
Quote of the week:
“The secret of success is constancy of purpose.”
- Benjamin Disraeli.
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