It was early 2019 when Softbank's official landing in Latin America marked the largest-ever technology fund focused exclusively in the region. LatAm was breaking its own records in terms capital injection, and the firm had already tested the waters with a few juicy checks. So Softbank committed US$ 5 billion to the new Latin American Fund – about the same as all of the region’s venture investments in 2017 and 2018 combined.

One of the people leading it was Paulo Passoni. But after three years as Softbank's Managing Partner in Latin America, he felt it was time to move towards different ambitions. In April 2022, Paulo announced he was leaving Softbank with Shu Nyatta, Softbank's other LATAM Managing Partner, and together they would do their own thing.

All in all, Paulo has a solid 15-year experience investing in all business stages in Latin America. While on garden leave and building the next steps, he's remains active on the board of companies like VTEX, QuintoAndar, Creditas and Loggi.

On today's episode, Paulo and Brian talk about:

His plans for the future (at least what he can share for now)
Softbank's effect on the overall LATAM ecosystem
What he learned from brilliant founders

Building good sh*t in Latin America?

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Kevin Caplicki and Woodthrush Farm