ALZAR Winners Announced in Forbes!🌟 The VCF Newsletter

Next Storytelling Webinar: "Getting Past IC" next Thursday 2/29 2pm PT/5pm ET

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LaFamilia Newsletter
February 22, 2024

Hola VCFamilia!

We can’t believe it - we are already more than halfway through the first quarter and still have a lot in store for the community, including 3 more Storytelling webinars, a State of VC live session, an LFF Cafecito before the LBAN SOLE Conference, and an LP/GP Dinner! Speaking of, the next Storytelling session, “Become a Better Communicator and Storyteller to Get Past IC” is next Thursday 2/29, make sure you RSVP below!

What to expect:

  • 💢 Major Updates: 8 ALZAR Recipients Announced

  • 🤑 The Capital Corner: Wonder Ventures’ $102M Fund

  • 📅 Programming: Next Storytelling Session & LBAN Events

  • 💁‍♂️💁‍♀️ Investor Community Spotlight

  • 👩🏾‍💻 10 VC Roles

  • 🔊Call to action: Follow LFF

💢Major Updates

🌟8 ALZAR Winners Announced!!!🌟

Congratulations to the inaugural 8 winners of the prestigious ALZAR program by VCFamilia in partnership with the Sorenson Impact Foundation!! After months of applications, interviews, and deliberation by our LPAC, we are delighted to support the following fantastic emerging fund managers who will be receiving a $25k grant for operational expenses:

Check out ALZAR’s Forbes article feature below!

Forbes: How To Uplift The Next Generation Of Latino Fund Managers

“We believe that the most sustainable path to increasing access to capital for founders in our community is by dramatically increasing the number of Latine VCs and size of Latine-managed VC funds, and the best way to start is by financially supporting the best and brightest emerging Latine fund managers,” says Cheryl Campos, cofounder and CEO of LaFamilia Foundation.

https://bitly.ws/3dNqo

We want to acknowledge and thank our LPAC who helped us build this pilot from the ground up:

We also want to thank everyone who applied, got involved, and has been critical in making this trailblazing program a success including:

We are incredibly grateful and proud to be able to support our community in such an impactful way, to give capital support to Latine emerging fund managers who deserve more from this fundraising environment. We will be announcing our data report with VCFamilia's proprietary findings highlighting the Latinx EFM venture landscape, stay tuned!

🤑The Capital Corner

💪Wonder Ventures Closes $102M Fund💪

Wonder Ventures team, from left, Valentina Rodriguez, Dustin Rosen and Taylor Bolhack

Wonder Ventures, a pre-seed investor based in Los Angeles, has closed a $102 million fund. The fund aims to support early-stage startups, particularly those focused on e-commerce, marketplaces, and direct-to-consumer brands. Wonder Ventures' success in raising this significant capital reflects the growing interest in pre-seed investing, especially in regions outside of Silicon Valley. The firm plans to utilize the fund to continue backing promising entrepreneurs and fueling innovation in the startup ecosystem.

Congratulations to VCFamilia member, Valentina Rodriguez, and the rest of the Wonder Ventures team for this accomplishment! Your familia is rooting for you!

📅Programming

🎟Upcoming Events

VCF Storytelling Series with Robbie Crabtree | Session 2: Become a Better Communicator and Storyteller to get past IC

Join VCFamilia for the second session in our Storytelling Series for Investors, led by Robbie Crabtree, founder and CEO of Competitive Storytelling.

About the session: As a junior VC you need to know how to pitch the companies you want to back and get buy-in from your IC. To do this takes a clear communication strategy and the ability to retell the founder’s story in a way that excites the rest of your team. In this session we will dive into some frameworks you can deploy, highlights you need to make sure to hit, and ways to address the challenges before they derail your chances.

Webinar Details:

  • 📆 Thursday, February 29th

  • ⏰ 2pm PST/ 5pm EST

  • 💻Location: Virtual, Zoom link provided upon approval

  • RSVP here!

📣 Spread the Word

LBAN SOLE Conference

On behalf of our partners, the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN), and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI), we are pleased to invite you to join LFF for the 9th Annual State of Latino Entrepreneurship (SOLE) Summit!

LBAN’s Startup Accelerator - Applications Open!

Calling all Latine entrepreneurs! Take your business to the next level with LBAN's Startup Accelerator at Stanford. This 9-week hybrid program provides mentorship, capital matchmaking, and courses from top Stanford professors.

Get ready to be empowered and establish crucial business principles, accelerating growth and traction. After graduating, you will join a mutually supportive ecosystem of over 1,100 Latine entrepreneurs who understand the unique challenges of growing a business as a Latine entrepreneur. Plus, after completing the program, you'll receive a certificate from Stanford GSB Executive Education.

This is an accelerator for Latine founders that have generated $1M+ in revenue or have raised $200K to $1.5M from Venture Capitalists (VCs) or Angel Investors.

💁‍♂️💁‍♀️Investor Community Spotlight

Are you in a fund that’s raising? Do you want to nominate someone? Do you want yourself to be featured? Do you have a big announcement you want to share? You’ve come to the right place. This section of the newsletter is especially for elevating and celebrating our community🎉.

👩🏾‍💻10 VC Roles

  1. Principal, Next Frontier Capital (Boulder)

  2. Chief of Staff- Growth Team, a16z (Menlo Park)

  3. VC Associate, Powerhouse Ventures (SF)

  4. Associate Investor, The Westly Group (Menlo Park)

  5. Senior Associate Investor, The Westly Group (SF)

  6. Associate, NextGen Venture Partners (SF)

  7. Senior Investment Associate, Woven by Toyota (Palo Alto)

  8. Investment Associate, Catalyst Fund (Nairobi, Kenya)

  9. Analyst, LDV Capital (NYC)

  10. VC Associate, Builders VC (SF)

🔊Call to Action: Follow LFF

Now that LFF is official, go ahead and follow us on our new LinkedIn page and help us propel this mission forward.

Founders, see you in 2 weeks!