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Hola Familia!

Every two weeks, we connect you—alongside 3000+ subscribers and 15,700+ social media followers—to the latest inside scoop on the Latine venture scene.

Follow us on LinkedIn (VCFamilia + FounderFamilia + AngelFamilia) and Instagram. Join our Whatsapp community, which we won’t put the link because bots, but reply to this email with the subject line [WHATSAPP].

Major Updates

Unlock Access: 5 Free Tickets to AICON 2024 in NYC 🗽

VCFamilia is thrilled to partner with SEO (Sponsors for Educational Opportunity) to expand capital access by offering 5 FREE tickets (a $1,000 value) to their 16th Annual Alternative Investment Conference (AICON) on March 13th in NYC!

AICON 2024 is a premier industry event, bringing together 700+ attendees, 80+ speakers, and 150+ pre-arranged one-on-one meetings between limited partners and general partners. It’s a unique opportunity to enhance access and career growth in the alternative investment space.

This opportunity is exclusively available to VCFamilia GP members. Reply to this email or DM us to learn more!

LaFamilia’s Capital Matching Tool Has Shipped

After years of manually connecting founders with investors, we’re thrilled to announce the beta launch of our Capital Matching Tool—a scalable and sustainable way to match VCFamilia members with FounderFamilia members based on investment criteria and funding needs.

This milestone comes after a full year of alpha testing, valuable feedback from founders and VCs, and backend optimization—plus, securing the resources to bring in top-tier tech talent. Because we deserve the best! 💪

A huge shoutout to our LaFamilia Foundation members—Aaron Perez, Jonathan Chavez, and Amora Miller—for helping make this happen! Soon we’ll be adding AngelFamilia members too (apply to join AngelFamilia here).

How to Join the Beta:
🔹 If you received the profile update request on Jan 30, you can opt-in now!
🔹 Didn’t get the request? You might not be a FounderFamilia member yet—apply here.
🔹 Not fundraising yet? No worries! Join to start building investor relationships now, so when the time comes, you’ll know exactly who to call.

Celebrating Familia Wins🎉

• Founder & SanFran Familia member Maria Palacio just opened Progeny Coffee in SF! She’s a 5th Generation Coffee Farmer from Colombia who just so happened to join us at the White House two years ago. If you’re in the Bay area, be sure to show her some love!

• FounderFamilia members Carolina Rojas and Juan Manuel Barrero are in the top 5 of the PEERLESS competition! Out of 600+ applicants for the $1M, 2 of the 5 finalists are FounderFamilia. Shoutout to Desiree Almodovar of VCFamilia and AlleyCorp for supporting visionary founders.

• Muchísimas gracias to everyone from our community, team, and Steering Committee who joined our Annual Townhall last week! Your dedication and support is what makes our entire LaFamilia ecosystem possible. The recording will only be available for 2 weeks and by request after.

🗓️ Eventos!

• Austin:

  • Our Austin chapter leads, Eddy Hernández and Alonso Mujica, are off to a quick start organizing their inaugural event — LaFamilia @ SXSW '25!

• San Francisco:

  • Our SanFran chapter is kicking off this month! RSVP are now open for the Rise Together: LaFamilia x Finix community event on March 25th.

  • Come by our cafecito with Latinx MBA immediately before the LBAN State of Latino Entrepreneurship event (3/27). After, we’ll head directly over to LBAN's open networking event that officially kicks off the State of Latino Entrepreneurship event at Stanford!

  • Our VCFamilia LP/GP dinners are BACK! First one is in SF (3/26) in partnership with LBAN. ​These curated gatherings provide an excellent opportunity to connect with decision-makers from leading investment firms.

• Miami:

  • We’re hosting a special co-working day alongside Mana Tech to help you build relationships and create friendly faces before Miami Tech Week begins (3/19).

• Los Angeles:

  • Our second signature LP/GP Dinner is in LA (4/17) in partnership with Bank of America! Raul Anaya, President of Business Banking, will be in attendance.

Make sure to subscribe to LaFamilia’s Monthly Calendar to stay up to date with not just our latest events and programming, but also opportunities to engage with the broader comunidad!

Now a word from our newsletter sponsor! (Feel free to support LaFam by clicking and checking it out 📝)

Mr. Wonderful Lost Out on $400 Million… Will You?

The Sharks passed on Ring before it sold for $1.2 billion to Amazon. Now, there’s another smart home company catching investors’ attention.

Meet RYSE—a leader in smart shade automation with $10M+ in revenue, 200% year-over-year growth, and distribution in 127 Best Buy stores (with Home Depot launching in 2025).

RYSE’s patented technology is making waves in a booming market—and you can invest at

$1.90/share before their next growth phase.

Find Out More

Past performance is not indicative of future results. Email may contain forward-looking statements. See US Offering for details. Informational purposes only.

Meet the Founder - Omar Alvarez 🇬🇹🇵🇷

A proud Latino and gay founder, Omar’s journey spans Nike, Hilton, and Hims & Hers, but his passion for connection and legacy was born from personal loss, losing his grandfather to Alzheimer’s and a close friend to cancer. Kinnect is the product of that journey: a way to help families capture their stories before they’re lost.

From running Division I track at DePaul while working two part-time jobs to selling shoes at NikeTown Chicago, where a chance conversation led to a career breakthrough, his story is one of grit, hustle, and heart.

About Kinnect:

• Kinnect helps you capture and share memories through a digital app and personalized books.

• After months of refining the platform, gathering real feedback, and ensuring stability, Kinnect is now live on the App Store. They received a Letter of Intent (LOI) during their first-ever memory care product demo, midway through the session.

• Beyond product success, Kinnect is expanding and welcoming Dr. Evan Ciarloni, MD, as their Medical Advisor to lead clinical partnerships.

• A lesson they learned is that boundaries matter. Blending friends, family, and startup life can get messy. Keeping them separate brings clarity, balance, and better decision-making.

Community Ask - Partners and supporters to help them scale their mission:

• Kinnect has launched its pre-seed round and is seeking aligned investors. (Reach out: [email protected]).

• Seeking brands aligned with parents, family, grandparents, arts, and music.

• Exploring partnerships with companies that offer tools to support employees through life’s biggest moments, from birth to grief.

• Bad Bunny—Sí, en serio. Kinnect shares the same cultural and legacy-driven themes he champions. The dream? Finding a way to present Kinnect to him.

• Download Kinnect on the App Store and bring your memories to life.

(Massive shoutout to LaFam team member Kim Hernandez for ideating and interviewing for this new section. You can show her some love too!)

Funding & Resources for Early-Stage Founders and VCs 🫰🏽

• The VCFamilia Fellowship is the sole one tailored for early-career Latine VCs. Apply before 3/13 to be considered for a fellow or mentor position.

• LBAN’s Business Scaling Program and Startup Accelerator at Stanford | programs designed for Latino founders and supporters to establish crucial business principles, accelerating growth and traction - apply here!

• Apply now for a $100K investment + accelerator admission or a $250K investment with Forum Ventures’ AI Venture Studio.

• Latitud Fellowship: $25k to start your company in LatAm. Apply here.

• AWS, NVIDIA, and Microsoft for Startups: 3 programs to join - learn more here from our FounderFamilia member Santiago Carvajal.

• Givepact just launched an API that you can integrate into your products to increase sales, retention and reputation.

• Join the NVIDIA Inception VC Alliance to receive portfolio support, startup introductions, and other benefits to strengthen portfolio companies working in AI, gaming, AR/VR, and other domains. By joining you get discounted tickets for their March conference!

• We (LaFam’s Kim Hernandez) found a full list of funding opportunities here.

Open Positions in VC & Startups 💼

• NextLegacy Partners is hiring their new Investment Analyst (SF)

• Bessemer Venture Partners is hiring a 2026 Summer Analyst! (NYC)

• SignalFire is hiring an Associate or Senior Associate! (SF)

• Ada Ventures is hiring a Founder’s Associate! (London)

• Quona Capital is hiring an Investment Associate! (Asia)

• Geek Ventures is hiring a VC Analyst! (Europe, remote)

• Fitch Ventures is hiring a Principal! (NYC)

• Restive Ventures is hiring an Investment Associate! (SF)

• Acumen is hiring a Summer VC Associate, Acumen America! (SF)

• Foothill Ventures is hiring a Deep Tech Investment Intern! (Los Altos, CA)

• Techstars is hiring a Managing Director in SpaceTech! (LA)

• LDV Capital is hiring an Analyst! (NYC)

• Village Global is hiring a FinOps Analyst! (CA)

• Gold House Ventures is hiring an MBA Fellow! (Remote)

• Trilogy Equity Partners is hiring a VC Analyst! (WA)

• Distributed Ventures is hiring a Principal! (IL)

• Distributed Ventures is hiring an Associate! (IL)

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Join the Raise

Read the Offering information carefully before investing. It contains details of the issuer’s business, risks, charges, expenses, and other information, which should be considered before investing. Obtain a Form C and Offering Memorandum at https://wefunder.com/soundself

🔗 Useful Links

• VCFamilia Public Directory

• FounderFamilia Public Directory

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