Hola VCFamilia!

Hispanic Heritage Month is in full swing, and our community is on fire! We've celebrated in five cities so far, and we have three more to go: Los Angeles tonight, followed by Mexico City and San Francisco next week. Our month of celebrations will culminate with our 3rd Annual Pitch Competition on October 12th, streamed live online- RSVP today to save your spot!

What to expect: this week:

• 💢 Major Updates: Final Judge Reveal

• 🤑 The Capital Corner: The First $1.5M

• 📅 Programming: Miami, Chicago, & Boston HHM Events Recap, Upcoming HHM Events, Endeavor Pitch Competition, & LBAN’s New Accelerator

• 💁‍♂️💁‍♀️ Investor Community Spotlight: VendyBox Swag!

• 👩🏾‍💻 10 VC Roles

• 🔊Call to action

💢Major Updates

🥇Final Judge Reveal

In case you missed our big announcements last week- Jeremy Liew and Lauren Kolodny will be joining us to judge our $25,000 3rd Annual Pitch Competition!

• Jeremy Liew is a partner at Lightspeed Ventures and has funded several companies that have since been acquired or gone public, most notably Snap Inc., and has graced the Forbes Midas List several times.

• Lauren Kolodny is a Founding Partner at Acrew Capital and leads investments in fintech and SaaS. Prior to founding Acrew, Lauren was a partner at Aspect Ventures. Lauren was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital in 2016 and has also graced the Forbes Midas List more than once.

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

We are absolutely thrilled to be revealing our third and final judge- Rachel Ten Brink!

Judge #3: Rachel Ten Brink

Rachel ten Brink is General Partner and Co-Founder of Red Bike Capital, a Latine and woman-led Venture Capital fund based in New York that invests in early-stage US-based fintech, SAAS, health & wellness startups.

Rachel is a Y Combinator founder turned VC. Prior to founding Red Bike Capital, she was Co-Founder of Scentbird, a Y-Combinator e-commerce startup that raised $29MM in venture funding- which makes her one of just 90 Latinas to have ever raised over $1M in funding. Before this, she spent fifteen years building global brands at Procter & Gamble, Elizabeth Arden, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., and L'Oréal.

Rachel is also an esteemed VCFamilia member and a valued supporter of this community 😊😊!

🤑The Capital Corner

💪A Milestone: The First $1.5M💪

OneSixOne Ventures just reached their first $1.5M of investments made into a diversified portfolio of 11 companies!

Justis Mendez and Pablo Casilimas, the founders of OneSixOne Ventures and VCFamilia members, embarked on their journey during the pandemic, diligently constructing communities around innovative founders, and rapidly ascending the ranks to become one of Florida's most successful accelerators. Their fund focuses on investing in pre-seed Enterprise Software and Government technology companies.

The secret sauce to their success hinges on an extensive calendar of events and boot camps held nationwide. These initiatives have proven instrumental in their ability to unearth the most promising founders, attract value-driven Limited Partners (LPs), and secure accomplished mentors for their portfolio companies. Their latest event is being hosted today in partnership with The University of Florida, recently ranked the #1 public university by Wall Street Journal: The Gainesville Innovation Summit will be the largest event of investors and founders in one room in Gainesville history.

To delve deeper into their impressive portfolio, gain insights into their fund, or discover their inspiring journey, don't hesitate to reach out to Justis or Pablo. They're currently in the midst of raising and deploying capital, making this an opportune moment to connect and collaborate!

📅Programming

📽Eventos Recap

Read all about the NYC and Austin HHM event recaps in the FF Newsletter from last week here!

Miami HHM Event @ Paraiso Estereo 09/27

Confirmed- rain or shine- nothing stops LaFamilia from coming together and rallying through a storm, literally. An hour into Miami’s HHM event last week, it started pouring, both from the sky and through the door. The event was absolutely flooded with L’Attitude conference attendees making their way home to reunite with their LaFamilia community. Remarkably, this event reached unprecedented heights, surpassing its maximum capacity with over 125 guests in attendance! Onstage, members celebrated their victories, and offstage, the embraces between those who hadn't seen each other in some time seemed endless. Witnessing such an outpouring of love and support in one room was truly a beautiful experience.

A special thanks to our hosts Juan Manuel Barrero, Wifredo "Wifi" Fernandez, and Renata Aráuz-DeStefano as well as the Lift Labs Team: Isaiah Marcus Jenkins, and our friend at Techstars Miami: Andres Barreto for all their support! 💛

Chicago HHM Event @ Leña Brava 10/03

Leandro's LinkedIn post speaks volumes, and the heartfelt comments from the community only amplify the support and gratitude for our hosts – Carlos Covarrubias, Leandro Bedolla, and Ricardo Regalado – and the awesome event they pulled off. Let's give them a resounding round of applause and an even louder one for the remarkable Chicago Latine founder and investor ecosystem, who exemplify a tight-knit and mutually supportive community that consistently stands by one another.

A special thanks to our hosts Carlos Covarrubias, Leandro Bedolla, and Ricardo Regalado as well as the SVB Team: Josh Grollman, Michael Hatch, and Nicholas Jones and the Cleveland Avenue Team: Andrea Zopp, Fernando Carranza, and Jason Mercer for all their support! 💛

Boston HHM Event @ MIT 10/04

Describing the impact of our remarkable hosts, Ignacio Castro (GP at 128VC) and Jose J. Pacheco (Co-Director of the MIT ADMP Program), on the Boston ecosystem last night as merely reigniting it would be an understatement. The event at MIT boasted beautiful views of the Boston skyline and welcomed over 35 local founders and investors- more than double our HHM event last year! We can’t wait to harness this momentum in Boston and nurture the continued growth of our community there.

Watch out Boston, LaFamilia is coming for you!

Special thanks to the sponsor of the event 1200VC and their team: Adriana Tortajada & Jose Miguel Cortes for all their support and MIT for hosting the event! 💛

🎟Upcoming Events

RSVP for all of our Hispanic Heritage Month 2023 Celebraciónes below!

• 10/05 Los Angeles, RSVP!

• 10/10 Mexico City, RSVP!

• 10/11 San Francisco, RSVP! 

• 10/12 VCF’s Virtual 3rd Annual Pitch Competition LIVE, RSVP!

To view all of the events, check out our HHM’23 webpage.,

📣 Spread the Word

Endeavor Miami x Dell Pitch Competition

Endeavor Miami and DELL for Startups have organized a pitch competition on November 2nd, and you don't want to miss out on this opportunity. Last year's winner was our very own FounderFamilia member, Francisco Cornejo, Founder of StoryBook. The two winners of this competition will receive $10,000 and $5,000 in credit for DELL equipment, along with fantastic connections and exposure. 

Applications are now open and will close this Friday 10/06!

Share with your Portcos: LBAN's New Startup Accelerator for Latino Entrepreneurs

VCFamilia and FounderFamilia are proud LBAN partners and we have good news!

LBAN, in collaboration with Stanford University, is thrilled to introduce its Startup Accelerator aimed at promoting equitable access to funding for Latino entrepreneurs. Thanks to support from J.P. Morgan Chase, this initiative will pair 40 Latino-founded startups with Latino-friendly capital providers, including venture capitalists, bankers, and CDFIs. These startups will receive valuable mentorship from industry experts and gain essential knowledge from Stanford professors to enhance their go-to-market strategy, profit model, financial statements, and startup valuation. Participants will also earn a Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education certificate. This program marks a significant step towards empowering Latino founders and fostering their success in the startup ecosystem.

Learn more and apply here!

💁‍♂️💁‍♀️Investor Community Spotlight

🛍Swag Anyone?🛍

VCF Member, Salo Horowitz, Gives Back

Over the past two years, Salo Horowitz has been an integral part of VCFamilia and its community, nurturing connections with many of us. Salo has contributed as an investor, through his OperatorsVC fund, and as an advisor to companies in the community seeking his guidance. Now, Salo has stepped into the role of operator, having recently relaunched VendyBox, a dynamic platform enabling organizations to access stylish and innovative branded merchandise.

AND SO 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁 Salo is offering a discount to members of our community. If you would like VendyBox to reach out to you directly and guide you through selections, email Salo at [email protected]. If you prefer to choose your own swag and proceed independently, you can use the discount code "VCFAMILIA" to enjoy 12% discount for VendyBox.

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🎉.

Nominate someone below!

👩🏾‍💻10 VC Roles

1. Junior VC Investor, Canaan Partners (NYC preferred)

2. Senior Investment Associate, Supply Change Capital (Remote)

3. VP/Managing Partner, Cobalt Ventures (Remote)

4. Principal, Castor Ventures- an Alumni Ventures Fund

5. Associate, 3VC (Remote)

6. Investment Principal- Ventures, Galaxy Digital (NYC)

7. VC Analyst, Aramco (Houston)

8. VC Associate, Techstars (Oakland)

9. Senior VC Director, Cambridge Associates (Boston)

10. VC Manager, Samsung Ventures America (Mountain View)

🔊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.

See you next week founders!