👋 Hola Familia!

Welcome to the first-ever edition of ¡Levántate! by LaFamilia, your bi-weekly dose of community buzz, where we serve up the freshest updates and insights with a side of Latine sass. Along with other 2,300+ subscribers and 13,000+ social media followers, get ready to learn about the world of Latine investors and founders, discover can't-miss events and golden networking opportunities, and meet the incredible people making waves in our vibrant community.

🗞️ Ecosystem Scoop 🗞️

• 📋 VCsforKamala Obtains 500+ Petition Signatures: A week ago, VCFamilia member Leslie Feinzaig started the #VCsforKamala pledge. Today the petition has reached over 500 signatures, representing nearly every major VC firm in America. Learn more about the pledge here.

• 🇻🇪 Venezuela's Recent Elections: Amidst allegations of irregularities and a fraught political landscape, the complexities of Venezuela’s recent elections reflect broader issues of governance, human rights, and economic instability that continue to affect the Venezuelan people. As members of the Latine community, it is vital to stay informed and engaged with these events, advocating for fair processes and support for those in need. For a detailed account, read more here.

• 🤑 Matereal Raises $4M Seed Round: Jacqueline Ros, previously from VCFamilia and now a member of FounderFamilia, has raised $4M for her new venture, Matereal! Read the Axios article here.

• 👏 Nabo Secures $100K Angel SAFE: Alex Flores and Nabo have secured $100K on a SAFE from angel investors and are now focusing on securing seed funding by Q3/Q4 2025. Learn more about Nabo here. 

🎟️ Event Hub 🎟️

• LaFamilia’s 4th Annual $35K National Pitch Competition: This year, we're partnering with Techqueria to host our first-ever premier Latine startup conference in LA. The top 8 finalists will pitch live at the DALE! Summit for a chance to win a $35K non-dilutive cash prize. This is a different competition because Latine founders get the chance to pitch to some of the top VCs in the industry. Past judges included Jeremy Liew (Lightspeed), Lauren Kolodny (Acrew Capital), Rodolfo Gonzalez (Foundation Capital), Barry Eggers (Lightspeed founder), and Miriam Rivera (Ulu Ventures).🪅

  • 📖 Application Criteria:

    • At least one Latine founder

    • 33% founder stock owned by Latine founders

    • Maximum $2.5M in capital raised

    • U.S. incorporated

  • 🗓️ Deadline: August 28th at 11:59 PM PT

  • 📍 DALE! Summit, October 15th, Los Angeles

• Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in Your City!: Thanks to amazing members like you, LaFamilia hosts the largest HHM venture industry celebrations. Last year we had over 8 happy hours and 500 attendees across the U.S. and Mexico! This year, we'd love for you to host a HHM City Celebration in your city! 🥳

  • Why co-host? This is an awesome opportunity to connect and grow your local community while building your brand as a go-to person in your ecosystem!

  • What’s involved?

    • ✅ Collaborate to prepare the event

    • 📣 Spread the word

    • ✨ Be present and make guests welcome on the night

  • 🗓️ Deadline: EOD Monday, August 12th

🔎 Familia Focus 🔍

• 🗣️ TalkTastic Featured on Product Hunt: TalkTastic, founded by Matt Mireles, launched on Product Hunt, made the top 5 product of the day, and was featured in the Product Hunt newsletter! Check it out!

• 🏆 Route Nominated for Rising Star: Founded by Ricardo Regalado, Route has been nominated for the Rising Star of 2024 at the 1871 Momentum Awards. Upvote Route here!

• 💸 Leadsales Crosses $3M ARR: Leadsales just crossed $3M ARR! Let's congratulate Roberto Peñacastro Ortega! More info here.

• 🌟 Cosito Accepted into Techstars: Cosito Inc. has been accepted into the Techstars Miami Fall 2024 cohort. They develop AI sensors that help businesses understand their operations and customers. Show your support to FounderFamilia member Andrea Diaz!

• 💰 PSI Receives $30M Grant: VCFamilia member Ramphis Castro has secured a historic $30 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) for Platform for Social Impact (PSI). The grant is a monumental step towards driving economic mobility and improving the quality of life for thousands of families in Puerto Rico. Learn more.

• 🤩 Meet our Newest Team Members: Help us give a warm welcome to Pilar Zárate, our new Community Lead, and Juliarose (JR) Childs, our new Programming Lead! Please feel free to sign up for a coffee chat with JR, and ping either of them on Slack! They are excited to get to know you and what you are building.

We promote all our community’s wins on our social media. If you want to be updated daily on what’s going on, check out our posts! 👇

📚 Resource Corner 📚

💼 Open VC & Startup Positions

• Senior Analyst or Associate at Fairview Capital

• Investment Principal at Mercy Corps Ventures

• Early Career Investor at Adverb Ventures

• Associate at Pillar VC

• Analyst at Bank of America

• Managing Director at New Community Transformation Fund

• Associate at Truebridge Capital

• Executive Coordinator at 25madison

• Co-Founders at Respiris

• Software Engineer at Orchestra Health

🔗 Useful Links

• VCF Public Directory

• FF Public Directory

🥹 We made it! 🥹

We're excited to unveil our revamped newsletter, ¡Levántate!. To be honest, we could no longer wait an entire month for a new VCFamilia or FounderFamilia newsletter to come out, so we came up with the idea of merging both into a bi-weekly newsletter! This is our first time experimenting with ¡Levántate!, so we would love to hear your thoughts! 🙏 Your feedback is invaluable.

Know someone you think should be reading ¡Levántate! but isn’t doing so yet? Share the newsletter with them below!

See you in two weeks! 😁