🎙️ EP 26 Funding Women & Diverse Founders in LATAM with Anna Raptis |… | InvestHer Podcast

Welcome to episode 26 of InvestHer Podcast. For those who are new, hope you enjoy it. For those who are regulars, I think you're in for a great ride on this episode. Today, you're going to hear from Ana Raptis, who is the founder and managing partner at Amplifica Capital in Mexico. So she has a VC fund that is investing in early-stage founders, whether they are male or female, as long as they create economic opportunities for women. she does have a penchant for helping female founders in particular. So during this conversation, you're going to learn more about what kind of companies she invests in, what's happening in the funding world in Latin America, and in particular in Mexico, what are all the sources of funding available to you if you're based in Mexico. And of course, what are the key funding tips for women entrepreneurs. So even if you're an investor, you're going to learn about some more Cool stuff about funding in Latin America. If you're a female founder looking for funding in LATAM, and in particular, Mexico, this is for you. Enjoy. Investor Podcast is for you, the female founder who has a product, a service, or a message that you believe in and need to get funded. Or for you, the investor who wants to learn more about the huge untapped investment opportunity that gives you a higher return— women entrepreneurs. My name is Anne Ravanona. I'm an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and women's And I'm passionate about helping women entrepreneurs get funded. In each episode, we'll take a behind-the-scenes look into real-world funding tactics and strategies to help you get the funding you need faster. Let's put the fun into funding. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let's get started. So thank you so much for joining us today for our funding conversation with Anne Raptis from Amplifica Capital. And we are so happy to have you with us, Anne. How are you?

I'm great today, and I'm just so excited to be here with you, so really appreciate the opportunity.

Well, let's get started because I want to jump straight in, and I love to start our Funding Conversations just for people who don't know what this is. So our Funding Conversation is an opportunity for us to have a chat with a fantastic investor, ecosystem partner, or a female founder All about the funding system for women entrepreneurs and how we can change this game. And so today we're super excited because we're going zoom, zoom spotlight over to Latin America, over to Mexico, to Mexico, but Latin America in general. And with Anna, so listen, you're going to confuse people with your accent. So please tell us a bit about where you're from, because otherwise they'll say she doesn't have a Mexican accent.

No, that's a great question because I am a real mixture. I grew up in Australia, with Greek Anglo parents. Now I am in Mexico City with a Spanish Mexican husband. So my children, you know, have multiple passports and multiple ethnicities, and they're not 100% sure where they belong. And sometimes neither am I, but I'm very, very happy. And I feel so fortunate and grateful to call Mexico my home.

I love it. I love it. So there you go, guys. You know, Anne is kind of— you are a— I don't want to say— well, how would you say it? You are kind of Mexican by heart and more. I mean, you're living there for so long and you really are invested in Mexico. So it's—

No, I feel very much Mexican. When I start speaking English, people wouldn't— would not think that. But yeah, my heart is definitely here. You know, my children are Mexican, my husband's Mexican. I love it here and I see so many opportunities here and I feel very fortunate to call Mexico my home.

Wonderful. Okay, so now I want to start off as well with a fun fact about yourself. Can you tell us maybe something fun about you that people won't normally know about you?

Okay, but that's really a hard question because I don't think I'm actually a very fun person. But like, one of the things that I do is, um, I cycle, and that is a little bit crazy. And I do that to help myself, um, be present in the moment and focused, uh, because riding it in Mexico City, as you can imagine, is kind of of crazy. And so when I am riding my bicycle down through the traffic and get back to my house in the morning, I'm always like, thank you, Lord, I'm still alive. So it helps me start my day well, and it really helps me stay focused on the moment.

I love it. I love it. So, and I think it does clear everybody's head. For people who cycled, it's a really cool thing. And any other cyclists in the room, you know, if you use that too, type it in the chat box. So we have with us today live, um, Anne. So we have Vanessa from Paraguay, we have Ijeoma, and I'm sorry if I'm saying it the wrong way, Ijeoma from United Kingdom. And we have Madeleine from Sweden. And we have other people who are— will be joining us soon. I'm from France. So we're all over the world with you live. So tell us a little bit more about how you became an investor, Anne. What's your journey? I always think it's very interesting, you know, because you don't just— you're not just born, have a professional career and decide, you know, suddenly turn into an investor.

What is your path to becoming Well, I think that that is actually very cultural. I grew up in Australia where it's a very normal part of people's conversations to talk about investing because Australians per capita are one of the largest gamblers in the world. And they also love to have a punt on the stock market. So people, I grew up in a family where people spoke about investing and in my class at school, one of my friends' dad was a stockbroker. friend's father was a stockbroker and I used to talk to him about investing. And this is when I was a teenager and ask him, okay, so what kind of things should I invest in? And he told me, well, invest in things you know about and things you like to use. Like if you like to drink Coca-Cola, maybe you want to buy some Coca-Cola shares. So I became an investor from a young age. And when I originally started investing, you didn't have, like in Australia, we didn't have access to things like E-Trade. So you had to do it through stockbrokers. And that was kind of my my path the way I started. And I didn't have a lot of money. I had a little bit of money that my grandmother had inherited to me when she passed away. And so I started that way. And I've always been an investor since being an adult, in a small way. And I have gone learning how to invest in different asset classes as I accumulated more funds that I can invest. And I've made money and I've lost money. And those experiences have really helped me. Now at my age, I've lived through the dot-com bubble, the 2008 crash, and that has made me a much better investor because I have learnt about risk. I've had my own losses and that has been really, really helpful to me. And I'm very fortunate to have— lucky to have the capital and I have been able to make really great returns too. I'm not sure it's necessarily my investing acumen or just we've lived the last, you know, 20 years has been in general an amazing bull cycle.

Well, what I think is really so exciting is that you started young, and I think that's a really important message because we don't always hear it from a lot of people. It seems like, okay, as you said, it was very culturally bound contextually in Australia that there was like, people are used to talking about investing and money in a different way than maybe in other cultures. So like when you say you started, so how old would you have been like when you started like using some of your savings to buy stocks Or your grandmother's inheritance and so on. What are we talking about?

So I was about 18 years old. And I had, you know, my dad came from a really interesting background. His parents were Greek immigrants that arrived in Australia with nothing. So he grew up selling tomatoes and cucumbers to earn, you know, extra money for the household. And he was very strict with me. I mean, like, he wasn't someone who said, oh, just here's a credit card and go and do what you want. Now, I worked in the factory growing up, in the fish factory that they had. So packing shrimp and filleting fish, which is like a really smelly, hard job. You know, you're standing up all day. And if I complained to my dad, he would say to me, Anna, do you think money smells? You know, because you'd come home from this job and I would stink of fish. You know, and it was not particularly nice, but it really helped me understand how hard it is. to make money. And also that gave me the money that I initially started investing with. And if I wanted to go traveling or something, it wasn't like my dad handed me a checkbook or something. He said, no, no, you've got to go and work in the factory and earn money. And it was a very good experience for me to help me learn about how hard it is to actually earn money.

I love it. I love it. And I think it's It's a testament to all of us that, like, what you're talking about is, yeah, the hard work ethic, understanding the value of money, and also, like, the risk factor, as you say. And that was something that you started learning about very early on. And I think that's really good and key to becoming a really good investor. So tell us more about Amplifica Capital. Like, why did you set it up? Let's start there.

Well, I set it up because I suddenly realized, and it's really strange that it took me a while to realize that there were all these amazing women setting up funds in the US, why they were setting them up, and there was no one doing the same in Mexico. And I saw a huge gap and I saw a huge opportunity. I was very fortunate to go to the US in April 2018, and hear Judith Rodin speak. Now, Judith was the first president of— woman president of Ivy League university. She was president of University of Pennsylvania. And then she went on to be the president of the Rockefeller Foundation. So this is a woman who has managed billions of dollars. And she was talking about the importance of women managing their own money, how that women generally delegate their financial decision-making to men. And then what are the implications of that? The implications of that are that we don't have enough women in the investment decision-making table. So investment doesn't necessarily go to the causes and the founders that we want to support. And to me, that was quite astounding because it wasn't my experience. I didn't realize that women were doing this, delegating their economic power. And I also found it really remarkable because if you think about the, uh, how, you know, we really spent the 20th century looking to obtain, uh, political— our political vote, you know, that— and the transferring of political power to women and how that's really improved the lives of women and women have, you know, options and control of their body and in the workforce. It's been very important. Yet in the 21st century, most women still delegate their financial decision-making to men, whether it be their partner or their father or their brother or their sons or a wealth advisor who in most cases is a man. So I was kind of like, for me, that was like, wow, I'd never thought of that before. And so the reason for starting Amplifica was to try and get to the root of the problem. Why are females not receiving enough funding? Well, part of it is because we don't have enough women making investment decisions. I'm an economist by training. And so I was always taught to find the first best solution, which means going to the root of the problem. I think doing these little workshops and mentoring sessions for female entrepreneurs, that's nice, but that's not going to cause the systemic change that we need to get more money to female founders. In order to have the systemic change, we need more female investors.

Yeah. And so, like, in Mexico, are you the only VC fund that is, like, founded by a woman VC and for women entrepreneurs, or are there others who have now followed your example?

So, so far, to my knowledge, there are no other VC funds that are really focused on women in this holistic sense of developing women investors and women entrepreneurs. And there are very few funds in Mexico that actually have a female founder. What happens often is that there's a fund, it's set up by some men, and then they realize they don't have a woman and they invite a woman at a later stage. And that's excellent. That's really, really important. We need to see more women investors in general. But my particular view is that in order to really influence the DNA of a fund, it's important you have women founders in that fund.

And so Margie is adding into the chat, like in the live chat, she's kind of saying that it's so true. She's experienced that in her fundraising journey, that like there are not that many women investors. So that's very true. And Vanessa had a question. She wanted to kind of know, just related to your kind of experience as an investor before starting Amplifika, like how much you kind of invested up until now, like before you started the fund, like when you were investing and so on, what did that look like?

Well, I mean, I always was very much focused on saving as much as I can and investing as much of my— I mean, all of the money that I didn't have to spend, I invested.

Wow.

And I'm also a chartered financial analyst. So I understand portfolio construction. So it's important to know that Invest in products that match your liquidity and risk profile. And that can change through your life depending on what the needs you have. Like when you have children, you might be saving for their education. Or when you get older, your risk profile goes down because you don't have as long to recover if you have a crash. Now, for example, because of the dot-com crash in 2000, I learned that things generally recover. And most of my investing experience is based on investing in the US stock market. And that's a very particular market. You don't see the same necessarily trends in Japan or other markets in Latin America. So I can't say that this advice works for everyone, but this kind of experience. So my experience in 2000, told me to hold onto your good quality stocks. And the same thing happened with 2008. So 2008, because I had good quality stocks in my portfolio, I was able to recover really quickly. The hardest thing is either you don't have good quality assets in your portfolio and they die, which I've also had some of those and learned. And, or you get frightened, and you sell at the bottom of the market. And then you're just like—

Like, I remember like, 20 years ago when Apple, they, when they did, like, go public, and there was, you could buy shares. And like, my husband and I, we are super Mac fans, and everything we have is Mac. And like, literally, they've got so much out of us over the, over our lifespan. And I said, oh, we should buy. And really, I'm biting my fingers that I didn't buy stock then because we really, we just kind of on a whim said we should and we didn't and we would be very much better off if we had. So, you know, I think it's interesting what you're saying though. It's a really good lesson for all of us that like putting away as much as you can and saving from as young as you can. So if there are particularly very young, young, we're all young at heart, okay, but for the younger you are in your professional life, if you can already start saving and putting some money away as a nest egg that you can invest wisely and get some good advice on. I think that's great. The younger you save, the bigger the pool of money you have to invest. And I think that's some really, really good advice. So, like, there's a few questions coming in, but we're going to pick them up as we keep going. So let's talk a bit more about Amplifica. So what's the size of your fund and therefore— and then your investment pieces? Let's go there.

Okay. So, we're looking to raise $10 million. We're not quite there yet, but we're well on the way. And we are investing in companies. Our main idea is that we want to increase economic opportunities and participation for women. So, we invest in companies that either have women leaders or they produce goods and services that will improve the lives of women. And so, we're very much purpose-driven. We are, in theory, sector agnostic, but in practice, we have focused on certain sectors where we receive a lot of our deal flow from. So, at the moment, we've made 6 investments.

Yeah.

3 of those are in the agtech space. One of them is in mobility. One of them is in education. And one of them is in financial inclusion. And we're really happy with those sectors. One space that we're not in yet, but we're actively looking, is in female health, because we see that's a very underinvested space.

Yeah.

And we think there'd be great opportunity for our investment dollars to make a difference and also to make great returns because it's an underinvested area.

And I think, I mean, it's exciting to me that you're talking about those particular areas, because, like, if we look at the Sustainable Development Goals and what this planet needs to move forward, I mean, we need agtech, and agriculture is critical. We need to be able to feed our people. We need to be able to look after them from the healthcare and the medical. But then, as you say, education, mobility, all those things are touching the Sustainable Development Goals. And that's why it's interesting to hear how aligned you are with your purpose. You know, and also I'm glad because, you know, some people may have an idea that when you invest in women entrepreneurs, it's kind of like very pink, pink kind of companies. And I don't want to belittle in any way companies that maybe are serving the more kind of usual feminine type of markets, such as the beauty industry, the fashion industry, etc., etc. And again, I'm there, huge industries and very important and employer industries. It's just great to hear you say that, that, you know, your current focus and more than that, your focus really is on those areas that are making a difference to mankind and womankind even better.

We're really excited by it. And so are our investors. They enjoy these spaces that we're in. And You know, we're really, uh, you know, we're really, really excited and proud of what we're doing. So it's great fun.

So what stage companies then, uh, do you invest in, uh, Anna? Is it pre-seed, seed? What, what kind of timing frame is it?

We invest really early. Um, one of the things that I enjoy most is being able to spend time with entrepreneurs and add value. So we invest from the pre-seed stage and look to invest through to Series A.

Right.

So that's the space that we are in. And really, we don't have set criteria in terms of what a company has to look like for us to be able to invest. For example, we've invested in a very experienced entrepreneur who came to us with just a PowerPoint. But he was very clear. Like, it's 2 co-founders, Rodrigo and Anca. This was their 3rd startup together. And they were very clear about what they wanted to achieve and how, because they had deep industry experience. So that's why people say to me sometimes, oh, you know, what's your criteria to be able to invest? It really depends. It depends on—

Yeah.

What the experience is, of the founding team. You know, what have they done before? What are they planning to, you know, how clear is their vision? It really depends.

I love though that that's really helpful. I think it gives a lot of hope, doesn't it, to our listeners who are listening and watching in? I think that's really, really good to see that, you know, you keep a very open mind. And that's good because it sounds like a good investor. You want to kind of You know, get a feel for what's, you know, what you can— I like that you're not kind of having, doing too much of the pattern recognition. Let's just say, of course, there's pattern recognition in investing in a VC. And I'm hearing you clearly say, like, we keep our eye out and we're not going to have set criteria because we want to be open to great opportunities and to fund those great opportunities that are going to make a difference for good.

That's right. That's exactly right.

So So tell me more now. I would love— oh, actually, just on the investment, just to close around that question, people would love to know what's like your minimum check size that you invest and the kind of maximum, like what's the range that you'd go?

So we would like to be able to invest up to half a million dollars, but we're also very much focused on portfolio construction. So we are looking, because this is a very high-risk area for investing, We want to have a diversified portfolio to maximize the return potential to our investors. So we're looking to invest in between 20 to 25 companies. So our check size is growing as the fund size is growing. So we started off writing checks of $25,000 and now we're up to $100,000. And as the fund grows, that will also grow.

Let's break this down for some of our kind of newbie founders who are on the fundraising trail. And if they've never gone it before, Like, how ready do they have to be before they see you? Like, you're saying you're pre-seed, okay? And then you're saying that, you know, you have to have the deep experience, the team, and so on and so forth. Like, what kind of traction— is there a minimum kind of traction that you're looking for? Because I'm hearing a bit of, no, it can be the back of the envelope because I can go on the PowerPoint if I know that the team is solid. And like, in that particular case that you just gave, in that example, there were, you know, the 2 co-founders, it's their third startups. So they're very experienced and they have deep industry knowledge in what they're doing. But how does it work? Like, for newbie founders who don't know how it works, like, if they say, Anne, if they go and meet you and they say, do you want to invest in us? And you say, I'm going to give you a check. What kind of a percentage or what kind of a— how would you talk valuation with them? Would you go to them with a term sheet? Let's Let's break it down a little bit for some of the newbies in the room. I like that.

Well, usually what we find is that, you know, as the rounds move on, we're generally not the first investor. So, and that is because, you know, we're a small fund writing small checks. So usually the terms of the round are established by other funds in VC. So we're not typically who establishes those terms, right? What does someone need to have when they come to us? Their idea of what they're going to do and how they're going to do it has to be very, very clear. We need to understand that this business has the potential to scale and is VC financeable, and that we can actually make money for our investors. Because part of our our strategy, our vision is that in order to increase the visibility and the participation of women in venture capital, we have to show that women can be excellent investors and we have to generate excellent returns to our investors.

Yeah.

Because to show that this is a sustainable model and that all makes sense, right? So we need to have a very clear vision, clear plan. Where do you think your revenue's going to come from? Now, Obviously, when the company's in such early stage, all this could change and all this will change. And, you know, like we might be working together for a year and say, you know what, this isn't working, we need to change. And that's okay. But you do need to be clear from the beginning what your vision is and how you believe it's going to work. And it could be that your revenue actually comes from different sources. And things always change because it's very early stage, but it has to be very clear what you believe in and what your vision is. And what's the problem that you're solving?

Yeah, exactly. What's the problem and how big it is? And, and yeah, because that's— and so you are making Margie extremely excited because Margie is there and she's saying, oh my God, how can I get in touch with Amplifica? So her company is called Grain-Free Mama. And, and so she's very excited. So don't worry, Margie, hold on, we'll be sharing all of Anna's contact details and and so on in the podcast, which will come out after this. But also we'll share her contact details. Isn't that right, Anna? We'll make sure that you can contact her live.

Okay.

But it's good. She's like, oh, I love this. I love this. You can see— I can see you, Margie, even though I can't physically see you. I can see you getting very excited. And that's great. And I think what's super exciting for all of us here live and for all of you listening in, it's to hear Anna's focus and passion and her her will to change the system. And also to, you know, but it's interesting what you've just said about, hey, you know what, we got to be really good at picking the right, the right companies, because we're being watched and scrutinized even more because we're female, female investors, like we're a female fund focusing on the diverse founders, but really for also focusing on the women. So we got to be extra good. And I'm hearing that loud and clear. Am I really Or am I misinterpreting what you're saying, Anne?

No, you're completely right. And my experience as an investor is that people do lose money. People do make mistakes. Even professional wealth managers and very serious financial institutions. I mean, I have had that experience as an investor myself. I've seen people make mistakes, right? But I think that in this role, when we're looking for systemic change, we're looking to see more and more women, those women who are leading the way need to provide excellent results. Now, that may be unfair.

Mm-hmm.

That may be the case you say, well, there's a lot of men out there doing really, really mediocre jobs. Why aren't women allowed to be mediocre? And I 100% agree I agree, but we're not there yet. So, we have to look for excellence so that in the future, women can be mediocre and still get the same opportunities.

I hear you. And I think it's great to say it. I think it's great to be explicit about it. I mean, and anyway, we know that you will be great at picking the right companies. I mean, based on your previous experience, just hearing you, I could tell already that you'll be doing a great job and that you're going to give great returns. So now let's focus a little bit more on the bigger— I'd love to look at the bigger geographical kind of trends in funding in Latin America. Can you kind of let us into what's it like for founders who are looking for funding on the continent? Let's start there, and then maybe look into that in Mexico in particular. So let's start from a Latin American— if you're a female founder or a founder, but of course I want to talk about females. What's it like if you're looking for funding in Latin America?

Well, over the last few years, investment in VC has doubled every year. So, and also the number of unicorns has been doubling. Now, a lot of that has been coming from Brazil, but we're seeing more and more good news coming out of Mexico. So that is very exciting because Because when you see those increases in valuations, that attracts more and more capital. And it also attracts more and more entrepreneurs. More people are willing to leave their traditional jobs and say, I see that success out there. I can do it too. And I am a huge believer in, you can't be what you can't see.

Exactly.

And I see that in the entrepreneurship world. I see that for investors. And I see that for women. So, that's why I believe that visibility of what women as entrepreneurs and investors is very important. But coming back to the whole situation in Latin America, so we're in some very exciting times. You would've thought that 2000 with COVID and everything would put a damp on everything. It did a little bit, but 2021 would've been like a rocket ship. And part of that is because there's so much liquidity in the United States, and that the valuations in VC have been increasing so rapidly that investors are looking, you know, for alternative places to invest.

Yeah.

Including Latin America.

Yeah.

And we have a long way to go and a long way to grow because on a, you know, GDP basis, the penetration of VC and the level of investment is still very low, even though we have enormous potential in terms of internet usage, smartphone usage, and consumption of digital goods.

Yes.

So it's a very, very exciting time. Having said that, I would say that in some ways we are following some of the mistakes that have been made in the US in terms of this pattern matching that leads to a very concentrated, elitist, and exclusive investing and funding environment. So for some entrepreneurs, it's very, very easy to raise capital. And they are— the people have gone to recognized schools just like it is in the US. So it's no different. But for people who come from a little bit different backgrounds or profiles, and for women, it is more challenging. And the further you go away from that particular pattern that we see in the US, the more challenging it is. When you start throwing in, okay, we didn't go to the Ivy League university in the US, we didn't work for a consulting company, before, it just all adds more levels of complexity. And I take a— I get a lot of excitement from finding excellent entrepreneurs who come from different backgrounds and being able to support them because it's very rewarding. So yeah, I would say it's definitely not a level playing field. It's not a level playing field anywhere. But it's very, very exciting times to be in Latin America. We're seeing amazing innovation. And one of the really rewarding things about investing in this space is that when you're investing in entrepreneurs from Latin America, 90% of those are really solving real problems that they see in their communities and improving lives.

Yeah, that— okay, so that's interesting because, you know, earlier on in this series, we had a great funding conversation with Carlos Torres, who's of course de la Cuba, who is one of your good friends who recommended us to chat, and I'm so glad he did. And, you know, he was saying, well, what's interesting— his take was on the funding scene in Latin America is that a lot of Latin American startups will probably— they like to set up or be successful in Mexico because it's like a— how do you say— it is a stepping stone to get into the US market. Would you concur with that, or would you have any other comments?

No, completely. I'd say, you know, Latin America— so Mexico is the bridge between the US and Latin America.

Yes.

So, we see both things happening. We see entrepreneurs coming from the US to Mexico to launch to other parts of Latin America. And we see a lot of entrepreneurs coming from other parts of Latin America to Mexico to be able to launch into the US. So, I mean, Mexico is really blessed by its geographic position and also the demographics of the country. are really beneficial. We have this, what they call a demographic benefit, that we have so many young people here. And so, that is huge in terms of consumption and internet usage and the digital transformation of the whole economy.

So, and so then let's dive in a little bit specifically more into— so if we were kind of looking at the other key venture or just funding markets in Latin America, which are the other countries where you see it's quite buoyant apart from Mexico? We're going to dive deeper into Mexico now, but where else in LATAM is hot, like, if you will?

Definitely Brazil. Like, Brazil is the largest market by far in Latin America. It's more mature market. It's, you know, bigger market in terms of total GDP and population. So, you know, Brazil is definitely ahead of Mexico and they're doing, you know, great things, really innovating. And, you know, Brazil is definitely on fire. But we have, you know, other markets that are very, very interesting as well, you know, Colombia, Argentina, Chile. And you see entrepreneurial hubs developing in other areas. So, you know, huge opportunities. Argentina's gone through lots of challenges and the depreciation of their currency makes them extremely competitive and extremely hungry. And so, yeah, Argentine companies do very, very well starting off in Argentina and then expanding through to Mexico.

Yeah, love it. So tell us more then about The funding ecosystem in Mexico. So you're the first fund founded by a woman VC and, you know, serving diverse but mainly also women founders. Who else, like, if a female founder needs to look for funding apart from you, because they're all going to be knocking on your door if they meet your thesis, as we said, but where else should, you know, or can women entrepreneurs go looking for funding in Mexico?

Yeah, look, I would say that all of the VC funds in Mexico want to have more women in their portfolio. So, you know, definitely there's a long list of VC funds in Mexico. It depends exactly what, you know, what phase you're at, what stage you're at, you know, which ones it makes more sense to approach, you know, in terms of also, you know, what sector you're in. But we have excellent— a whole list of excellent VCs in Mexico, and they all want to have more women founders. And I'm very grateful to all those other VC funds because, you know, a lot of them, you know, I would say pretty much all of them have been very supportive of what I'm doing in Amplifika. They've shared their best practices. They've shared, you know, advice, different ways they're doing things. So, you know, all of the guys out there who are working those funds have been a huge source of support for me, and I really appreciate that. I could not have I couldn't have built Amplifica without the support of the whole VC industry in Mexico. So, and I see everyone reaching out and saying, look, Anne, we need some more women in our portfolio. Send us what you can, if it makes sense for our thesis. So, there's a huge amount of opportunity. Having said that, I know that from the entrepreneurs that I speak to, they say, oh, it's really refreshing to be able to speak with a woman.

Yeah.

And present this. And so, that's, you know, we like hearing that feedback. It makes us feel validated that we need to be around to be building this. But there's, you know, there's generally consciousness everywhere that we need to build more diverse teams. And that means, you know, financing a lot more women.

And so, apart from at VC level, if you're kind of not ready for VC level, What other sources of funding are there available in Mexico? I mean, do you have a vibrant business angel community or not? I mean, what else is there?

I would say that the angel community is still quite immature, but it's growing. And you have more and more, more like investing clubs or, you know, small funds that are focused on the angel stage. And that is something that's growing and growing. And all of these news about the unicorns, we only had like the first unicorn last year, and then a year later you had 4 more. So things are really taking off because of more and more money coming into Mexico. And this is giving more people the interest and the curiosity to start investing in this space.

Okay.

So it's not always very easy to necessarily find these individual business angels and reach them. But there are more groups in like pretty much in every city in Mexico, there's some kind of group of business angels. And also the other people that are investing in very early stage startups in those angel rounds are founders, founders who have been successful and they want to See, you know, support other founders. They're probably the biggest investors in this space.

So that's good. It's always good. I always love to kind of give those resources out to everybody who's maybe at a different stage and not ready to be able to go and knock on your door yet. It's just so they can say, okay, start getting, you know, the first rounds of funding, maybe with these angel clubs, as you say, in the local cities, and then move on from there. So then tell us a little bit more about how are you making a difference? How do you feel that Amplifica Capital is going to make a difference for female founders in particular? So how do you help? You mentioned that you love to help beyond the capital. So how else do you help the female founders in your portfolio?

Well, it depends on the level of development and how much help that they want. And that can depend on who else they have as investors.

Yeah.

If they have some, you know, some of the much larger funds have a lot more infrastructure and support and networks that they can provide to their investee companies. So, but, you know, the ones that are starting out and they don't have so many, they don't have other VCs necessarily on their as investors, we try and support them a lot more. So I would just— before I got off a call with one of my portfolio companies, with that particular company, we have calls every 2 weeks. We do commercial introductions. We help with strategy. We help them connect with other funding sources. So the level of support really depends on the needs of the particular company that we invest in. And we also connect with other potential advisors. We have a lot of people who believe in what we're doing, but not everyone has either the risk appetite or the capital to invest. And so in that case, some of them want to be advisors and support our portfolio companies. And that has been something that's been really helpful for us as well. Brilliant.

So I want to invite everybody who's live with us, you know, continue to put your comments and questions in for Anne. So that's your advantage when you're live with us, you can ask her directly. Now we did have a question in from Kiana who wanted to ask your advice. Any suggestions or tips for mental health pre-seed startups on getting funding? So if you're in the mental health, you mentioned that healthcare is a space you want to get into, but any tips for mental health precede startup?

That's a really interesting question because we've seen quite a few in that space. And it's an area that I'm very interested in. And I think it's important to be clear what your revenue model is, who your customers are. Is it a B2C model? Is it a B2B model? What's your roadmap look like in terms of product? How are you going to start? And what's your vision of the future? So I think it's a very, very interesting space. And there are quite a few players there already, but there's certainly room for more. You know, if you have something that's differentiated. So, you know, my advice is to be very clear in your vision and who your market is. Who's going to— how are we going to get revenue? How are we going to get people to pay, whether it be, you know, through advertising, through corporates, through subscription model. Yeah, that all needs to be very clear.

So then we have a question from Vanessa. So Vanessa was asking, what would be the best path to learn and understand about VCs and funding if you know nothing about it? So Vanessa, apart from being part of Global InvestHer community, you know, joining up for our newsletter, it's great when you signed up, you're going to get into the newsletter and some on. What would be your advice to Vanessa as to where else she can learn about all of this stuff if she's starting out?

Yeah, I think to some extent it's quite geographically specific. So it's good to understand, like, you know, if you're in, say, let's say, you know, Nairobi, it could be different, very different from Mexico City to LA to New York. So, you know, it's really important to understand, you know, the context where you're operating and how other founders there raise money. So connecting to other founders, I think, was very, very helpful because you can see how they've grown and what they've done if they're coming from your geographic area. And one of the Sources of information that I find very helpful, and I wasn't a user, you know, I only started using Twitter 2 years ago, but I have found personally Twitter to be very helpful.

Me too.

Because you can find people with whom, you know, you really share experiences and then follow them, see what they post, what else do they follow. I think it's a really, you know, great source of information. I like to, you know, see what's important in Mexico, see what's important in Latin America, and then when I'm looking for inspiration and where I want to get to, I look to the United States because the United States is way more, a way more mature market than Mexico is.

Yeah.

And I see in the VC space a lot more innovation So that's, you know, I spend quite a bit of time on Twitter looking for people who I can connect with and learn from. So that's something that I suggest. But I would say, you know, look where you are and then kind of go in circles outwards to see, you know, what makes sense for you. Because, you know, it needs to be really what applies to you where you are and your industry.

Love it. So Ijeoma has a question. So she's asking, with the explosion of legal tech in the US, what is Amplifica— what are your thoughts on investing in a UK-based company's legal idea?

Well, we invest in companies that are serving and solving problems for Latin America. So now a lot of companies in A lot of countries in Latin America have a very difficult— different legal system than you do in the UK. So it would really depend if there's, you know, product market fit there, what the growth vision is, you know, if the product looks like it makes sense for our region. But generally, we are looking to invest in companies that are operating in a region. We have invested in a couple of companies that are not physically located with their head office in Latin America, but they're serving those markets. So that's very important to us. We're not going to invest in a company that has their operations and short-term plans all in Europe, and then maybe one day in 5 or 10 years, they're going to expand to Latin America.

Makes sense. Makes sense. I mean, it just feeds on the point that you were saying earlier on about most investing is very geographically concentrated. It really is, you know. So it's like, because of the point you made very early on in this conversation about investors like to invest in what they know, what they know, and what they, what they're interested in. And often that's also things that are closer to home, because they can, you can, you can meet the founders, You can, you know, you don't even in Latin America, you can jump on a plane from one country to another without having to jump continents as such. So it's yeah, I understand that proximity, the proximity kind of point. And so if we kind of zoom out now, what would be your general advice to women entrepreneurs who are looking for money? So not just those who in Mexico or in Latin America, for those who are on the raise, what what are your key dos and don'ts?

Anne? Yeah, well, what's— I think to me something is to have that purpose in mind, to understand what is the problem that you're trying to solve and why you're trying to solve it. That is key because fundraising is very, very difficult. You have good days and you have terrible days. And you have to be able to sustain yourself through that rollercoaster of emotions. can take you a long, long time. You have 2 steps forward and 1 step back. You have, you know, there are all kinds of challenges. So resilience and persistence is key. And you can only do that if you know that you're solving a very important problem. And, you know, that's been my experience as well, fundraising for Amplifica. You know, it's, you know, it's a challenging process. But I know that what we're doing is very, very important. And that's what keeps me going.

So, and that's why I'm your sister on the other side of the spectrum, because like you, I want to, you know, serve and help women entrepreneurs learn about funding and connect them with great investors, right? So it's like, and again, it's, I also have to be resilient and keep going because this problem that we are both trying to solve, which is like reduce that funding gap of fund, you know, for women entrepreneurs and to unleash all that untapped potential. It's ginormous and it's not going to be solved even in our lifetime. So we just have to be really— and I'm like, okay, I'm going to work on this till I die, which is fine. I hope it's not going to be soon. But really what you're saying is so important. You've got to, I think for any founder, to get through the funding process and just building your business process, you've got to be resilient because it is a roller coaster. And in particular, the funding, I find from having worked with a lot of women entrepreneurs, it's like they find it to be so intimidating because it's another thing you've got to learn on top. Because there is all— let's face it, there's lots of codes. This— the whole funding game has been built by men for men, right? So there's loads of codes that are implicit codes and ways of networking and so on that have been built in. That's why, as you say, you know, changing this funding game, it means we have to increase the number of women investors. We have to increase the number of men investing in women as well, and in women's funds. But it's a multifaceted approach, you know. It's a complex problem that can't be solved easily. So we really do need to arm ourselves with patience. patience, you know, to keep working, to keep working in this space. And Margie is saying, bless you both. She said, this is great progress. And it is great progress, Margie. It really is. And to be honest, I mean, you know as well as I do, Anna, like, in the past, not even 10 years, things have changed so much. There are so many more funds created by, you know, by women in the US, notably, and in Europe, thankfully you in Latin America, there's so many more funds. I mean, even a few years ago, our friend Suzanne Beagle, when she was doing her research on Project SAGE, like, I think her first report that came out identified 23 funds that were, you know, founded by women and serving women entrepreneurs. And now, like, then 2 years ago was 58, and now it's more. I mean, it's so many more. Which is fantastic. And like even this week in Europe and in our Global Investor newsletter, you guys would have seen, you know, there's a fund in Europe now. It's the first €250 million fund that is there in Europe for funding women entrepreneurs. Like, yay! You know, it's— there is a definite trend. So ladies, not only is there hope, we're all in this and it's moving forward. So, you know, hang in there. Things are changing. And I do believe though, Anna, it is about finding investors like you who get it. Certainly from my perspective at Global Investor, we only want to partner with the ones who get it. I don't want to be kind of trying to convince the ones who don't anymore. It's a waste of— not a waste of energy, it's not just put to the best use. Why try and convince people who don't get it, you know, if we can try and work with the ones who do? to change the system. And that's what interests me, you know, moving forward. And you are totally in it, Ana, and that's why I'm kind of sending you big hugs across the water to that big smile. So, okay, so what are your favorite resources for fundraising? Or like, when you, when you advise, um, founders to learn about funding and stuff, well, any good resources in Latin America or in Mexico that you want to share with our listeners so that they can tap into those?

Well, honestly, I mean, what I find is that I go to Twitter and I look up, depending on specific topics, I look there and there's some excellent funds that produce really great content. One of my favorite ones is from the Hustle Fund. They provide excellent content. They do a lot of webinars. and put out different posts that are really great. And they're very much focused on developing founders here. Also, in Mexico, I would say one of my favorite people is Santiago Zavala from 500 Startups.

Mm-hmm.

He produces some really excellent content, very thoughtful and very helpful. So, I often love to read what he's posting. AllVP produces some excellent material. They do a lot of research. It's great when you're—

AllVP? How do you say it?

Yeah, AllVP. AllVP. They are— it's great when you've got a larger fund, you've got more management fees, you can do a lot more things. So, they produce some really great research on what's going on in the ecosystem and do provide a lot of support for the founders as well. Angel Ventures, we work very closely with Angel Ventures and they produce some really excellent content as well. And also further down, Nathan from Magma Partners, they produce some excellent, really excellent content. Latam List, and so they produce some podcasts and things. So there's a huge amount of resources out there. And, you know, there's more and more every time. Startupable by Enzo Cavalli, he does some, you know, really great stuff. So, there's so many great resources. I just don't always have the time to read everything, right? So, I get bits and pieces here. And what I try and do is when I see something that's interesting or could be useful, I try and, like, retweet it on Twitter.

Absolutely. And I would like to build on what you're saying. Thank you. That's a super long list. I'm going to add it for all of you listening in, this will be in the show notes of the podcast episode. So don't you worry if you haven't caught everything that Anne's just shared. We will be sharing it in the recording and in the podcast show notes. I would also add to your Twitter and those lists, LinkedIn is phenomenal as well. There are more and more investors and people in the ecosystem who are putting out content every single day. So my 2 go-tos are actually Twitter and LinkedIn on a daily, daily basis. Plus some of those fund newsletters or ecosystem newsletters that you just can't— I don't have time to read them all, but I, you know, I do curate. And when we curate also the GIH, the Global Investor Newsletter, because we're curating information from around the world, but there's so much around. So ladies and gentlemen, there's a lot of stuff out there. You just kind of keep an eye, but Twitter is great. I really agree with you. Twitter is a super, super resource. So we're coming to wrap it up. So any last questions for those of us who are with us live, type them in because we're coming to round up this session. So, okay, Anna, how can Margie or Margie and others contact you? What's the best way to contact you and Amplifika?

The best way to contact us is actually, as an entrepreneur, is through the website because we have like a form there where you can fill it in. I mean, it helps us understand if you actually fit, if what you're doing fits with our thesis. And so that's what helps us the most. Other ways to reach out is probably also through Twitter. You can do that there. I would say email is not a great way because I tend to get like overloaded with emails and I don't get a chance to respond to them. Also, LinkedIn is also a good way as well.

Yeah. And I'm just, I'm just I'm putting it in here. LinkedIn too. I'm typing it in.

But I would say that when you reach out to investors on LinkedIn, always put a note as to why you're reaching out to them. Because otherwise you get little notes, you get requests to meet and you think, why has this person reached out to them? I don't know them. And I try only to connect with people that I know or that there's a reason, clear reason to connect.

Absolutely. And I think that's, I think that's just general good practice for all of us. You know, do put in a note. I hate it when people— honestly, if I look, I'm gonna— you're gonna laugh, guys. If I look at my LinkedIn and I look at the number of— let's see, in the— I have some, yeah, 218 invitations that I haven't accepted. Because a lot of them, well, maybe they're just not a right fit, but a lot of them don't bother to put a note. I'm like, every single day, like all of us, we're getting these requests. So no, put in a note, please. Take the minimum amount of time to target, you know, carefully, because everybody's time is precious and we all have a limited memory. Like, you know, we can't keep going in and remembering who we met where, especially you guys, because you see thousands of decks. X in people a year. So, okay, last question. How can we put some more fun into funding? Anne?

More fun into funding. Look, I mean, that's a really challenging question. It's always a lot more fun when people are willing to write a cheque. And so I think in order to make it more fun, we always have to be very careful and do the research around who our targets are, because if we are well prepared as fundraisers and pitch to people who have a synergy and there's some reason that we believe that they're going to invest in what we're doing rather than going like a shotgun approach, we've got a much higher opportunity of success and more, a much more efficient fundraising process. And so that makes it more fun.

Absolutely. I can't agree with you more. Can't agree with you more. So any last message to our To our listeners here? Anything that you'd like to share, particularly to the women entrepreneurs, of course?

Yeah, I would say that, you know, if— that we all have the power to co-create a better world. And it's very important that we use, in my opinion, that we use the short time that we have in this world to do things that align with our values. So, creating companies that really add value, improve people's lives in some way if we're an entrepreneur. And if we're an investor, investing in the kind of companies that we want to see in the world. If we want to see more women CEOs, if we want to see more women on boards, if we want to see more goods and services that are really designed with women in mind, we need to invest in those kinds of companies.

I love it. And I really do believe that we can change the world when we do that, when we follow your advice, when we— when, as in, we put our money where our mouth is with regards to, you know, investing in, um, in the companies that we believe in are making a difference for the world. And I would also say, like, honestly, for all of you listening here, just buy from women entrepreneurs. If you can't write the check to invest straight away, start buying our products. That's the best form of funding, is a paying customer. And the more, like, customers we have, the better traction, and we will be able to attract the right funding to grow our businesses if you can do that. So please, please do it. Um, anybody, I'd love you to give some feedback in the chat box to those who are live to Anna, what you thought about this conversation. Thank you so much for being with us, Anna. It's been awesome. So Margie has said thank you. She really Really appreciates the frank, honest conversation. It has been a very large breath of fresh air.

Yay!

Thank you, Margie. We love that.

No, thank you so much for everyone that joined today. I really appreciate it. I know that everyone's got, you know, is very busy and got many other things they could be doing in this time. The opportunity cost is always high. So thank you so much for everyone listening. Thank you so much, Anne, for the invitation. I really appreciate it.

You're very welcome. And then others are saying thank you. Vanessa's saying thank you, it was amazing. Ijeoma is saying many thanks for the insightful tips. So you have made a big impact here today, Anna, here and then for those who listen to it. So thank you for being with us. Thank you for doing what you're doing, for who you are. I can't wait. Let's— I'm gonna— I always like to do this at the end of the podcast. Let's say let's touch base in a while, maybe in 6 months or a year, we'll do another podcast to see where you're at, and you'll be telling us about your exciting portfolios and where you're at. So thank you so, so much, Anne.

Thank you.

Take care. See you, everybody. Bye-bye. Thank you for listening to InvestHer Podcast. Don't miss more great funding tips and insights by subscribing to the podcast on Apple or your favorite podcast host. And while you're there, I'd love you to rate and review the show. We'd love love to hear from you. So if you'd like to send in some questions, interact with our guests, or suggest other great people we should feature, join our community on the Flick InvestHer group or send us a message on investherpodcast.com. Want more great resources for female founders about funding? Check out our InvestHer Academy at academy.globalinvesther.com. I'm Anne Ravanona and look forward to having you with us again for our next episode. Let's put the fun into funding and get more women entrepreneurs funded.