Fellowship Spotlight: AMG Block Ventures
With parents from Peru, a Mexican upbringing, and significant periods of personal and professional time spent in Chile, Argentina, and the United States, Carlos Torres possesses a uniquely complex cultural lens. He holds deep insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by various ecosystems and the people who live in them. “I’ve had exposure to Spanish-Speaking Latin America and understand the dynamics across the region,” Carlos says of the focal region of his fund.
LATAM Market Opportunity
AMG Block Ventures is a $10M seed-stage fund, focused on FinTech in Mexico and across Spanish-speaking Latin America. Despite being one of the fastest-growing regions for startups in the world, the VC landscape in Latin America is still a very nascent one. Carlos shares that, “In Mexico,” which is the 2nd largest VC market in Latin America, just behind Brazil, “there are still fewer than 30 active funds investing across the entire country at different stages.”
He sees a huge gap in the early-stage funding landscape, and says, “That’s the market opportunity that AMG Block is focused on.” With his fund, Carlos is leading the charge on taking advantage of the talent and innovation in Latin America, providing local companies with funds and a strong, far-reaching global network.
Why FinTech?
Amidst the inequities across Spanish-speaking Latin America, where 50% of the population remains without access to financial services, FinTech innovation in the region is largely focused on solving structural issues. Carlos saw a clear opening in this somewhat singularly focused context. “There’s a huge opportunity to bring the unbanked into the system through technology innovation, with opportunities across different business verticals: payments, lending, real estate, insurance.”
In addition to Carlos’s regional familiarity, his career experience has also positioned him to step in and fill this gap. He has a great deal of expertise in FinTech specifically, and has also garnered a depth in range of knowledge and skills in his previous career roles, having worked across operational, investment, and entrepreneurial positions.
“I started as an operator in the banking industry,” Carlos recounts, “working at global institutions like HSBC on the corporate banking side, and then for a regional bank in Mexico that’s currently one of the leading digital banks in the market. On the investment side, I started angel investing and worked for a fund focused on sustainable investments in Mexico.”
After completing his MBA at Hult International Business School, Carlos worked for the venture arm of a family office in Boston before returning to Mexico. He then co-founded a FinTech startup focused on providing loans to the underserved Mexican SME market. “This mix of operational, investment, and entrepreneurial expertise,” Carlos elevates, “is a great value-add for entrepreneurs who are focused on FinTech in Mexico and across Latin America.”
Leveraging Regional Familiarity & Opportunity
2021 was a record year for venture globally, but especially remarkable in Latin America, with more than $15B invested in the region. “Latin American startups are growing faster than startups anywhere else in the world,” Carlos points out, “but they still receive only a fraction of the world’s investments into new companies.”
Part of AMG Block’s strategy is to level the Latin American playing field when it comes to VC. Carlos shares that, as a local VC fund supporting companies at the early stages, “It’s AMG Block’s goal to help them along their startup fundraising journey. We want to give equal opportunity to people who maybe started locally, or who can’t pitch their ideas in English.”
He sees what he refers to as “the other side of the equation,” where founders with very specific and similar backgrounds are able to easily raise money from international firms, and he knows that Spanish-speaking, Latin American founders deserve the same. “Our goal is to close that gap in seed-stage funding in Mexico and Spanish-speaking Latin America,” he says.
“As a Latin American-focused fund,” Carlos proposes, “we have a unique advantage over the overall venture landscape in the U.S.” With very few funds operating on the ground in Mexico, AMG Block is well-positioned as one of the only FinTech-focused, seed-stage funds. To this point, Carlos shares that his fund is more able to attract referrals from investors or entrepreneurs.
“When people are looking for someone who can offer on-the-ground support and understand the local market dynamics and local networks,” AMG Block is just a call away. “I welcome investors interested in the region to start paying more attention to the talent and the opportunities in Latin America,” he says, adding, “If you’re looking to generate a social, generational, and financial impact, I invite you to join the Latin American revolution.”
The Value-Add of the VCI Fellowship
Carlos is particularly grateful for the chance to participate in VCI’s fellowship since similar programs don’t really exist in Mexico or other parts of Latin America. “Having the opportunity to network with other managers in the venture landscape, to gather industry best practices and the tools, knowledge, and network required to build an institutional firm,” he says, “is very helpful.”
He feels well-equipped with the network of potential investors, co-investors, and service providers that VCI has connected him to through his engagement as a fellow. “The community that VCI has created will not only last for our current cohort. I think it’s going to be more of a long-term involvement with the community we’re building.” The benefits he’s gained inspire him to pay it forward and continue supporting this type of program for emerging managers.
We look forward to following along and cheering from the sidelines as Carlos and AMG Block Ventures create impact and contribute to the Latin American VC revolution.
