Setting a New Path in Climate Tech with Rumbo Ventures

The momentum is exhilarating. The pace at which news, breakthroughs, and announcements are happening is unprecedented. It has only been a few months since my immersion in the climate tech ecosystem, and the learnings, readings, relationships, and eye-opening evidence of the most important movement in human history taking place, have completely changed my paradigm as an investor, a father, and a human being.

When I wrote An Invitation to a New Path for Latin American Entrepreneurs I committed to a new path. Three months later Rumbo Ventures is becoming a reality, capitalizing on the experience of the initial team, and the support of great allies and friends. We are announcing our first fund, an early-stage, climate tech generalist, venture capital fund, rapidly positioned as the leading Latin American fund in this movement.

Rumbo Ventures invests in early-stage climate technology companies, assuring Latin America contributes decisively to a decarbonized global economy and a better future for all.

At Rumbo Ventures, we are dedicated to supporting extraordinary people & initiatives from Ibero America aiming towards leaving the carbon economy behind. This can include startups based in any country in Latin America, startups across the world with Iberoamerican talent in their founding teams, and any other climate tech startup interested in a strategic go-to-market into Latin America. We seek to lead or co-lead from pre-Seed to series A, with a hands-on, added-value approach to each investment.

The talent pool from around the world that understands the urgency of tackling climate change is mind-blowing, and it is already showing in our initial team and our group of advisors, with a large geographic footprint. Furthermore, we have already started writing discovery checks to accelerate our entrance and confirm the depth of our thesis’ pipeline, with extraordinary teams and visions, like Nilus (community buying to eliminate food waste), Cultivo (accelerate finance to regenerate nature), Thalasso (harvesting and reusing seaweed) and Tycho (geo-localized data solutions for renewable initiatives).

Climate tech is showing unprecedented collaboration among its actors, yet we bring a unique edge, based on our extensive experience in venture capital with top decile results, and our deep network in the region, both among entrepreneurs and corporates. We build bridges between the European and Silicon Valley venture capital scenes, bringing the best of both worlds. We are experts on Go-to-Market execution across Latin America, and bring best-in-class standards for reporting, monitoring, and measuring impact.

Rumbo Ventures is on the lookout for the latest trends and developments in climate technology, identifying emerging trends and opportunities with the potential to profoundly transform our path to net zero. We share Extantia Capital’s excitement for current trends in bioenergy, software solutions to improve our power grids, heat recovery and storage, green ammonia, and sustainable mining, without forgetting other key opportunities in our seven — carefully selected — impact areas. We also understand the need for public policy that fosters innovation and an agenda for net zero (and not background-looking narratives as Mexico presents today); we are willing and capable to participate and influence Latin American leaders to set their priorities and leapfrog their policies based on international experiences.

I believe in early-stage VC as a key element in our battle against climate change. It is also clear to me that for Latin America to really reach its potential, vast amounts of resources need to be channeled, most importantly in later stages, utility-scale, infrastructure, and project finance. I envision Rumbo growing to provide solutions and capital along the whole spectrum. This is only the beginning for us, and yet it is the ideal, most-needed starting point for the region, where our difference is maximized. We fully embrace our responsibility as leaders in the Latin American climate tech uprising.

This movement is different from anything I have experienced before. The optimistic sense of urgency, the deep sense of purpose in everyone involved, the win-win-win mentality behind the openness and collaboration, the role of science and facts instead of hype and bs…, it all adds to a collective motivation towards fixing the future, a path that we are humbly thrilled to join.

So what do you say? Shall we set a new Rumbo together?