Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova. This week, I sit down with Federico Vega, founder and CEO of Frete.com —the largest freight matching platform in Latin America. Federico’s story is anything but conventional: he grew up in a small town in Patagonia, left a career in investment banking at JP Morgan in London, and moved—without speaking the language—to Brazil to reinvent an entire industry. What started as a Facebook group for truck drivers has evolved into a logistics g...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Welcome to this special solo episode of Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova. Every few months, I zoom out to reflect on the lessons that stuck with me from the show. Think of this as your quarterly operator’s memo—especially if you’re building, raising, or investing in Latin America. Q2 was full of sharp insights and real operator depth. But in this edition of The J Curve Insider, I won’t recap every episode. I’ll go deep into three. João Del Valle (EBANX), Mike Packer (QED), and Gu...
Jun 17, 2025•28 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova. This week, I sit down with Caetano Lacerda and Raphael Dyxklay, co-founders of Brazilian fintech Barte, which is transforming the payments and working capital landscape for mid-to-large companies. Barte’s journey is a masterclass in efficient growth: from zero to $10M ARR in less than two years on just $1.5M of burn—and then growing sustainably to $20M ARR. Along the way, they’ve pioneered a build-in-public strategy that attracts custo...
Jun 03, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova. This week, I sit down with João Del Valle, co-founder and CEO of EBANX—one of Latin America’s most iconic fintech stories and a company that built one of the most expansive cross-border payment platforms in the world. Founded in Curitiba—well outside Brazil’s traditional tech hub of São Paulo—EBANX was built for scale from day one. Its global-by-design approach quickly became a powerful competitive moat, allowing the company to expand ...
May 20, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova. Last week I got to spend a few days in cidade maravilhosa—Rio de Janeiro—for Web Summit, which this year attracted over 37,000 people. The event was action-packed—both inside the venue and across the city, with an incredible lineup of side events. It was a milestone week for The J Curve. We recorded our very first live episode on stage—a conversation I’ve been wanting to have for a long time, and the one we’re releasing today: a live i...
May 06, 2025•33 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve 🎙️ This week, I sit down with Marcelo Lutz and Roberto Biselli, the co-founders and co-CEOs of Capim—a vertical SaaS + fintech company that started as an MBA class project and is now doing $10M+ in ARR, serving thousands of dental clinics across Brazil. Their story breaks every rule—and proves that in Latin America’s most fragmented industries, the right wedge isn’t software. It’s credit. Instead of trying to “disrupt” dentistry with a standard SaaS tool, Marc...
Apr 22, 2025•56 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Welcome to this special solo episode of Season 4 of The J Curve with me, Olga Maslikhova. Every few months, I take a step back from the interviews to zoom out, connect the dots, and reflect on the themes that emerged from our conversations with Latin America’s most driven founders and sharpest investors. This quarter, the learnings hit hard. From Paulo Passoni’s breakdown of growth-stage capital and the M&A trap, to Roberto Oliveira’s slow-and-steady playbook at Blip, to Guilherme Horn’s vis...
Apr 15, 2025•32 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve 🎙️ This week, I sit down with Gustavo Mapeli, co-founder and CEO of Kanastra — one of the fastest-growing fintech infrastructure companies in Latin America. Gustavo started out building a traditional asset manager focused on private credit and wealth outside of Brazil’s core markets. But after feeling the pain of operating in a fragmented, manual, and outdated system, he made the bold decision to build the infrastructure he wished existed — and Kanastra was bo...
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 5
Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve 🎙️ It’s rare to meet a founder who bootstrapped for two decades—then brought Warburg Pincus, SoftBank, and Microsoft onto his cap table. This week, I sat down with Roberto Oliveira, founder of Blip, the company powering billions of conversations across WhatsApp in Latin America. We covered a 25-year founder journey that began with mobile phone booths and evolved into one of Brazil’s most powerful AI platforms. Here’s what we cover: ♢ Why websites and apps are ...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve 🎙️ This week, I sit down with Guilherme Horn, one of the most influential figures in LatAm’s fintech and tech landscape. Guilherme has built and exited multiple companies, including Agora (acquired for $500M by Bradesco), which helped transform Brazil’s stock market, and Órama, the country’s first fully cloud-based bank. Now, as WhatsApp’s Head of Strategic Markets, he’s driving a major shift in how businesses, banks, and governments leverage messaging as thei...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 1
This week, I sit down with Andre Penha, co-founder of QuintoAndar and CEO of IBBX, for a brutally honest, founder-first conversation on building and scaling in Latin America.Andre built QuintoAndar into a $5B+ real estate giant, raised $750M from top investors, and is now betting on wireless electricity, aiming to make chargers, cables, and batteries obsolete with IBBX.Here’s what we cover:♢ Why product—not storytelling—wins in fundraising and how investors went from doubting QuintoAndar to figh...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Welcome to Season 4 of The J Curve 🎙️ Kicking off this season with a must-listen episode featuring Paulo Passoni , one of the sharpest investors in Latin America. Paulo played a key role in SoftBank’s multi-billion-dollar investment in Latin America’s tech sector, serving on the boards of Quinto Andar, VTEX, and Creditas. Now at Valor Capital , he’s focused on backing and scaling the region’s next generation of high-growth startups. This conversation is a direct, tactical breakdown of what real...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 44 min•Season 4Ep. 1
🎙️ No Guests, Just You & Me 🌍 Season 3 of The J Curve is officially wrapped, and I’m here to unpack the journey so far. From doubling our Spotify streams to hitting the top 5% of videocasts globally (what?!), this year has been a wild ride. In this solo ep, I’m breaking down: 🔥 Why podcasting is THE medium of the future. 🌎 LATAM’s tech explosion—blockbuster M&As, IPOs, and a pipeline of unicorns. 💡 The 10 life-changing lessons I’ve learned from 40+ brilliant founders. It’s bold. It’...
Dec 31, 2024•23 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve , a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. Today we sit down with Allen Taylor, Managing Partner at Endeavor Catalyst, to explore his 18-year journey with Endeavor and the rise of emerging markets as thriving hubs for entrepreneurship. We discuss Allen’s personal path from California to becoming a global advocate for high-impact entrepreneurs, the creation of Endeavor Catalyst, and how the model fosters economic development through the multiplier effe...
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 3Ep. 23
On this special episode of The J Curve, I swap roles with the incredible Veronica Serra—founding partner at Innova Capital and Endeavor Global board member. With dirty martinis in hand, I shared my entrepreneurial journey, life lessons, and love for Latin America’s startup ecosystem. A rare and unforgettable moment 🥂 Enjoy!
Dec 10, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. Today we sit down with Marcelo Lombardo, the founder of Omie, to explore the journey from a seven-person startup to a 1,600-strong team transforming Brazil’s SMB ERP market. We discuss his unconventional path to entrepreneurship, pivotal business decisions like the shift to accountant partnerships, and how Omie became a key player in an incredibly complex and fragmented market. The list of Omie’s venture capit...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America with me, Olga Maslikhova. My guest today is Adhemar Milani Neto , founder and CEO of Kovi , an ‘all-inclusive’ car subscription platform for gig workers. Kovi has raised $145M from top investors like Valor Capital, Prosus Ventures, Quona, Monashees, Norte, Maya Capital, Globo Ventures, and Peter Thiel’s family office. In this episode, we talk about Brazil’s unique mobility landscape, the lessons from transformi...
Nov 19, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Sergio Furio , chairman of the board of Endeavor Brazil and founder and CEO of Creditas, Brazil’s leading fintech lender that is transforming Brazil's lending landscape by offering secured loans at significantly lower interest rates, bringing essential financial access to millions across the country. Creditas has raised $879m dollars across six funding rounds. It’s most recent valuation is ...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 3Ep. 20
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Marcelo Abritta , founder and CEO of Buser , a Brazilian bus transportation platform that connects passengers with underutilized charter buses, offering affordable travel while disrupting the traditional $10 billion intercity bus industry. Most recently, Buser raised $138m Series C from the likes of Lightrock, Softbank, monashees, Valor Capital, Globo Ventures and Canary. Marcelo shares his i...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Igor Marinelli , founder and CEO of Tractian , a leader in industrial IoT and enterprise asset management software. Just over a year ago, Tractian secured a $45M Series B funding round, led by General Catalyst and joined by Next47 . Igor takes us on his incredible journey from building inventory systems as a teenager to founding one of the most innovative companies in the industrial tech spac...
Oct 08, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guests today are Marcelo Maziero and Fernando Fontes , founders at Brazil's leading financial market infrastructure provider Cerc , that has raised up to $100m in a round led by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investor Mubadala Capital with a follow on from Valor Capital. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in fintech innovation across Latin America and other emerging economies. We explore the complex...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Andre Maciel , founder of the Brazilian venture capital firm Volpe Capital , whose current and former portfolio includes the likes of Vtex, CRM&Bonus, Connectly, and Atlas Governance. Before starting Volpe, André was the founding managing investment partner at SoftBank Latin America, and prior to that, he spent nearly 17 years in investment banking and private equity at JP Morgan. Thi...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Marcelo França , founder & CEO at Celcoin , a brazilian financial infrastructure company that has recently raised a $125M in a Series C round led by global growth equity investor Summit Partners with the participation from the existing investor Innova Capital and John Coughlin, a former senior executive with Corpay. This financing comes at a time of rapid growth for Celcoin,which recorded...
Aug 27, 2024•59 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Dileep Thazhmon , founder and CEO at Jeeves , a corporate spend and expense management platform for global businesses. Jeeves has raised over $260m from the likes of GIC, Tencent, a16z, CRV and more. Its last reported valuation was $2.1B. Since its public launch early in 2021, Jeeves scaled across 22 countries in North America, South America, the UK and Europe. In Latam the list of its custom...
Aug 13, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Rafael de Albuquerque , CEO & founder at Zoox Smart Data , a global tech company that offers integrated solutions in big data, analytics, AI & ML. Zoox has over 1650 enterprise customers in 25 countries including the likes of Pepsi, Burger King, F1, PWC and Telefonica. Rafael’s journey from selling Wi-Fi routers door-to-door to building a $100m in revenue global data analytics busines...
Jul 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 14
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Dave Nangle , founder and CEO of VEF , an emerging markets-focused, growth-stage fintech investment firm. VEF's Latam portfolio includes the likes of Creditas, Solfacil, Gringo and Konfio. We talked about Dave’s investment strategy, focusing on growth-stage companies that have nailed unit economics and product-market fit. We discussed the most common mistakes founders make when pitching to VE...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Geraldo Thomaz , founder and co-CEO at NYSE-traded enterprise e-commerce platform VTEX . VTEX is an incredible example of Brazilian company that grew to become a global player in a digital commerce with Walmart, Coca-Cola and L'Oreal among customers. Prior tp going public in 2021 VTEX raised over $360m in capital from the likes of Softbank, Riverwood Capital, Tiger Global and Endeavor Catalys...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Susan Segal . Susan has been the President and CEO of Americas Society / Council of the Americas since August 2003, following a distinguished 30-year career in the private sector working with Latin America and other emerging markets. As a partner and head of the Latin American Group at Chase Capital Partners, Susan pioneered early-stage venture capital investing in Latin America. She played a...
Jun 18, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Daniela Binatti , co-founder and CTO at the Brazilian payments infrastructure company Pismo , which was recently acquired by Visa for $1 billion in cash . This conversation is very special as Pismo stands out as a globally successful tech company with roots in Brazil. Moreover, Daniela herself is an exceptional example of female leadership in technology, breaking barriers and setting new stan...
Jun 04, 2024•57 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Welcome to Season 3 of The J Curve, a podcast about entrepreneurship in Latin America. My guest today is Alexandre Zolko , founder and CEO at CRM&BONUS , Brazilian customer loyalty management platform that has just raised $80m in Series B led by Bond Capital with the participation from Valor Capital. This round valued the company at 2.2B Brazilian reais or over $400M dollars, more than doubling its Series A valuation. Bond Capital is the fund that was created by Mary Meeker , a former Kleine...
May 21, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 9
