Valor Capital Group

Venture Capital should help solve the world’s most pressing problems. Here are our 6 commandments for selecting and supporting world-changing companies: ⁠Backing Tomorrow’s Giants: We specialize in early-stage investments, focusing on pre-seed and seed rounds with investments of up to $2 million. Our approach is concentrated and high conviction. We invest in a few select companies each year, with the belief that only a few stories will truly change industries. When they do, we go all in and double down because we know that extraordinary outcomes comes from deep focus. ⁠Build Something You’re Not Qualified to: We back the outliers, the ones who aren’t "qualified" to build what they’re building but do it anyway, and do it better than anyone else. These are the founders who move at an insane speed, learning faster than anyone thought possible. They don't just think outside the box: they burn the box down and reinvent what’s possible. Build in Europe, Scale in the US: The US is where technological risks and unproven models can be funded with the conviction they deserve. Europe has a strong edge in engineering talents and building deep-tech companies at a fraction of the capital required elsewhere. We help founders bridge both worlds. We Created a Media-led VC to Help you Scale: We are a media-driven, community-first venture firm, with over 1 million listeners across our platforms every month. We've also made the bold bet of assembling a group of over 200 Limited Partners who bring diverse expertise: from deep-tech entrepreneurs who have scaled billion-dollar factories, to CEOs of global corporations. This network is a resource that opens doors, makes introductions, and accelerates momentum. ⁠We Embrace the Chaos: We know what it takes to build something from the ground up. Our team is made up of former athletes, DJs, and entrepreneurs who’ve been through the highs and lows, and we bring that experience to every founder we back. We’ve lived through the hustle, the failure, and the comebacks. We Think Insanely Big, Just Like You: We don’t just want our founders to succeed, we want them to go all the way. We target companies that have the potential to be worth billions, and we push our founders to be just as bullish on their outcomes as we are. We dream big, and we want them to dream even bigger.

We bring significant global diligence capabilities based on our deep domain experience. We like to back businesses that are creating scalable innovations that have the potential to become market leaders. At Sands Capital, we maintain a single growth-oriented philosophy that is applied across all strategies. Our philosophy is rooted in the belief that, over time, stock prices will reflect the earnings power and growth of the underlying businesses. We practice our philosophy in three simple yet powerful waysSeek to identify the few truly innovative businesses with sustainable above-average growth: Our core strength lies in applying proprietary, fundamental research to identify leading growth businesses that we think are innovative and offer products and services for which there is no substitute. In our view, the businesses we own tend to be differentiated leaders in their industry with significant competitive advantages. Often, they possess game-changing qualities that allow them to create their own growth drivers through new product development, entering new markets, or innovating within existing markets. Construct a concentrated, conviction-weighted portfolio: Concentrated investing - allocating more money to what we believe are the right types of wealth-creating businesses - has been a powerful way to magnify the impact of our stock selection over time. Though some investors assert that a concentrated portfolio poses greater risk in terms of higher short-term volatility, we believe that a portfolio diluted with a large number of holdings may introduce the risk of not knowing the businesses well enough. Maintain a long-term investment horizon: In our experience, attempting to time investment actions typically does not add value to our investment process. As investors in business enterprises - as opposed to stock traders - we focus on trying to understand the strength and duration of the long-term growth drivers for each business. As a result, we are willing to accept short-term stock price volatility in exchange for the potential to create significant wealth over the long term. Our Investment Focus Our Six Investment Criteria: Sustainable above-average earnings growth Leadership position in a promising business space Significant competitive advantages/unique business franchise Clear mission and value-added focus Financial strength Rational valuation relative to the market and business prospects In addition to the six criteria that guide all investment decisions at Sands Capital, Global Ventures invests in businesses that fit the following criteria: Sector: Transformational technology companies Stage: Series A and B focused Geography: Emerging tech hubs, primarily focused in the eastern US and UK Concentration: $10 million to $15 million target investment size per company

We invest in early stage AI & Deeptech companies from the Middle East, Europe and North America to accelerate the transformation of our region’s economies. Since 2018 we have invested in 13+ companies with a global footprint, and worked with advisors, partners and co-investors from across the world.

Capria is the leading venture fund and network investing in extraordinary tech startups of the Global South. Capria helps activate strong relationships between hundreds of founders and leading local VC firms in the tech-hubs of the Global South – from Sao Paulo to Lagos to Bangalore to Jakarta. Capria brings state of the art venture capital innovation combined with global best practices of impact and ESG management to select and manage its portfolio of market-leading companies serving the fastest growing economies of the world. Capria’s network of investing partners collectively manage assets more than USD 1B, deployed in the best startups in their regions. Capria has offices in Seattle, Bangalore, Nairobi and Washington DC.

Carao Ventures is an early-stage VC firm for small and medium sized markets in Latin America. We support entrepreneurs who have the technical skills and grit needed to disrupt industries. Where does Carao Ventures invest? Carao Ventures considers investments in every spanish-speaking country in Latin America. We have a particular interest in companies operating in Central America, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. What industries does Carao Ventures invest in? We view almost every industry in our region as uncompetitive and in severe need of an innovation overhaul, and we believe that early-stage venture funding for Latin America's talented entrepreneurs is a key component to addressing this. We invest with the goal of creating valuable and competitive companies across most industries. We do NOT invest in certain industries, including but not limited to weapons, alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. What stages does Carao Ventures invest in? Recognizing the shortcomings of nomenclature, Carao Ventures generally seeks to invest in companies that are in Pre-Seed, Seed, or Pre-Series A stages. There is more flexibility for companies run in the US by Latin American founders (reminder: these types of companies need to have a relevant portion of their operations based in Carao Ventures target geography). What does Carao Ventures tend to look for in the companies and teams it invests in? Other than geographical and business stage criteria, we favors companies with the following characteristics: Companies that are developing or making smart use of technologies or innovative business concepts that have the potential to transform the way a sizable industry or market operates, or to become a key driver within a whole new industry. Companies that have defined a value proposition that is scalable, have international market potential, and are preferably not capital intensive. Companies that have a value proposition derived from competitive advantages that are intrinsic to, or present in, LatAm (e.g. distinctive capabilities, a market gap, a specific sector’s recognition, access to a resource, etc.) Companies led by talented multi-disciplinary teams that are self-sufficient to the point that they can effectively design, produce, and sell their product or service; Companies that have not received multiple previous rounds of funding without reaching traction in the business. Companies that have favorable prospects for subsequent rounds of financing or future liquidity events, as well as a straightforward exit strategy. How much does Carao Ventures invest per ticket? Recognizing the shortcomings of nomenclature, ticket sizes for different investment rounds are generally as follows (all values in United States Dollars): Pre-seed: $25,000 to $100,000 Seed: $250,000 to $1,000,000 Pre-Series A/Series A: $500,000 to $1,750,000 What is the best way to contact Carao Ventures? We prefer you contact us via warm intros. We value the opinion of our relationships and a reference goes a long way. If you don’t have access to someone in our network, that is perfectly fine. You can apply through our contact form on this website and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. For questions related to press, partnerships, and other institutional enquiries, please send us an email to info@caraov.com. What can I expect for Carao Ventures investment process? The investment process is as follows: Step 1: Prospective startups apply through the website’s application form Step 2: Startups selected for an initial call will be contacted via e-mail Step 3: Startups are contacted within 2 weeks with an indication of next steps Step 4: Depending on the outcome of the previous step, startups enter deeper due diligence processes with Carao Ventures (e.g., additional interviews, questions, evaluations) Step 5: Depending on the outcome of the previous step, startups are presented to Carao Ventures Fund I’s Investment Committee that will ultimately determine whether or not a company will receive an investment. From start to finish, the investment evaluation process can take between 3 weeks to 3 months, with an expected average of 1.5 months. Does Carao Ventures sign NDAs? Carao Ventures does not sign NDAs unless the information being shared describes highly proprietary information relating to a novel technology that is core to a company’s competitive advantage and business strategy. Not signing NDAs is the norm in Venture Capital investing. For more information on why most VC investors do not sign NDAs, please refer to Brad Feld’s take on the matter here. Does Carao Ventures invest in competing companies? Carao considers competing companies on a case by case basis. We prefer when companies do not overlap in geographies, and always consider the opinion of our portfolio company founders before making a decision.

We are a team of dealmakers. Specializing in Seed, Series A and Series B funding rounds. Our firm empowers capital owners by offering access to groundbreaking tech opportunities. We play a pivotal role in the GCC region, bridging the gap between corporate entities, professional investors, and leading technology innovators to drive impactful partnerships.