The strategy of the MAYA Capital team is paying off. After raising $40 million for their first fund, the investors closed on $100 million for the second fund.
Their first fund backed over 30 companies in 12 sectors. There were two investments that became unicorns.
This new fund triples the firm's assets under management and will allow the pair to invest in another 25 to 30 companies with 50% reserved for follow-in funding, according to Lemann. MAYA will double down on its focus on leading the first check into companies and expand its reach among Spanish-speaking founders.
Lemann expects to split the first fund more evenly in Brazil and Spanish-speaking LatAm. Lemann, Saggioro and their team have been able to help the MAYANs scale from Latin America into Brazil.
She said that they want to invest in companies that will be the winners in the region. The winner has traditionally been pan-regional, so we think MAYA needs to do that as well.
MAYA has made a few investments from the new fund.
Lemann and Saggioro met when Lemann was an angel investor. They realized that technology was going to be a disruptor and innovator in Latin America and that there was not much capital committed to finance companies in the early stages.
Lemann said that they created MAYA to launch their first fund with the idea of leading the first venture round of the best teams.
She said that they took this approach to get their hands dirty with the portfolio.
Maya can help companies from seed to Series A in a number of ways. Portfolio companies are helped by the firm to find and interview potential talent. Over 400 people were introduced to potential hires last year. In addition, it made 200 commercial connections and 250 introductions to top-tier funds.
The Female Force initiative was created by the firm to connect and mentor female entrepreneurs.
Only 2.4% of partners at venture firms are women. True Wealth Venture, which just closed on $35 million for its second fund, is bucking the trend.
While Lemann notes that it was harder for women to break into the venture capital network, hers and Saggioro's diverse background makes them a non-obvious team.
A majority of the deal flow is female, according to Lemann. Our views can affect how we analyze companies. The other early-stage funds in the region are very hands-on. Being different is seen as positive.
Saggioro said that limited partners liked the difference. The second fund of MAYA has investors from Latin America, Europe and the U.S., as well as institutional investors.
She said that MAYA's "solid performance" helped them be able to launch a new fund in this environment.
Saggioro said most of the capital came from re-ups. A lot of institutional investors are used to working in cycles and were able to provide the dry powder needed to give an advantage to VC funds. We are excited to learn more about those who are working hard to solve Latin America's biggest problems because they are the most resilient ones.
It’s correction time for Latin American VC activity
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