Your 2025 La Frontera 🌵 Wrapped!

Highlights & milestones of our first year, and a preview of what's coming in 2026

Thank you and our mission

To our readers, listeners, guests, partners and mentors – gracias!

When we launched La Frontera in February 2025, our dream was to build a community that bridges startup ecosystems across the Americas. We set out to spotlight founders building world‑class companies and to learn from the investors backing them. Your subscriptions, shares, and conversations have turned that dream into reality. We’re grateful for the founders who trusted us with their stories, the investors who offered candid insights, the operators who joined our events, and each of you who tuned in.

Our mission remains clear: connect North and Latin America’s startup ecosystems, highlight exceptional founders, and gather diverse investor perspectives. Together we’re building a cross‑border community that makes our region stronger.

Spotify Wrapped

Milestones

• Launch: Officially launched on February 20, 2025.

• Subscribers: Grew to ~800 subscribers across our newsletter and podcast.

• Events: Hosted three community events with hundreds of attendees in New York, Colombia and Mexico City.

• Podcast: Released 19 episodes – 11 founder conversations and 8 investor episodes – amplifying voices from across the region.

2025 Event Photos!

Episode highlights

Below is a summary of our 2025 podcast episodes. Each entry includes the guest and a brief description; click the title to read the full notes and find your preferred listening platform.

• Marcial González Fraga – Episode 19: Marcial González Fraga (Founder of Oss) shares his journey from launching Mercado Libre’s fintech arm to co‑founding a startup and leading 100+ investments at Latitud. Now a “fundraising sherpa,” he coaches founders to think like VCs and flip the fundraising power dynamic.

• Nicolás Estrada – Episode 18: Nicolás Estrada (CFO of VEMO) explains why he left Wall Street to join VEMO’s mission to build a vertically integrated electric‑mobility ecosystem. He describes rolling up EV fleets, charging networks and fintech‑like services, emphasizing that clean air and sustainable jobs are central to VEMO’s mission.

• Daniela Pacheco – Episode 17: Daniela Pacheco (Managing Partner of New Ventures Capital) explains how she built a $20 M fund focused on health, fintech, education and climate. She argues that impact and returns should collide and highlights how women’s health and youth underpin her thesis.

• Daniel Rodríguez – Episode 16: Daniel Rodríguez (Co‑founder & CEO of Adquiere) tells how a failed sale of his previous company inspired him to build a tech‑enabled marketplace that democratizes deals. He discusses why exits matter, the role of small and mid‑sized businesses and how cross‑border capital from the Hispanic diaspora can supercharge the ecosystem.

• Tomás Uribe – Episode 15: Tomás Uribe (Co‑founder & CEO of Mavity) recounts his journey from a musical upbringing in Bogotá to New York’s tech scene. He explains how his creative roots help him fundraise authentically and use AI to supercharge creative work.

• Remembering Ali Jamal – Episode 14: A tribute to Ali Jamal of First Check Ventures. Friends recall his humility, generosity and unwavering belief in founders; he quietly championed entrepreneurs long before others were ready to bet on them.

• Juan Fantoni – Episode 13: Juan Fantoni (Co‑founder & CCO of Pomelo) explains how a big fintech infrastructure problem led him from Mastercard to co‑founding Pomelo. He discusses scaling from Argentina across the region, navigating regulation and raising one of the region’s largest Series B rounds.

• María Gutiérrez Peñaloza – Episode 12: María Gutiérrez Peñaloza (Co‑founding Partner of Nido Ventures) outlines why nearshoring trends could make the next decade Mexico’s golden age. She describes how her Silicon Valley supply‑chain experience shaped Nido’s thesis and how the fund channels U.S. capital into B2B startups transforming legacy industries.

• Marinella Piñate – Episode 11: Marinella Piñate (Co‑founder & CEO of Zumma) shares how her all‑female founding team pivoted from a personal finance app to an AI‑powered “WhatsApp CFO” for businesses. She reflects on her globetrotting background, resilience and community‑building in LatAm fintech.

• Luis Andrés Enríquez Arias – Episode 10: Luis Andrés Enríquez Arias (Co‑founder & GP of Bridge Latam) details why LatAm’s tech market is poised for massive growth. He identifies sectors ripe for disruption, discusses cultural nuances and founder dilution and shares lessons from his transition from founder to investor.

• Andrés Londoño Botero – Episode 9: Andrés Londoño Botero (Co‑founder & CFO of Monet) traces his path from public policy to fintech and explains how Monet gives first‑time borrowers access to credit. The team uses behavioural data to build credit models and aims to close the credit gap in Colombia.

• Susana Espinosa de los Reyes – Episode 8: Susana Espinosa de los Reyes (Partner at Dux Capital) recounts her unconventional path into VC. As one of Mexico’s first female GPs, she co‑founded Mujeres Invertiendo, invests across the U.S. and LatAm and advocates for more women on the cap table.

• Nico Yepes – Episode 7: Nico Yepes (Co‑founder & COO of Moffin) explains his transition from Wall Street to building Moffin, a fintech infrastructure startup that turns fragmented data into real‑time underwriting pipelines.

• Ángel Cisneros – Episode 6: Ángel Cisneros (Founder & CEO of Saptiva AI) bootstrapped an SMS startup in Mexico and later sold it to Twilio. He’s now building Saptiva to give LatAm its own AI infrastructure so the region becomes an AI creator, not just a consumer.

• Alejandro Troll Bouroncle – Episode 5: Alejandro Troll Bouroncle (GP at BVC) shares insights from building the Lima startup ecosystem. He discusses differences among Brazil, Colombia and Peru, how BVC builds trusted deal flow and educates Japanese LPs.

• Courtney McColgan – Episode 4: Courtney McColgan (Founder & CEO of Runa) moved to LatAm for love, scaled Cabify from $20 M to $1.5 B and founded payroll startup Runa. She shares lessons on scaling across the region, raising capital and hiring talent while emphasising LatAm’s untapped potential.

• René Lomelí Ojeda – Episode 3: René Lomelí Ojeda (Partner at 500 Global) has been building the ecosystem from day one. He discusses the evolution of 500 Global’s LatAm operations, the changing landscape for startups and angel investors and why he remains bullish despite liquidity risks.

• Valentina Valencia – Episode 2: Valentina Valencia (Founder & CEO of Vaas) is transforming private‑debt markets in LatAm. She recounts her journey from Silicon Valley to Colombia, raising funds from a16z before having a product and tackling inefficiencies in Mexico and Colombia’s structured‑debt systems.

• Cristóbal Perdomo – Episode 1: Cristóbal Perdomo (Co‑founder & GP of Wollef VC) explains what it takes to build a top venture fund in LatAm. He talks about raising his first fund, the differences among LP bases and the challenges of exits and liquidity.

Event highlights

We loved bringing the podcast community together in person. Below are highlights of our 2025 events!

NY Tech Week – Coffee Social with Pygma: Our first event during New York Tech Week brought together founders, angels and VCs over Colombian coffee. Co‑hosted with Pygma, this casual meet‑up sparked serendipitous cross‑hemisphere connections. (June 2025 at La Rubia, NYC)

Colombia Tech Week – Live Podcast with Vaas: We recorded a series of live episodes with Valentina Valencia of Vaas at Colombia Tech Week. The energy in Bogotá’s tech scene was electric and the in‑person Q&A added depth to the conversation. (August 2025 at Universidad EAN, Bogotá)

Mexico City Tech Week – Breakfast with Migos, Moffin and AWS: An early‑morning gathering in Mexico City with Migos, Moffin and AWS. We connected with many friends, old and new, along with quite a few previous La Frontera guests. Shout out to Isa at Migo Bagels for the delicious, NY style bagels! (October 2025 at AWS, CDMX)

Looking ahead to 2026

We’re just getting started! In 2026 we’re lining up conversations with Andrew Endicott (Gilgamesh Ventures), Adolfo Blasco (NAZCA VC), Nico Camhi (Vambe AI) and many more founders, operators and investors across the hemisphere. We also plan to host more IRL events in Mexico City and New York – stay tuned for details.

Co‑host updates

• Tom Barrett: Tom finished his MBA at Kellogg and joined Vaas to spearhead the company’s U.S. expansion (hear more about Vaas in Valentina’s episode). He’s relocating to Mexico City in January 2026 – reach out if you’re there!

• Cyrus Bakhshi: Cyrus is working on acquiring small businesses (now on his second) in the U.S. to build a portfolio of operator‑led companies.

Both of us remain passionate about connecting with founders and investors. Whether on the podcast or over coffee, we’re always up for a conversation.

Thanks for listening and stay connected

Thank you for being part of La Frontera. We couldn’t have achieved this without your support. If you haven’t already, please subscribe on your preferred platform and share the podcast with friends who care about building a vibrant, inclusive startup ecosystem across the Americas.

• 🎧 Spotify: Listen on Spotify

• 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Listen on Apple Podcasts.

• ▶️ YouTube: Listen on YouTube.

We hope this recap inspires you to continue building, investing and connecting across borders. ¡Vamos juntos!