Latitud Podcast

Santiago Suarez is the Co-Founder and CEO of the “Buy Now Pay Later” solution, Addi.
Through Addi’s rapid ascent, Santi has been a central figure in the boom in online sales and e-commerce since the COVID-19 pandemic, securing over 500,000 customers and 1,000 retailers with his company.

Addi raised USD 340 million last year, having already secured some lucrative clients such as Nike, Puma, Apple, and Claro. The organization also recently opened offices in Brazil and Mexico, and they are looking to expand throughout the LATAM region.

In this podcast, Santi offers insights on topics like:

• The crucial tips and tricks he picked up while working at JP Morgan
• The gaping holes in the payment solutions market in South America
• How fintech companies can differentiate themselves to ride the waves of opportunity
• The key lessons any founder can take on board to be a better CEO

Building good sh*t in Latin America?

• Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com
• Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond
• Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love
• And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Francisco Larraín's professional journey tells a story of coming full circle.

It all started as a founding team member for advertisement network Tapjoy. Having gotten a taste for the world of startups, he went on to found payment technology solution Zappedy and to have a $30 million exit to Groupon, where he stayed as Head of Local Engineering for 3 years.

It wasn't long before Francisco got back on the saddle and founded Maxxa, the largest insurtech company in Chile, and he scaled it up to over 25,000 SMB customers before looking for a new challenge.

When he felt ready to tackle the next big thing, Francisco decided to go back to his beginnings in the monetization space: he and co-founder Regina Ye started auction-based advertisement solution Topsort in 2021 hoping to bring innovation to marketplace advertisement.

Having just raised a $8 million dollar Seed Round at a $110 million valuation from names like Pear Ventures, Quiet Capital and FJLabs, I'd say they're well on the way to accomplishing their goals.

Today, Francisco and I are going over:

• His successful exit strategy for Zappedy
• The challenges of tech leadership roles
• Topsort's journey from idea to Product-Market fit

Building something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.com

Building good sh*t in Latin America?

• Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com
• Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond
• Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love
• And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

For a long time, Loreanne Garcia and her brother, Carlos, had talked about building something together. Originally from Venezuela, they finally found the perfect opportunity in Mexico in 2016.

That's when Lori, Carlos and their co-founder Roger started Kavak, an online platform for buying and selling secondhand cars. With a $4B valuation, Kavak became the first Mexican unicorn in 2020, right during the most unpredictable period most of us have experienced globally in our lifetime. Their fast response to the pandemic accelerated the company's growth, which is also operating in Argentina and expanding to Brazil.

It was during her MBA at Stanford that Lori discovered she had a passion for people and culture and confirmed she wanted to be an entrepreneur. As Chief People Officer, she made sure they were very intentional about culture since day one and paid special attention to it as the business scaled to over 2,500 employees. Through this 5-year journey, Lori learned important lessons from taking the team to where they are, which she shares with us today.

In this chat, find out:

• How Kavak measures and regulates its culture
• How they managed to create a mote from complexity
• And her advice on fundraising from the right investors

Building good sh*t in Latin America?

• Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com
• Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond
• Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love
• And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

If you're Brazilian or have lived in Brazil but you've never heard of Dr. Consulta, you've probably been living under a rock. So many people in the world don't have access to healthcare plans, and this is definitely the case in Brazil.
Over a decade ago, Thomaz Srougi started working on this problem. And now, Dr. Consulta has already supported over 6 million Brazilians. Thomaz recently embarked on a new startup journey to disrupt healthcare once again. With the help of artificial intelligence and backed by a16z, Carecode is a personal assistant for those who already have health insurance.
But to every A side, there's also a B side. This episode wouldn't be a masterclass on how to build a startup serving large and complex markets in LatAm without Thomaz sharing both ups and downs. As many who have attempted to build world-changing startups know, it's now always that you see hockey-stick growth in your first two years – but things can suddenly fire up with the right approach.
What you'll hear in this episode:
– Why Thomaz entered the startup and health worlds;
– How he views building in the US vs building in LatAm;
– The challenges faced at the beginning of Dr. Consulta, including how Thomaz worked through its initial growth problem;
– Thomaz's view on traditional healthcare and the challenge of making preventive care a habit;
– Thomaz's new healthcare startup built with the help of artificial intelligence, Carecode;
– And the gaps and opportunities he still sees in LatAm healthtech.
I'm Gina Gotthilf and this is the Latitud Podcast. Vamos, LatAm!

Building good sh*t in Latin America?

• Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com
• Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond
• Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love
• And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop

Colombian-born Santiago Molina got his degree in business administration and finance from Houston Baptist University on a soccer scholarship, and moved back to his home country after his MBA to start his entrepreneurial journey.
Santi is second-time founder focused on promoting financial inclusion, and is now on a quest to create an innovative solution to democratize access to capital in Latin America.

He and his co-founders Andres Ferrer and Tomas Shuk came together to start Finkargo, LatAm's first import financing platform. They're enabling small and medium-sized importers to finance their international purchases, and have just raised a $7.5 million Seed Round from co-led by Quona Capital and MAYA Capital to propel their vision.
Building something new? Apply for the Latitud Fellowship at apply.latitud.com

Building good sh*t in Latin America?

• Learn about how Latitud can help you at latitud.com
• Discover and pitch Latitud Ventures, your partner from 0 to 1 and beyond
• Sign up for our weekly newsletter for founder insights and some tough love
• And follow us on Linkedin / Instagram / Spotify to stay in the loop