Kaszek: The MercadoLibre Mafia Fund Powering Latin America's Unicorns

Every great startup ecosystem has its founding mafia — the operators-turned-investors who set the standard. In Latin America, that mafia is the MercadoLibre alumni, and its flagship fund is Kaszek.

Founded in 2011 by Hernán Kazah — MercadoLibre's co-founder and former COO — and Nicolás Szekasy, the e-commerce giant's former CFO, Kaszek (the name fuses their surnames, Ka-Szek) set out to do from the investing side what they had done as operators: build category-defining technology companies across Latin America.

Thesis: sector-agnostic, founder-obsessed

Kaszek is deliberately industry-agnostic. As Kazah puts it: "We seek out exceptional founding teams whose business plan is centered on the strategic utilization of technology to gain a competitive advantage. We don't limit ourselves to any specific sector." In practice that spans fintech, enterprise SaaS, proptech, insurtech, health tech, edtech, e-commerce, food tech, climate tech, biotech and blockchain. The one constant is the region: Latin America, with the heaviest activity in Brazil and Mexico, plus investments in Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay.

Fund size and check sizes

Kaszek is Latin America's venture heavyweight. In April 2023 it closed two funds totalling $975 million: Kaszek Ventures VI, a $540 million early-stage fund, and Kaszek Ventures Opportunity-III (KVO-III), a $435 million vehicle for later-stage rounds. That followed a $1 billion pair of funds in 2021 ($475 million early-stage, $525 million opportunity). Earlier vintages ran $95M (2011), $135M (2014), $200M (2017), and $375M plus a $225M opportunity fund in 2019. Its backers include university endowments, philanthropic foundations and technology investors from around the world.

Cheque sizes run $500,000 to $25 million from the early-stage fund (seed to Series B, 20–30 companies) and $10 million to $50 million from the Opportunity fund (10–15 companies, mostly follow-ons into Kaszek's own winners plus select primary and secondary deals).

Portfolio: a unicorn factory

Since 2011 Kaszek has backed more than 120 companies that have collectively raised over $15.5 billion. The crown jewel is Nubank, the digital bank Kaszek backed at pre-seed — "when the company was merely a PowerPoint presentation" — before its December 2021 NYSE listing. Other standouts include QuintoAndar, Kavak, Creditas, NuvemShop, Bitso, Gympass, Notco, MadeiraMadeira, Loggi, Konfio, Technisys, Kushki and Cora.

The team and how they work

The operator DNA runs deep: partner Nicolas Berman is another MercadoLibre veteran, alongside Santiago Fossatti, Andy Young, Mariana Donangelo and Angie Udry. Beyond capital, Kaszek offers first-hand expertise in strategy, operational execution, team-building, growth, technology, product development, networking and fundraising — the playbook its founders wrote at MercadoLibre.

Details of formal credits or perks programmes are not publicly disclosed.