Main Highlights:
- L’Attitude Ventures is a new venture capital firm founded by Sol Trujillo
- The San Diego-based venture intends to invest entirely in Latina(o)-owned seed to Series A firms with “strong growth potential.”
- L’Attitude Ventures announced the closing of its first institutional fund, which raised more than $100 million from multiple financial industry titans
L’Attitude Ventures is a new venture capital firm founded by Sol Trujillo, the former CEO of Telstra and Sol Munoz, who was formerly the chairman and CEO of United Airlines. Co-founder Kennie Blanco is a former portfolio manager at BlackRock and former president of Bay Area Latinos in Finance. The firm’s first fund raised $2 million in 2019, closing with a capital raise led by Munoz and Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff. Other LPs include UC Investments and MassMutual, Barclays and Royal Bank of Canada. Most of the firm’s significant investments are fintech companies, but Lucas says the firm is industry agnostic. “Latino(o)-owned companies enjoy a built-in relationship with a rising generation of young U.S. Latino consumers”.
Latino entrepreneurs of early-stage enterprises in the United States now have a new possible source of finance.
The San Diego-based venture intends to invest entirely in Latina(o)-owned seed to Series A firms with “strong growth potential.”
According to partner Laura Moreno Lucas, L’Attitude’s decision to only back Latina(o)-owned companies with headquarters in the United States, rather than those with headquarters in Latin America, stems from the fact that U.S.-based Latinos create 50% of all new employer-based businesses and wield $2.7 trillion in economic power.
“…Yet they are the most undercapitalized, with less than 2% of VC on early stage and 1% on late stage,” she continues, referencing the 2021 Bain Capital Study Report. “So we believe the opportunity is right here at home in the U.S., which we call the New Mainstream Economy.”
L’Attitude Ventures announced the closing of its first institutional fund, which raised more than $100 million from multiple financial industry titans, including a “strategic anchor investment” from JPMorgan Chase.
The San Diego-based organisation wants to spend all of its money on Latina(o)-owned seeds to Sequence A firms with “high development potential.” According to colleague Laura Moreno Lucas, L’Perspective’s decision to solely focus on Latina(o)-owned corporations primarily based in the United States and never those with headquarters in Latin America stems from the fact that U.S.-based Latinos create 50% of all new employer-based companies and wield $2.7 trillion in financial power.
“…But they’re arguably the most undercapitalized, with less than 2% of VC on early stage and 1% on late stage,” she continued, citing the Bain Capital Research Report for 2021. “So we forecast that the opportunity is right here in the United States, which we call the New Mainstream Economy.” Notably, the agency’s associates come from a variety of — and exceptional — backgrounds:
• Sol Trujillo, the managing accomplice, co-founder, and CEO, is a former CEO of Telstra, Orange SA, and US West. He is also the chairman of L’Perspective LP Trujillo Group and the Latino Donor Collaborative, and he has served on the boards of Financial institution of America, Pepsi, and Goa.
• Gary Acosta, managing partner, co-founder, and president, is the cofounder and CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, as well as the founding father of a number of mortgage, real estate, and expertise firms.
• Managing partner, co-founder, and CIO Kennie Blanco is the former president of Bay Space Latinos in Finance and a former portfolio supervisor at BlackRock.
• Affiliate Oscar Munoz is the former chairman and CEO of United ays. He currently serves on the boards of directors of CBRE Group Inc. and Univision Holdings Inc., as well as as an impartial trustee on Constancy’s Fairness & Excessive-Revenue Funds Board. Lucas is the founder and CEO of Pandocap, a strategic advice and media businesses agency, as well as a 500 Startups adviser. Lucas was previously a managing director at Nasdaq, where she oversaw the IPOs of Past Meat, Lyft, The RealReal, Airbnb, and other high-profile companies. She also founded and exited Ladada, a fashion subscription service. Munoz and Lucas both began working with the agency in early 2022.
“We believe that these large fintech LPs will be able to serve as a launch pad to help propel and stimulate our portfolio,” she explained. Typically, L’Perspective’s partners believe that the financial institutions financing the fund have more than altruistic intentions. They also perceive alternatives.
“This fund…represents a first salvo for what needs to become a financing boost aimed for this segment of early-stage firms founded or controlled by Latina(0) entrepreneurs and with significant promise,” Trujillo stated in a prepared statement. “Latina(o)-owned businesses benefit from an integrated relationship with a growing generation of young U.S. Latino customers; investing in their early growth ensures strong returns on investment over the next 3040 years at a minimum.”
Munoz concurs, describing the growing Latino population as “the single greatest market since the baby boomer period, with a GDP output bigger than most wealthy nations’ entire economies.” “There has never been a better time to profit on and contribute to the rapid growth of Latina(o)-owned businesses,” he said. Every September, L’Perspective hosts a convention to create a discussion board for startups to compete for up to $20 million in cash that L’Perspective Ventures will invest in during the cycle. According to the fund, the competition may also serve as a forum for entrepreneurs to present various -da-tential buyers.
