Valor Capital Group

Antoine Colaço, a trained aerospace engineer who spent nine years at Google and served as COO of Global Partnerships, builds US–Latin America cross-border deals and guides founders on global expansion.

Co-founder of Valor Capital Group and former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil.

Dan Schulman is a Managing Partner at Valor Capital Group. He was CEO of PayPal for nine years, and earlier held roles including Group President at American Express, founding CEO of Virgin Mobile, President and CEO of Priceline Group, and 18 years at AT&T. He currently sits on the boards of Verizon, Cisco, Lazard, and the Cleveland Clinic.

Michael Nicklas operates between Rio and New York, backing Brazilian and Latin American fintech and crypto startups aiming for global leadership, prioritizing tokenization and central-bank ties to Pix and Drex.

Paulo Passoni is a Managing Partner at Valor Capital Group, where he leads the firm's Growth Equity business, focusing on growth equity and special situations across asset classes including tech, public and private equity, credit, infrastructure, and real estate. He previously was a Managing Investment Partner of SoftBank's LatAm Funds, a Managing Director for Emerging Markets investments at Third Point, and helped build Eton Park's Latin American special situations effort; he began his career at Morgan Stanley. He holds a joint degree from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar) and the Kennedy School, and an undergraduate degree in business and finance from FGV in São Paulo.

Scott Sobel, co‑founder with his former-ambassador father of a Brazil–U.S. bridge venture platform, parlayed Net2Phone (millions of users, $200M+ revenue, $1.4B sale to AT&T) and argues Brazil can scale 7–8×.

Bruno Batavia spent over 13 years working on innovation at Brazil's Central Bank (BCB), where he focused on emerging technologies and was involved in the LIFT innovation program and the LIFT Challenge Real Digital. He served as Deputy Project Manager for Brazil's Digital Real (Drex) CBDC initiative, contributed to working groups on CBDCs and tokenization, and co-authored the BCB's ESG policy framework as founding chair of its ESG Committee. He holds an MPA from Columbia University and an LL.B from PUC-Rio.

Eduardo Vasconcellos is a partner at ACE Global, which invests in public and private technology companies. He founded Scenius, an AI company incubation platform, Amigos da Poli, Brazil's first university endowment fund, and the Stanford GSB Impact Fund, a student-led seed investment vehicle. Vasconcellos holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Poli-USP.

Phillip Trauer is a Managing Director at Vivo Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Telefónica Group. His investment experience covers software, fintech, and marketplaces, with focus on how emerging technologies impact telecom, financial services, logistics, real estate, and agriculture sectors. He also invests as an angel in AI and enterprise software companies.

Doug Smith is a Partner and CFO of Valor Capital Group and a member of its Investment Committee, contributing financial and investment expertise. He is also a Managing Director at Wesray Social Investments and Van Beuren Management, Inc., where he oversees private investments and has worked on acquisitions, financing, monitoring, and exits across venture, private equity, and real estate holdings. He previously advised and helped launch the Collaborative Fund, a seed venture firm, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the College of the Holy Cross.

Gabriel Rosenthal Gil is a VP at Valor Capital Group, where he sources deals, evaluates investment opportunities, and supports portfolio companies with a focus on fintech, crypto, retail, and agtech. He previously worked as an investment intern at Plug and Play in Brazil and at Viola Ventures in Israel, along with a product and BI internship at a sportstech startup. He holds a B.A. in Business Administration from FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas).

Mario Mello is a Board Member and Venture Partner at Valor Capital Group with more than 30 years in financial services and technology. He previously spent eight years as General Manager and General Director for PayPal Latin America, and held roles as Executive Vice President at Visa Latin America and Statutory Director of Banco Real (later acquired by Santander). He holds a BSE in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic School at the University of São Paulo.

Beatriz Balbuena is a Senior Associate at Valor, where she manages and supports the fund's community. Before joining Valor in January 2022, she spent three years as an Account Manager at Endeavor Brasil, working with founders across various segments. She holds a B.S. in Economics from Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon and an MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from ESADE Business School in Barcelona.

Carlos Costa is a Managing Partner at Valor Capital Group, where he evaluates new investment opportunities at the seed and growth stages and supports portfolio companies. Before Valor, he spent nearly five years as a Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in the Brazil and Silicon Valley offices. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School (2018) and graduated in Business Administration and Law in Brazil.

Carol Lacombe is a venture capital professional with over a decade of experience in cross-border transactions and early-stage investment across Latin America, with focus on SaaS, healthcare, education, and clean tech. She is co-founder of AheadX and maintains networks within both Latin American and US venture capital communities. Her background includes deal sourcing, full-cycle investment activities, board participation, and liquidity event negotiations.

Fabiana Scionti is a Senior Associate at Valor Capital Group, where she sources deals, evaluates investment opportunities, and supports portfolio companies, with a focus on software, climate, and Spanish-speaking Latin America. She previously worked as an investment professional at SoftBank Investment Advisers within its Latin America Funds and was an early member of SoftBank's $100M Miami Initiative, and began her career at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Latin America Financing Group. She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University and studied at Bocconi University.

Felipe Mendes is a VP at Valor Capital Group. Before joining Valor, he was a Country Manager based in Brazil at EB5 Affiliate Network, a Florida real estate investment fund tied to immigration, and earlier worked as a military engineer with the Brazilian Army on roads construction and infrastructure. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from the Military Institute of Engineering (IME) and a Master's in Finance and Economics from PUC-Rio, and is a Fundação Estudar Fellow.

Gustavo Berger is an Investment Associate at Valor Capital Group, where he sources deals, evaluates opportunities, and supports portfolio companies with a focus on crypto, fintech, and gaming. Before Valor, he worked in investment banking at igc Partners, a Brazilian middle-market boutique, and served as a director and board member of InFinance, Insper's finance student club. He holds a degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Insper and studied Business and Psychology during a semester at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gustavo Nolla is an Associate at Valor Capital Group, working on the Finance team. Before Valor, he worked on tech-focused early to late-stage venture capital and public equities investments at Catarina Capital. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina), where he took part in projects on electrical and autonomous mobility involving Brazil-Germany cooperation.

Kelli Spangler joined Valor Capital Group in January 2012 as Executive Assistant to the Founding Partners. She has more than 20 years of experience supporting senior executives and teams and works out of the firm's New York office.

Marc Luongo is a Controller at Valor Capital Group with more than 20 years of experience in financial services, including senior roles at Ernst & Young, Soros Fund Management, and SS&C. He is a CPA who earned a BBA in Accounting from Loyola University of Maryland and an MBA in Finance from New York University, and belongs to the AICPA and the New York State Society of CPAs.

Nicole Salim is an Investment Associate at Valor Capital Group, working on deal sourcing, evaluating investment opportunities, and supporting portfolio companies for the firm's Growth Fund. She previously worked at Partech's Paris-based Growth Equity Fund and interned in investment banking at igc Partners and Morgan Stanley. She holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo (Poli-USP) and spent a year studying at CentraleSupélec in France.

Pedro Bustamante is an Investment Associate at Valor, where he sources deals, evaluates investment opportunities, and supports portfolio companies with a focus on the healthcare and education industries. Before Valor, he held a summer position at Itaú Private Bank. He is pursuing a BS in Electronic Engineering at UFMG, where he served as president of the UFMG Finance Club.

Vivian Consolo is an Executive Assistant at Valor Capital Group, where she supports the firm's Managing Partners and Partners. She has about 10 years of experience supporting executives and teams, and previously worked at Patria Private Equity.