Antonia Rojas’ Attom Capital: Reshaping Latin American Tech Investing

Antonia Rojas shares her personal journey into private investing, Attom Capital’s unique approach to providing liquidity, key investment criteria, challenges in Latin American markets, and the crucial factors influencing investment decisions, culminating in a valuable lesson on timing.

What motivated you personally to get started in private investing?

‍I have a deep belief in the transformative power of technology when applied to tackle significant problems that are in need for more efficient and cost-effective solutions. I entered the tech world more than 10 years ago, when a large earthquake hit my home country, and I found a way in tech to connect people who needed help in reconstruction with the ones that could provide it very effectively – time was of the essence. 

From that point on, I have dedicated my career in finding and supporting the best teams that are pursuing large dreams while leveraging technology to do so. 

What sets Attom Capital apart in the competitive landscape of investors, and how will you use these advantages to achieve your vision with the fund?

As we have been investing and operating in the region for the last several years, we identified a huge gap in the market: the need for liquidity. We are the first local VC fund in the region to focus on partnering with the best companies while providing a creative VC financing solution, like a direct secondary strategy.

What makes an investment opportunity irresistible for Attom Capital?

– Healthy unit economics and significant expansion potential.

– Strong relationship with the founding team

– Deep understanding of the industry

– Clear opportunity to add value

– Understanding of the incentives and alignments of shareholders

How would you define portfolio success beyond economic return?

We see a huge opportunity in providing a VC solution that hasn’t been offered until this point in time in LatAm. Having that said, what excites us the most, is the rippling effects that liquidity brings to the ecosystem. In other regions, we have seen an inflection point on the development of the ecosystem with the development of secondary funds, as stakeholders receive liquidity, and often times they invest that capital back into the ecosystem. As a result, we see more talented, ambitious founders built more solutions to provide people with more access to financial products, health, education, and better solutions to the problems they are experiencing – that is a key motivator for us.

When it comes to investing in Latin America, what would you say is the most significant challenge or pain point that you encounter?

Understanding the uniqueness of each market. International investors tend to look at the region as if it worked all the same, and despite many countries share a common language, the reality is that you need to adapt products according to the specific needs a unique culture. 

What are the main risks in the private investing world that your fund is addressing?

We are leveraging the many years that we have been in the market to compensate for information asymmetry presented in secondary transactions as well as regulatory hurdles and complexity on very sophisticated transactions. The combination of VC and PE investing, plus operating in the region is a key combination to underwrite the risks properly as well as to partner with the best teams to help them continue their growth trajectory.

What has been the primary factor(s) influencing your investment decisions in the past years? How do you think these will evolve over the upcoming years?

The region has been maturing consistently, and the tech penetration as a whole in the market cap of Latin American public company has a huge space for growth. The companies that are being built today, are going to be the leaders of tomorrow. Recognizing the underdeveloped secondary market in Latin America as a crucial component for sustained ecosystem growth is essential. We see a strategic investment opportunity to provide liquidity to early-stage stakeholders, VCs, and founders/employees looking for partial liquidity.

Could you share the best investment lesson you’ve learned during your career?

‍Timing can be as crucial as selection and learning to adapt – change is the only constant.

Please leave us a book recommendation.

The Outsiders – back to earth compilation of successful operators.

What’s your favorite non-business interest or hobby?

Trekking, meditation, and nature. 

What’s your take on the private market overall?

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