Mexico VC Fund Makes First Close

A new venture capital fund in Mexico, Alta Ventures, has made a first closing of $50m and plans to raise about $100m. It aims to invest in early-stage IT, telecom, education, health and energy companies, Alta managing director Rogelio de los Santos tells LatinFinance. So far, investors include Nafin fund of funds Corporacion Mexicana de Inversiones de Capital, which has invested $20m out of the initial $50m. Mexican family offices, institutional investors and retail are also participating. De los Santos says 20% of the fund’s capital will be invested in companies that are ready to be scaled up. He expects that an average of $7m-$9m will be invested in these types of companies. The rest will be invested in early-stage firms, with each one getting around $5m. Venture capital is a fairly new concept in Mexico, but local fund managers say that it starting to gain momentum. “Last year there was one venture capital fund. Now there are around 5 or 6. In 3 years, I expect there will be some 20 funds,” says de los Santos.