Antonia Rojas, Attom Capital | Secondaries: What They Are and How They Work

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Today I spoke with Antonia Rojas, partner and cofounder of Attom Capital, the first fund for secondary investments in startups in Latin America.

Before Attom, Antonia was a partner at Hi Ventures and Manutara Ventures, where she became the youngest female partner at a venture capital fund in Latin America. Throughout her career, Antonia has invested in recognized startups such as Xepelin, Nuvocargo, Wonderbrands, and Flat.

Youtube Timestamps*

[3:59]- Career in Venture Capital

Antonia became the youngest female partner at a venture capital fund in Latin America.

If Antonia had to point to some principles or key decisions that led her to that position, what would they be?

Sebas Kreis commented that in Antonia’s family there are major Chilean and German investors and businesspeople, and that she trained with them from the age of 10 to be the best.

What lessons that are useful to her today as an investor did Antonia take from growing up in that family environment?

Antonia has an excellent track record, having invested in companies such as Xepelin, Nuvocargo, and Wonderbrands, among others.

Despite this, Antonia could have raised her own fund, which would be the natural or expected transition.

Why did Antonia decide not to raise her own venture capital fund?

[14:02]- Secondaries Market

For those who are not familiar with the term secondary:

Could Antonia first explain what primary investments are and, therefore, what secondaries are?
Could Antonia share more about the process of research and of forming the thesis behind Attom? What were her hypotheses, what evidence was she looking for, and how did she know it was the right path?
What is the role of secondaries in the startup and venture capital industry? Why would a Limited Partner want to invest in a secondaries fund instead of a primaries fund?

In 2021 and 22, some large investors offered secondaries to founders as a negotiation tool to close investments, even in companies without product market fit that later faced problems or shut down.

Does Antonia have a perspective on when and how much secondaries are healthy, and when they are not?

One of the biggest challenges of the startup ecosystem in Latin America is the lack of liquidity.

What is Antonia’s thesis on how the lack of liquidity in Latin America gets solved?
Are there some sectors or business models where Antonia sees more possibilities of liquidity?

Antonia has spoken about bringing Private Equity instruments and practices to Venture Capital, and one of the things PEs do is connect bankers and acquirers with their companies.

How does Antonia think about this in the context of Attom?
What particular challenges has Antonia faced for being a pioneer of the secondaries industry in Latin America?

[53:09]- Evaluating Investments

Antonia has spoken about learning “which variables move investment decisions” and that “how decisions are made can be even more important than the decision itself.”

How does Antonia make investment decisions?

At Attom, Antonia and her team invest from Series A onward, where there is usually already traction and the famous product market fit.

Among team, market, and traction, what weight does Antonia assign to each one when investing in a company?

[58:18] - Final Questions

What are the most important questions for which Antonia has no answers today?
What is the hardest element of her job, aside from managing time?**
What is the most contrarian or uncommon advice Antonia has for the founders who are listening to her?
What questions do people not ask Antonia that she thinks they should ask her more often?