Latino founders of early-stage companies based in the U.S. just got a new potential source of capital.
L’Attitude Ventures announced today that it has closed on its first institutional fund, raising more than $100 million from several financial services heavyweights, including a “strategic anchor investment” from JPMorgan Chase.
The San Diego, California-based firm is looking to solely invest in Latina(o)-owned seed to Series A companies with “high growth potential.”
L’Attitude’s decision to only back Latina(o)-owned companies that are based in the U.S., and not 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, according to partner Laura Moreno Lucas.
“…And yet they are the most undercapitalized, with less than 2% of VC on early and 1% on late stage,” she added, citing the 2021 Bain Capital Study Report. “So we think that the opportunity is right here at home in the U.S., which we call the New Mainstream Economy.”
Notably, the firm’s partners come from varied — and impressive — backgrounds:
- Managing partner, co-founder and CEO Sol Trujillo is the former CEO of Telstra, Orange SA and US West. He also serves as chairman of L’Attitude LP Trujillo Group, the Latino Donor Collaborative and is a former board member of Bank of America, Pepsi and Target.
- Managing partner, co-founder and president Gary Acosta is co-founder and CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, as well as the founder of several mortgage, real estate and technology companies.
- Managing partner, co-founder and CIO Kennie Blanco is a former portfolio manager at BlackRock and former president of Bay Area Latinos in Finance.
- Partner Oscar Munoz is the former chairman and CEO of United Airlines, and currently sits on the board of directors for CBRE Group Inc. and Univision Holdings Inc., as well as serves as an independent trustee on Fidelity’s Equity & High-Income Funds Board.
- Lucas is founder and CEO of Pandocap, a strategic advisory and media services firm as well as an advisor to 500 Startups. Lucas was previously a managing director at Nasdaq, where she led the IPOs of Beyond Meat, Lyft, The RealReal, Airbnb and other high-profile listings. She also founded and exited Ladada, a fashion subscription startup.
Both Munoz and Lucas joined the firm in early 2022.
In a prepared statement, JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said: “Latino-led businesses are critical to the U.S. economy but often lack access to capital and resources for growth…Our investment in L’Attitude Ventures builds on our broader commitment to support U.S. Latino entrepreneurs and small businesses across the country.”
Bank of America and Trujillo Group, a private equity firm focused on real estate investing, were also early “key” investors, the fund said. Other LPs include UC Investments and MassMutual, Barclays, the Royal Bank of Canada, Polaris Limited Partners (Oscar Munoz), Cisco and Nuveen Investments.
L’Attitude’s raised its (drastically smaller) first fund in 2019, closing with $5 million in a capital raise led …read more