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🙃 Let's keep things light. Some of you have asked me to write about my Latin American backpacking travels and tips on how you can do it too on a budget. Today, that’s what I'm sharing.

💬 If you have other content requests, let me know, and if you’re in Brazil in June or July, let’s meet up for coffee in São Paulo here and Salvador here.

Gabby Cazeau (Harlem Capital), Jessica Peltz Zatulove and Kate Shillo Beardsley (Hannah Grey VC), Kathryn Finney (Genius Guild)

👋🏽 Hello from Brazil! You may associate it with the Amazon rainforest, Carnival, and soccer, but it’s so much more than that! It is the #1 startup hub in Latin America; 58% of all venture capital deals in Latin America have closed here. It's also the most diverse country in the region, with the largest population of Japanese (outside of Japan) and Afro-Latinos in the world. If you want to learn more, dig into the 🇧🇷 Brazil Startup Guide that the community and I put together.

📝 Read the Brazil Startup Guide

For those who are new, welcome, and to catch you up: Josh and I are living nomadically in LATAM’s hottest startup hubs: Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and now Brazil. We figured that we could cost-effectively work remotely, eat and explore cultures (our favorite hobbies), and find unicorns for Ganas Ventures (I invest in both US & Latin American early-stage founders).

🎉 Join the Ganas family

It’s been great but not perfect! I’ve invested in wonderful Latin American founders and soonicorns (like Brazilian-based Latitud 🦄), learned a ton about my indigenous heritage (like how colonizers influenced my Mexican upbringing), and eaten a lot of great food (e.g., Mexico’s mole, Chile’s avocados, Argentina’s matambrito de cerdo). The not-perfect part comes in the shape of things like limited access to hot water (❄️ short showers), inconsistent wifi, and toilets that cannot handle toilet paper. I’ll spare you stories but I’m sure you can imagine funny things happening. Then again that’s life —or maybe it’s not. What I’m sharing comes from two people who are basically budget backpacker travelers; Josh and I are literally traveling with a backpack and a carry-on, lol.

It’s fun and I wouldn’t change a thing because if we did, we wouldn’t be living in non-touristy areas, meeting locals, getting to see the daily realities of Latin Americans, digesting the problems (AKA decacorn making opportunities), and the culture!

On that last note, outside of São Paulo (where we are now), we will be living in Salvador, the heart of Afro-Brazilian culture, where samba and capoeira started and where the startup scene is starting to spring to life.

As for how you can backpack through Latin America too, below are my tips & hyperlinked resources for you:

Get a Passport
Create a budget for housing, transport, food, fun & emergencies based on living costs
Write down your country list and timeline based on your budget
Check country entry requirements (e.g., VISAs, COVID tests, vaccines, travel insurance)
Unlock your phone & plan to keep up with home country to-dos (e.g., mail, taxes)
Pack light, get on your flight, when you arrive figure out what SIM card to get (for phone/data usage), have fun, and adjust as your adventure unfolds

✨ Lolita Taub
twitter | luma | ICYMI I was in Forbes, TechCrunch, and Fast Company.

Congrats

Jessica Peltz Zatulove and Kate Shillo Beardsley raised $52M for Hannah Grey's Fund I. Helen Adeosun raised $20M for CareAcademy. Kimiloluwa Fafowora raised $4.2M for Gander. Pava LaPere and Sherrod Davis raised $3.5M for EcoMap. Sydney Thomas launched a stealth mode fund. Kathryn Finney released her book, Build The Damn Thing.

Sponsored | SVB Startup Banking is a community of former founders, operators, and investors passionate about supporting founders on their path to success. Beyond banking, we work with early-stage founders to help them navigate the challenges of funding and scaling a startup from Day 1. Please reach out to connect with us! We'd love to learn more about what you're building and how we can help. - Rochelle & Vanessa

Connect with SVB Startup Banking

Funders

Gabby Cazeau | VCs interested in LATAM: get an in-depth look at how women founders in LATAM are changing the game in Harlem Capital’s report
PitchBook | VCs: get the latest data on market corrections in seed rounds
Startup-Investor Matching Tool | VCs: meet thesis-aligned underrepresented founders
GP-LP Matching Tool | LPs: get thesis-aligned intros to underrepresented GPs

Sponsored | Ready to accelerate your business to the next level in retail? Get connected to the Target Accelerators team whose mission is to engage founders who are looking to grow into mass retail through unmatched mentorship, comprehensive coursework, and collaborative cohorts.

Learn more

Founders

ALLVP | LATAM founders: learn about institutional lenders with this handy chart when you are considering venture debt
Ariana Fowler | Web 3 founders: learn more about compensation in the Web3 space with this awesome guide
Asking for a founder | Founders: discover the pros and cons of crowdfunding in the current market
LaaS | Underrepresented founders: get resources made for you

Sponsored | Private Equity has traditionally only been available to the ultra-wealthy. Now Aqua, a Google-backed YC Alum, is democratizing access to this asset class by enabling individuals to invest in a curated selection of exclusive, top-performing Private Equity funds.

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Money

TechCrunch | Founders: apply for $100k in prize money by 7/31
SoGal Foundation | Black female founders: apply for $5-$10K in grants
1863 Ventures | Black founders: apply to get a 3Rs $5K grant
Non-dilutive capital | Create a profile to find non-dilutive capital
Equity Crowdfunding | Raise up to $5 million
Startup-Investor Matching Tool | Founders: get intros to investors

Jobs

Uplify | Content & Social Media Manager (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
EcoMap Technologies | Head of Sales (Baltimore, MD)
Ganas Ventures | PT Associate (Remote, US)
Ganas Ventuers | PT Community Manager (Remote, US)

💥 See all open roles and post yours here.

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Lolita Taub

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