Nicolás Szekasy

Background

Nicolás Szekasy is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Kaszek, the largest venture capital firm in Latin America ¹. He holds an economics degree from the University of Buenos Aires (1988) and an MBA from Stanford University (1991) ².

Before entering venture capital, Szekasy spent seven years as CFO of PepsiCo for Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay ³. In 2000, he joined MercadoLibre as CFO, where he spent over a decade helping build Latin America’s largest technology company ¹. He led MercadoLibre’s $333 million IPO on Nasdaq in 2007 ¹³. During his tenure, he navigated the company through the dot-com bust in 2000-2001 and the 2008 global financial crisis, enduring more than five years before the company turned a profit ³. In 2008, he was invited to deliver the Arjay Miller Distinguished CFO Lecture at Stanford GSB ².

Szekasy was selected as one of Endeavor’s first Entrepreneurs in 1999 when he co-founded MercadoLibre alongside Hernan Kazah and Marcos Galperin ⁴. After MercadoLibre’s IPO, he began receiving near-daily requests from entrepreneurs seeking advice and capital, leading him to become an active angel investor ². In 2011, he received the Endeavor Emerging Markets Mentor of the Year award ².

In 2011, Szekasy and Kazah co-founded Kaszek to address a significant gap: exceptional founders were building high-potential companies in Latin America, yet there was virtually no venture capital available to help them scale ⁵. The firm now manages approximately $3 billion in assets across seven funds ⁶.

Szekasy has received multiple recognitions: EY Entrepreneur Master of the Year for Argentina (2018) alongside Kazah ⁴, Visionary Investor of the Decade from Americas Society / Council of the Americas ⁷, and multiple appearances on the Forbes Midas List — the only Latin American investor to be included ⁸. He served as Chairman of the Board at LAVCA from 2021 to 2025 ⁹, is a Board Member at Endeavor Global, and a Trustee at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella ¹.

Stated Thesis

Szekasy has stated that Kaszek’s founding mission was born from the observation that “exceptional founders were building high-potential companies, yet there was virtually no venture capital available to help them scale” ⁵.

He has emphasized capital efficiency and sustainable business models as core investment criteria, stating: “We don’t back businesses that claim that they have capital as a source of moat” ¹⁰.

On the Latin American opportunity, Szekasy has said: “The evolution of the Latin American tech ecosystem over the past 25 years has been extraordinary — from almost nothing to a vibrant, robust environment” but that “the region is still massively underpenetrated” ⁵.

On AI, Szekasy has stated that “the application layer offers immense opportunity in Latin America” and that “companies started now will be worth hundreds of billions in 20 years” ⁵. Many of Kaszek’s most recent investments are AI-centered ⁵.

Szekasy describes Kaszek’s approach as being “entrepreneurs and former operators partnering with founders rather than investors deploying capital” ⁵¹¹.

Inferred Thesis

Szekasy’s personal investment activity is conducted through Kaszek, where he and co-founder Hernan Kazah jointly manage all investments. The analysis below is drawn from Szekasy’s individual board seats and known deal involvement, cross-referenced with Kaszek’s broader portfolio of 130+ companies ⁶¹².

Board-level involvement: Szekasy currently sits on the boards of QuintoAndar, Creditas, NotCo, NuvemShop, Belvo, Fintual, Xepelin, Bitso, and Alice ¹. He was a board member at Nubank from 2013 to 2021 ¹. This gives direct visibility into his personal focus areas.

Sector distribution of board seats: Of 10 known current and former board seats: 6 are fintech companies (Nubank, Creditas, Fintual, Xepelin, Bitso, Belvo — 60%), 1 is healthtech (Alice — 10%), 1 is proptech (QuintoAndar — 10%), 1 is e-commerce/SaaS (NuvemShop — 10%), and 1 is foodtech (NotCo — 10%). This shows a pronounced personal concentration in fintech, even stronger than Kaszek’s overall portfolio weighting of ~25% fintech ¹².

Stage focus: Szekasy’s board companies show a pattern of early-stage entry followed by long-term partnership. Kaszek invested in Nubank at the pre-seed stage (PowerPoint presentation) ¹³, in QuintoAndar at Series A ¹⁴, and in Creditas at an early stage ¹². The firm’s early-stage funds write first checks from $500K to $25M, while the Opportunity Fund provides follow-on capital of $10M-$50M for later-stage rounds ¹⁵.

Geographic pattern: Of the 10 board seat companies, 7 are headquartered in Brazil (Nubank, Creditas, NuvemShop, Alice, Belvo, QuintoAndar, NotCo), 2 in Chile (Fintual, Xepelin), and 1 in Mexico (Bitso) ¹². This reflects a heavy Brazil orientation in Szekasy’s personal deal involvement.

Co-investor patterns: Based on Kaszek portfolio data, frequent co-investors include QED Investors (particularly in fintech), Tiger Global Management, Monashees, General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, and SoftBank ¹²¹⁶. Sequoia Heritage has been an LP in Kaszek’s funds since Fund I ¹⁶.

Founder profile: Szekasy’s portfolio companies are overwhelmingly addressing structural inefficiencies in Latin American markets — banking (Nubank, Creditas), housing (QuintoAndar), healthcare (Alice), financial infrastructure (Belvo, Bitso) — suggesting a strong preference for founders tackling underpenetrated categories where technology can create massive efficiency gains ¹².

Portfolio

The following table lists investments where Szekasy is known to have personal board involvement or direct deal participation, distinct from the broader Kaszek portfolio.

Note: Years marked with “~” are approximate, based on company founding dates or earliest known Kaszek involvement. Szekasy participates in all Kaszek investment decisions as co-founder and Managing Partner; this table highlights companies where his personal board-level involvement is confirmed. For the full Kaszek portfolio of 130+ companies, see the Kaszek firm profile.

In Their Own Words

“We don’t back businesses that claim that they have capital as a source of moat.” — Nicolas Szekasy, The Twenty Minute VC podcast, 2021 ¹⁰

“Exceptional founders were building high-potential companies, yet there was virtually no venture capital available to help them scale.” — Nicolas Szekasy, LAVCA interview ⁵

“There is a much larger pool of high-quality entrepreneurs with stronger networks, deeper experience and bigger ambitions.” — Nicolas Szekasy, LAVCA interview, on the evolution of Latin America’s startup ecosystem ⁵

“The application layer offers immense opportunity in Latin America…companies started now will be worth hundreds of billions in 20 years.” — Nicolas Szekasy, LAVCA interview, on AI opportunities in the region ⁵

“We think that we have accomplished a lot, but we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of opportunity.” — Nicolas Szekasy, Stanford GSB Arjay Miller CFO Lecture ¹⁸

“We are very grateful for their trust, and will work hard to invest this capital wisely in the best entrepreneurs and build significant value as we help founders scale their companies.” — Nicolas Szekasy, on closing Kaszek’s $600M Fund IV/Opportunity Fund I ¹⁶

What Founders Say

“Kaszek has added and continues to add significant value to Nubank. They invested when we were a PowerPoint presentation and, during our initial days, they rolled up their sleeves and worked with us to help us find product-market fit and define and implement our distribution strategy. Today we are at a different, more mature stage, and Kaszek remains a very close partner as we expand into new verticals and geographies. As entrepreneurs, they have navigated many of the challenges we are facing as we scale, and they are the only VC in Latin America with that type of experience.” — David Velez, CEO and Founder of Nubank, Kaszek website ¹¹

“As our first investor, Kaszek has been in the trenches with us since the very early days. We benefited enormously from their unique blend of strategic ambition and deep industry knowledge, and developed a strong connection with all their team. After leading our series A, Kaszek continued to play a critical role in our fundraising history, by providing key support that facilitated our access to new investors and the closing of the rounds, while following up in every instance with their own capital.” — Gabriel Braga, Co-Founder and CEO of QuintoAndar, Kaszek website ¹¹

“Kaszek is led by successful and visionary entrepreneurs who continue shaping the ecosystem. Having them as investors provides us with execution support, recruiting assistance, leadership experience and an unparalleled network. Their impact has been material and has proven to be a key differentiator for our company.” — Carlos García, Founder and CEO of Kavak, Kaszek website ¹¹

“They’re not going to get fooled by the grow-at-all-costs mindset. What’s really constant with Kaszek is that no matter where the tide is, they always clear out the noise and focus on fundamentals.” — Carlos García, Founder and CEO of Kavak, Americas Quarterly ¹³

Connections

• Board member, Nubank (2013-2021) — alongside David Velez (CEO) ¹¹³
• Board member, QuintoAndar (current) — alongside Gabriel Braga (CEO) ¹¹⁴
• Board member, Creditas (current) ¹
• Board member, NotCo (current) — alongside Matias Muchnick (CEO) ¹
• Board member, NuvemShop (current) ¹
• Board member, Belvo (current) ¹
• Board member, Fintual (current) ¹
• Board member, Xepelin (current) ¹
• Board member, Bitso (current) ¹
• Board member, Alice (current) ¹
• Co-founder, MercadoLibre (1999-2011) — alongside Hernan Kazah (COO/CFO) and Marcos Galperin (CEO) ⁴
• Chairman of the Board, LAVCA (2021-2025) ⁹
• Board Member, Endeavor Global (current) ¹
• Trustee, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (current) ¹
• Co-founder, Kaszek — alongside Hernan Kazah ⁵

Sources