In venture capital, Kaszek, Monashees, and Astella are among the startups in Brazil

Everyone who has a brand and reputation has everything. Even in venture capital (VC). This is the main finding of a survey of 246 Brazilian start-up entrepreneurs, which was conducted by newfeed He had exclusive access.

Implemented by Spectra, an independent alternative asset manager with R$6 billion under management and one of the most important Limited partners (LPs) from local funds, the study concluded that reputation and brand are the two attributes most valued by venture capital fund entrepreneurs.

The same study identified the VC managers most respected by entrepreneurs. At the top of the ranking was Kaszek, which was founded by Argentinians Nicolas Zicassi and Hernan Kazah, which has just raised nearly $1 billion in two new funds, information revealed exclusively by newfeed, last week. The podium is completed by the Monashees and Astella.

“Many managers say they have a team that adds value to the startup in order to attract LPs and startups, but this has been proven not to be true,” says Riccardo Kanitz, partner at Spectra. “The great feature of a venture capital fund is its brand.”

In addition to reputation and brand, Brazilian entrepreneurs value, in that order, the manager who is organizer friendAnd the quality of the team and the entrepreneurial experience of managers f Record. Support the Manager in the daily activities of the startup and expertise In this sector two features are considered of little relevance.

To exemplify brand importance, Kanitz demonstrates with Sequoia, one of Silicon Valley’s most respected venture capital managers. According to him, Sequoia has a brand that makes the best startups go after checking them out. In turn, Sequoia money helps the businessman get the best dealsto attract the best talents and startups to prepare themselves well for the upcoming rounds.

The survey also shows the development of venture capital in Brazil. In 2010, the number of local venture capital managers was 16 and they had R$1.1 billion to invest. Last year, there were more than 80. And capital available for investment, known as dry powder In the language of the sector, it increased to R$ 11 billion.

Despite this jump, Kanitz believes that the available capital will not be sufficient to fund the startups’ need for contributions – in particular, those that are at an advanced stage and need the money to grow.

These tours have been funded by hedge funds or Crossing (which invest in companies that are open and closed),” says Kanitz. “This money is either gone or has significantly reduced capital allocation.”

According to Kanitz, this is still not the time to invest. From your point of view, it is Ratings From private companies have not yet fallen to the level of public companies.

“There is a decorative relationship between these two markets and it is starting to taper off early stageKanitz says. “A penny will only sink when startups start dying.” This scenario should start to happen at the end of this year, when many startups will run out of capital and won’t be able to raise money.

Who are the managers in the top ten

This isn’t the first time Spectra has evaluated venture capital firms in Brazil. Since 2015, it has conducted surveys to decide how to allocate resources. Currently, the house is the LP for managers such as Big Bets, Astella, Valor, monashees and Kaszek, among others – in total, he has direct and indirect partnerships with more than 50 managers.

However, this is the first time Spectra has made the data public given the base of relevant responses it obtained in the survey. In addition to the trio on the platform, the other managers who complete the top 10 are Valor Capital, ONEVC, EquitasVC, Canary, Upload, Atlantico and Headline. The surprise, according to Kanitz, is that junior managers are among the ten most valued by entrepreneurs.

Among them, EquitasVC, which raised the first fund in 2020, Upload and Headline, which was born in 2022. In the case of the latter two, they inherited the reputation of Redpoint events, as their founders come from the manager who currently only manages the fundraising of the two funds (Rodrigo Baer, ​​at Upload; and Romero Rodrigues, in Headline).

Another conclusion of the research is that entrepreneurs from different generations of startups have different perceptions of what is most relevant to a manager.

Entrepreneurs who established their startups between 2015 and 2019 ranked the manager’s reputation/brand as the most important factor. Those from 2020/2021 prefer the quality of the team. Finally, the generation born in 2022/2023 are looking for more friendly terms.

The research sample is based exclusively on startup entrepreneurs who have raised at least one funding using venture capital funds.

Of the 246 entrepreneurs who responded to the survey, 48% made a seed round (recent funding was always considered) and 37%, Series A. Those with Series B account for 8% of the sample and with Series C, 6%. Only 1% got a D round or later.