Ivan Montoya / NuMundo Ventures

Ivan Montoya is the Solo GP behind NuMundo Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage fund investing in Latin American fintech, property tech, and supply chain startups.

Born in Colombia and raised in Silicon Valley, Ivan’s path to VC shaped how he sees opportunity. While most funds in the region bet on polished pedigrees, Stanford or Harvard, MBA, English fluency, Ivan bets on overlooked potential.

His best example is a founder he calls “the Mexican Bill Gates.” Mairon had no college degree, no connections, no VC polish. Every other firm in Mexico passed. “I didn’t even have the fund yet, so I put in $20K of my own money. After I closed my first fund, I wired him $150K. Eight months later, another $150K.” Today: $30 million ARR, $25 million raised, Series B closed.

Our conversation gets into why most VCs in Latin America follow “central casting.” Top school in the U.S., speaks English well, fits the traditional profile. This approach has produced winners like Nubank and MercadoLibre, but it’s narrow. Exceptional founders get filtered out before they reach decision-makers.

As a solo GP, Ivan has structural advantages. “In Latin America, Mairon would’ve met the most junior person at a fund, if he got the meeting at all. Then that person has to convince a partner. But the partner doesn’t know him, and he hasn’t been to college, so they pass.” Ivan pattern-matches on different signals: hustle, market insight, execution ability.

Ivan’s thesis on timing is believing that Latin America is entering its “Fairchild Semiconductor moment.” “Fairchild kicked off a cycle in Silicon Valley: 1962 to 1977. I think Latin America started its cycle with Nubank, around 2010. Now we’re in 2025, 15 years in.”

Full episode below, or on Spotify / Apple Podcasts