Patagonia Ventures

investing & Building companies in latin america.
Creating value. Finding the right exit.
About
Entrepreneurs investing in entrepreneurs.
Patagonia Ventures is a private investment company focused on technology businesses in Latin America.
We invest our own capital and work alongside founders to build, scale and create long-term value — bringing more than 30 years of entrepreneurial, operating and M&A experience.

We know what it takes to build a company because we have done it ourselves.
Over the past three decades, we have founded, built, invested in and exited technology companies across Latin America and the United States.
We bring more than capital. We bring operating experience, strategic perspective, an extensive network and a deep understanding of M&A — from both sides of the table.
What we do
INVEST
We invest our own capital in technology companies with strong founders, proven business models and significant growth potential.
Our primary areas of interest include AI, Cybersecurity, Fintech, Payments, SaaS and Digital Media.
BUILD
We work alongside founders and management teams on strategy, growth, go-to-market, international expansion, corporate development and financing.
We take an active approach where our experience and network can make a meaningful difference.
EXIT
We believe an exit is not something you start thinking about when a buyer shows up.
We help companies build strategic value, create optionality and position themselves for potential acquisitions and other liquidity events.
Approach
At Patagonia Ventures, we consider the following key criteria for funding our portfolio companies:

Sector Focus
Industries and markets where we can contribute the highest level of expertise and value. Our target investment areas are the following: E-Commerce, Digital Media, Digital Publishing, Digital Advertising, Marketing Services, AdTech, Martech, eSports, VR/AR, Marketplaces, Software, Offshore Service Providers, Mobile, Gaming, Video, Entertainment, SAAS, AI, Fintech, InsureTech. Cybersecurity and AI.
Naturally, we favor ventures that complement rather than compete with our existing portfolio of investments.
Geographic Focus
We concentrate our investment activity in Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets, mainly in Latin America. Given our commitment to meaningful partnerships with our management teams, Patagonia Ventures believes that such relationships are best maintained through close geographic proximity. We do, however, continuously evaluate investment opportunities on an International basis, as we look for high quality opportunities that best match our investment criteria
Geographic Arbitrage
Ventures that generate revenues from US and/or Europe while having competitive operating costs in Latin America. We do, however, invest in ventures that sell and spend on the same market.
Low capital requirements
Ventures that can be launched with little external capital and have profit margins to sustain high growth with internally generated funds.
We look for ventures with little needs of hard assets, such as custom buildings, manufacturing equipment, etc.
High margin for error
Ventures with simple operations and low fixed costs which are less likely to faces cash crunch because of technical delays, costs over-runs and slow build-up of sales.
Timing (Not too early, Not too late)
Ventures whose product or service can make an impact on the market today. We do not invest in pure-science inventions where real-world applications are years away, nor are we interested in entering mature markets that are already crowded with competitors.
Rapid Revenue generation and Break-even point
Ventures with Products/Services that are far along in the development cycle (i.e. ready for sale), with the ability to create perceived or real revenue within 3 months and with the ability to achieve the breakeven point within 6 months.
Strong Management team
Ventures with a committed management team. Ideally 2-3 people involved with complimentary skills. We like frugality and we look for ventures with a frugal management team who are not willing to become employees but entrepreneurs ready for building a profitable company that generates future dividends.
Ventures where the CEO and the members of the management team have a proper proportion of the ownership to make it worthwhile to invest their time and effort into their project.
We are looking for Entrepreneurs that know how to use advisors.
Concentration of Customers and Suppliers
Ventures targeting an atomized customers base who pays in advance, upfront or quickly and an atomized suppliers base that grants favorable credit terms.
Ought to have at least 2 customers already identified.
Market Opportunity
Ventures tackling a big and rapid growing market opportunity.
Currently, big companies are mainly focused on their core businesses because they need to optimize their resources. This allows new startups to capture new market opportunities following new trends unattended by those big companies. We look for ventures taking that take advantage of that situation.
Vision and Focus
Ventures managed by entrepreneurs with a clear vision and a single focus.
We don’t invest in startups with multiple products, as we believe that having a single focus maximizes the chances of success.
Clear Revenue and Financial Model
Entrepreneurs should know how they are going to make money, which are the customer acquisition cost, customer life time value, cost of sales, margins, operating expenses, taxes, etc.
Scalable Concept
Ventures with a compelling business model and a scalable concept: at least $10m in year 5.
Concise and convincing differentiation
Ventures that can answer a simple question: Why customers will buy our product or service?
Team

Damian Voltes
Managing Director
Damian helps founders, shareholders, and corporations maximize company value through M&A, corporate development, and strategic transactions.
Over the past 30+ years, he has built, scaled, invested in, and sold/acquired tech and media companies across Latin America and the United States.
He founded 6 tech companies, 3 of which were acquired by public corporations:
• Digital Ventures: Latin America’s largest display advertising network and exclusive sales representative for Facebook, LinkedIn, Zynga, and MySpace. Acquired by FOX (News Corp).
• InZearch: One of Latin America’s first search marketing agencies. Acquired by FOX.
• EmergingCast: A content creation and monetization platform. Acquired by Demand Media.
Following his first exit, he began investing through his vehicle, Patagonia Ventures. Since then, he has invested in 26 tech companies, resulting in 17 exits, including Wondery (Amazon), IndexTank (LinkedIn), Properati (OLX), Hunt Mobile (Opera), Sandbox (Animoca Brands), Playmaker (Better Collective), RecargaPay, Workana, and 123Seguro.
For the past 15+ years, M&A and Corporate Development have been his primary focus.
On the buy side, at FOX, Demand Media, and Aleph, he has led acquisitions from sourcing and valuation through negotiation, execution, and integration.
On the sell side, he advises founders and shareholders on positioning companies, running competitive processes, negotiating with buyers, and executing successful exits.
Having built, acquired, sold, and invested in companies himself, he understands M&A from both sides of the table.
Today, he serves as Managing Partner at PanArgent, advising entrepreneurs, shareholders, and corporations on M&A and strategic transactions.
He also advises Aleph on Corporate Development and Buy-Side M&A across 130+ markets. He led the launch of Aleph Payments and the acquisition and integration of Localpayment, a leading payment service provider in Latin America.
He publishes a bi-weekly newsletter on M&A, valuation, corporate development, and exit strategy.
He also invests through Patagonia Ventures across fintech, media, SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure.
He holds a Business Administration degree and an MBA from Universidad de Belgrano, a postgraduate degree in Telecommunications & Technology Business from Universidad de San Andrés and ITBA, and completed the M&A Executive Program at Stanford University.
Outside of business, he enjoys backcountry skiing, jet skiing, and cycling. The mindset is the same as in M&A: assess the terrain, understand the risks, and move decisively when the opportunity is worth pursuing.
track record
Our journey spans more than three decades as founders, operators and investors in technology companies.
6 Companies Founded | 25+ Investments | 15 Exits | 30+ Years in Technology

EXITS
Digital Ventures
✓ Acquired by FOX International Channels a News Corporation (NASDAQ:FOX)
Leading Ad Network in Latin American & US Hispanic markets.
Renamed as .FOX and opened 21 Offices World Wide (expanding from LatAm to Europe & APAC).
Former Sales House of Facebook, Zynga, LinkedIn in Latin America.
InZearch
✓ Acquired by FOX International Channels a News Corporation (NASDAQ:FOX)
Leading Search Engine Marketing Agency in Latin America & US Hispanic markets.
Emerging Cast
✓ Acquired by Demand Media (NYSE:DMD) - now Leaf Group (NYSE: LEAF)
Leading on-demand media company for the Latin America & US Hispanic markets. The company creates commercially valuable content at scale in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The company has developed a content studio that identifies, creates, and distributes text articles and short-form videos, utilizing proprietary algorithms, editorial processes and a community of 60,000+ freelance content creators. Launched eHowenEspanol.com, ehow.com.br, among other O&O Sites.
IndexTank
✓ Acquired by LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD)
Real-time, hosted search engine service. It allows developers to quickly build search-based applications without having to worry about hosting their own search software. IndexTank features include: real-time feed indexing, instantaneous availability of search data, geo search, automatic faceting, range search (important for e-commerce) and instant insights about your indexed data.
Hunt Mobile Ads
✓ Acquired by Opera Media Works / Ad Colony (Opera ASA)
First mobile advertising network targeted to Spanish-speaking market, including all of Latin American and the U.S. Hispanic market, and offers solutions to discover, build brands and capitalize on the mobile Internet sector.
Comenta.TV
✓ Acquried by Wayin
Analytics and engagement platform for TV shows and live events. Its tools give social producers access to a mass volume of data, enabling them to find relevant tweets in real time to analyze the behavior and integrate the social audience on air with one click.
Sonico
✓ Acquired by Match.com/IAC (NASDAQ:IAC)
Social Network in Latin America with over 53 million registered users (Sold to match.com/IAC).
Oony
✓ Management Buyout
Search engine for daily deals. Oony aggregates deals from different sources and sorts them out to find the best fit for each user using his current location among a mix of signals like users personal interests, memberships and credit cards, time and day, and a machine-learning algorithm based on the use of the service.
Sumavisos
✓ Management Buyout
Search engine and Aggregator of real estate, cars and jobs classifieds in Latin America.
Properati
✓ Acquired by OLX
Real Estate marketplace for Latin America that provides insightful data to help users take better decisions.
Pixowl
✓ Acquired by animoca
Develops fun and engaging mobile games for the entire family. It’s cross platform, free-to-download titles dance across the screens of millions of iPhones, iPads and Androids each and every day.
RecargaPay
✓ Secondary Buyout
Formerly FNBox, is the leading mobile prepaid top-up platform in Brazil and Latin America, (with over 1 million mobile customers), and it is now expanding into utility bill payments and financial services for the unbanked.
ttsprts
✓ Acquired by Fanalitica
ttsprts is the leading mobile SAAS platform for sports clubs, sports, leagues and federations. Currently the official mobile app for AFA (Asociacion de Futbol Argentina), Superliga (Argentina), Chivas (Mexico), Santos Lagunas (Mexico), among others.
Wondery
✓ Acquired by Aamazon
Brand-new media company specialized in mobile and on-demand audio storytelling. Wondery creates and curates podcasts to connect wonderers and brands to a world of entertainment and a world of knowledge.
www.wondery.com
Playmaker
✓ RTO (TSXV:PMKR)
Playmaker is a digital sports media company that lives at the intersection of
sports, gambling, media and technology. Playmaker is building a collection of
premier sports media brands, curated to deliver highly engaged audiences of
sports fans to sports betting companies, leagues, teams and advertisers.
www.playmaker.fans
Workana
✓ Secondary Buyout
Fastest-growing marketplace for remote and freelance employment targeting Latin America. The company help businesses find & manage the best remote talents for their projects, while also helping workers get projects according to their preferences, skills and price level.
www.workana.com
ACTIVE COMPANIES
123Seguro
Active
First insurance exchange in Latin America where individuals can compare car insurance plans from leading carriers and purchase them online.
The company offers a wide array of car insurance plans underwritten by top leading insurance companies through our web sites, customer care centers and network of marketing partners the leading online insurance exchange for Latin America that provides insightful data to help users take better decisions.
www.123seguro.com
Palermo Plug & Play
Active
Real estate company with O&O full equipped mid-size office buildings for fast-growing Internet and media companies. Their properties are located in Palermo Hollywood, the epicenter of the entrepreneurship and Polo Audiovisual (Hub for TV/Film production companies) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
LocalPayment
Active
Cross-border Payment Service Provider (PSP) part of Aleph Group, and jointly they process billions in payments annually, offering extensive bank coverage and industry-leading success rates, creating a trusted network that scales businesses both locally and globally.
www.localpyament.com
Bloka
Active
Bloka is an Agentic AI SOC Platform that combines artificial intelligence with 24/7 human cybersecurity expertise to protect critical assets and strengthen operational resilience. Its integrated SOC-as-a-Service, MDR, Incident Response, and Compliance Automation capabilities help organizations detect, investigate, and respond to cyber threats while reducing complexity and freeing security teams to focus on strategic priorities.
www.bloka.ai
CLOSED
Zetanet
✓ Cash cow company. Divested.
Trading Desk that simplifies the planning and buying process for digital media, generates efficiencies, cost-savings and increases campaign performance, straddles all real-time bidding environments including ad exchanges, yield optimizers, and ad networks, represents advertisers on the demand-side and trades impartially; buying and selling where it is most efficient.
Ontrade
X Merged. Failed. Closed
B2B network designed specifically for the travel professional – a virtual environment where buyers and sellers can research, evaluate and transact business using powerful business-match applications.
The company was merged with Conference Hound.
Educabilia
X Failed. Closed
Education marketplace in Latin America. It has build a community of curious people where everyone can learn what they want or teach what they know.
FAV Network
X Failed. Closed
FAV! is a Multi Channel Network (MCN) targeting Youtubers in Latin America and US Hispanic Markets.
Fiera Studio
X Failed. Closed
Fiera is a startup studio that co-creates companies with entrepreneurs and corporations. Fiera provides top-tier core resources: Design, engineering, growth hacking, marketing, finance, legal, office space and of course funding.
Octupus
X Recapitalized. Divested.
Octupus helps companies make the big transition from legacy infrastructure and applications to the new generation of Cloud Solutions. Use your Data & Information in order to take better decisions.
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