Welcome to Tech Talents! In this newsletter, I share real-time key talent movements in the LatAm tech ecosystem, including founders entering and exiting stealth mode, executive-level movements in unicorns, and partner-level changes in local VC firms.
This edition of Tech Talents is brought to you by Cubo Itaú’s Second Time Founders program.
The Second Time Founders program by Cubo Itaú brings together a select group of experienced founders who are embarking on a new entrepreneurial journey. The initiative offers high-level monthly meetings with investors, C-level executives, and major corporations, as well as access to Cubo and qualified visibility within the ecosystem. Fill out the form below to express your interest in participating in the program’s selection process.
Here’s a quick look at what you’ll find in this week’s edition:
🎊 Startup Launches: Agent.Shop, GuardionAI & more
👀 Talents to Watch: ex-Software Engineer at TRACTIAN, ex-Business Analyst at Scaleup
🤫 Talents Entering Stealth: ex-Founder & CEO at Dotz, ex-Head of Strategy & Business Development at Nu Mexico, ex-Co-Founder & CEO at Kenoby & more
📖 Recent Reads: Closed vs. Open thinking, AI Surpasses Human Written Content & more
👋 Tech Talents Match: Looking for a co-founder or to network? Click here to be connected with top talent that matches your criteria
Let’s dive in…
🎊 Startup Launches
Founders who have just publicly announced what they are working on.
Agent.Shop
Overview
Startup Description: AI-powered conversational commerce platform that enables complete eCommerce experiences natively within WhatsApp chats.
Industry: eCommerce, AI
Team Size: 7
Time in Stealth: 6 months
Founder Profile
Eduardo Petrelli - Co-Founder at Agent.Shop
Previously featured as a Stealth Founder in Startups to Watch & Tech Talents #64
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Previous Exit, Investor
Previous Experience: ex-Co-Founder & CEO at Diferente, ex-Co-Founder at James Delivery, ex-Co-Founder at Elektra Bikes, Bachelor of Engineering from PUC-PR.
Headquarters: United States
Ask for an Intro: Click here
GuardionAI
Overview
Startup Description: Monitors and protects GenAI, agents, and MCPs for enterprise teams.
Industry: AI
Team Size: 3
Time in Stealth: 9 months
Founder Profile
Rafael Sandroni – Founder at GuardionAI
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters, Top University, Ex-Big Tech, Ex-Corporate, Latitud Fellow, Unicorn Experience
Previous Experience: ex-Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Apple, ex-Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Nubank, ex-Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Santander, ex-Co-Founder at Grana, MSc in Computer Science from USP.
Headquarters: United States
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Volv
Overview
Startup Description: App focused on helping users purchase their first home, rewarding them throughout the process.
Industry: Real Estate
Team Size: 2
Time in Stealth: 1 year, 5 months
Founder Profile
Teo Oliveira – CEO, Co-Founder at Volv
Previously featured as a Stealth Founder in Tech Talents #10
Founder Highlights: Technical Founder, Investor, Ex-Corporate, Top University
Previous Experience: ex-Investment Professional, Real Estate Private Equity at Clave Capital, ex-Investment Professional, Real Estate Private Equity at H.I.G. Capital, ex-Investment Professional, Real Estate Private Equity at Patria Investments, Stanford Ignite, Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Co-Founder: Guilherme Garcias
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Ginia
Overview
Startup Description: The ecosystem that connects companies, educational institutions, and students, using artificial intelligence to power employability.
Industry: Edtech
Team Size: 7
Time in Stealth: 4 months
Founder Profile
Antía Vázquez Fernández - Co-Founder & CEO at Ginia
Previously featured as a Stealth Founder in Tech Talents #31
Founder Highlights: Masters, Top University, Ex-Consultant, Marketplace
Previous Experience: ex-Venture Fellow at NFX, ex-Chief Of Staff at Zubale, ex-Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company, MBA from Harvard Business School, BS in Business Administration, Management and Operations from The Wharton School, BA in International Studies from University of Pennsylvania.
Headquarters: Mexico City, Mexico
Ask for an Intro: Click here
+4 other startup announcements in the past two weeks for Pro subscribers
👀 Talents to Watch
High-potential individuals likely to make significant career moves soon.
This section is exclusive to Pro subscribers — the go-to resource for top VCs, recruiters, and service providers who need to stay ahead of talent movements. Below is a snippet of the profiles we covered in the past two weeks.
To view the full profiles, try Tech Talents Pro free here.
Scaleup experience with “Stealth” tagline
Founder Highlights: Technical Founder, Masters, Fintech
Previous Experience: ex-Software Engineer at TRACTIAN, ex-Co-founder and Software Engineer at Startup.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: N/A
Scaleup experience with “Building something new” tagline
Founder Highlights: Masters, Top University, Investor, Scaleup Experience, Fintech
Previous Experience: ex-Business Analyst at Scaleup, ex-Co-Founder at Startup, ex-Venture Partner at VC, MBA in Finance from Insper, Bachelor’s in Agronomy Engineering from Universidade Federal do Paraná.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: N/A
🤫 Talents Entering Stealth
Talents with relevant experiences who have just entered stealth mode.
Roberto Chade – Founder at Stealth Startup
Roberto is part of Cubo’s Second Time Founders program. Learn more here.
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Previous Exit, Ex-Consultant, Ex-Corporate
Previous Experience: Shareholder and Board Member at Dotz, ex-Founder & CEO at Dotz, ex-Board Member at Pif Paf Alimentos, ex-Founder at TaxiMania, ex-Consultant at A.T. Kearney, ex-Consultant at Accenture, International Directors Programme at INSEAD, Degree in Business Administration from ESPM.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: N/A
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Marcel Lotufo – Startup Founder at Stealth Startup
Marcel is part of Cubo’s Second Time Founders program. Learn more here.
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Masters, Previous Exit, Top University, Ex-Corporate
Previous Experience: ex-Co-Founder & CEO at Kenoby, ex-Results Partner at Havik People, ex-Co-Founder & CEO at Santa Dose, ex-Headhunter at Michael Page, MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, Bachelor’s in International Business from University of Tampa - John H. Sykes College of Business.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: N/A
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Alfredo Cavalcante Neto – Building at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Top University, Ex-Corporate, Ex-Consultant, Unicorn Experience
Previous Experience: ex-Partner & Director of Finance and Operations at Latú Seguros, ex-Strategy and M&A Consultant at Porto Seguro, ex-Associate at BCG, ex-Co-founder at Nino, Bachelor’s in Engineering from Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 month
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Natália Cassol – Construindo algo novo at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Ex-Big Tech, Ex-Corporate, Scaleup Experience
Previous Experience: ex-Head of Operations (COO) at gal, ex-Head of Global Logistics at Daki, ex-Head of Operations at Ambev, Bachelor’s in Business Administration from PUC-RS.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 1 year
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Paulo Henrique Soares – CEO at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Technical Founder, Masters, Top University, Ex-Corporate, Ex-Consultant
Previous Experience: ex-Director of Software Engineering at Certisign, ex-Director at Arco Educação, ex-Director at isaac, ex-CTO at Junto Seguros, ex-Senior Software Architect at McKinsey & Company, Master’s in Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering from ITA, Bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from ITA.
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Time in Current Position: 9 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
Alejandro O’Farrill – Founder at Stealth Startup
Founder Highlights: Masters, Top University, Ex-Big Tech, Ex-Corporate, Unicorn Experience
Previous Experience: ex-COO at syscap, ex-Head of Strategy & Business Development at Nu Mexico, Nubank, ex-Vendor Manager, Retail International Expansion at Amazon, ex-Strategic Planning & M&A Senior Associate at FEMSA, MBA from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management, Bachelor’s in Economics from Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Headquarters: Mexico
Time in Current Position: 2 months
Ask for an Intro: Click here
📖 Recent Reads
My quick takes on interesting articles, news and data that I’ve come across recently.
This week, I came across the concept of Closed vs. Open modes of thinking in a video by John Cleese on Creativity in Management. The Closed mode describes how we typically operate in our day-to-day jobs, completing tasks from our to-do lists or answering emails. Creativity rarely happens in this state. The Open mode, on the other hand, is when we’re relaxed, curious, and playful — the conditions where creativity truly thrives. For founders, learning to move fluidly between these two modes is essential. I highly recommend watching the video as the speaker offers timeless insights on how to intentionally enter the Open mode.
The volume of AI-generated articles has now surpassed that of human-written content on the internet. Why does this matter? Well, Large Language Models, the technology behind Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, are trained on publicly available web content. When these models begin learning from material created by earlier versions of themselves, they gradually lose touch with how humans truly write, reason, and express ideas. In other words, their quality starts to degrade. To address this issue, several emerging startups are now focusing on supplying real, human-generated data to help train and ground future models.
New data from GWI suggests that time spent on social media peaked in 2022 and has been steadily declining since, particularly among younger users. The study, which analyzed the online habits of 250,000 adults across more than 50 countries, found that the average daily time spent on social platforms fell by nearly 10% between 2022 and the end of 2024. This marks a notable behavioral shift and raises a key question for entrepreneurs: where is this time going instead?
👋 Co-Founder Matching
Looking for an early or late-stage co-founder?
In case you missed it, I recently launched a co-founder matching platform focused on the Brazilian market. The platform is independent of any VC or accelerator, completely free (zero equity, zero cost), always active, and carefully curated based on experience and matching preferences.
👉 Click here to be connected with top talent that matches your criteria.
You can get started in three simple steps:
Define your preferences (technical, business, industry, timing, etc.).
Receive compatible profiles via email or on the web platform.
Send and accept connection requests with those who interest you most.
Here’s a quick demo video of the platform:
If you have any feedback or suggestions about Tech Talents LatAm, please share them with me through my LinkedIn.
Nice work, Pedro! Loved your take on the Closed vs. Open modes of thinking. Thanks for sharing the video!
Couldn't agree more. This newsletter provides critcal insights into the LatAm tech ecosystem. Tracking talent movement and new ventures, like GuardionAI, is essential for understanding market dynamics. Your analysis is consistently sharp and valuble.