When she left the venture capital firm Astella, where she was one of the co-founders, at the end of 2023, Laura Constantini was called in to talk to Brazilian families who had invested in startups and were expressing dissatisfaction with the experience.
According to her, the problem wasn't necessarily with the results, but with the lack of clarity about the progress of the investments. "It was more a matter of communication and understanding the moment that was causing anxiety," says Constantini, on Café com Investidor , a program that is a partnership between NeoFeed and CNN Brasil , broadcast bi-weekly on CNN Money .
Upon analyzing these portfolios, Constantini identified that, although well-positioned in Brazil, there was an almost total absence of exposure to early-stage investments in the United States, the world's largest technology market. Based on this observation, she structured Nido with a focus on connecting Brazilian investors to emerging American asset managers.
This segment, Constantini explains, brings together experienced professionals who left large funds or corporate operations to develop their own investment theses. "They are not first-time managers," he says.
Despite the quality, access is restricted. American endowments and pension funds only invest after following a complete cycle — something that takes about ten years — and with checks that start at US$500 million. "To build an allocation of that size in an emerging market manager, it's the guy's entire fund," he says.
Nido, which is in its first fund, wants to occupy precisely this space. The strategy combines investments in funds with the possibility of direct co-investments in startups that stand out within the portfolios. "The fund has a layer for direct investment that leverages the results of the lower layer," says Constantini.
The structure consists of a base of managers and, above them, SPVs ( Special Purpose Vehicles, a legal entity created exclusively to pool capital from multiple investors and direct it to a single company or startup). Families investing with Nido can participate in these direct investments when there is room for allocation.
The selection of asset managers follows a mapping of how different groups adopt technology in the United States — governments, large corporations, heavy industries, SMEs, and individuals. The first asset manager invested in was Mighty Capital. The goal is to invest in four more asset managers, three of which are in the final selection phase.
In this interview, which you can watch in the video above, Constantini also talks about the state of the venture capital market in Brazil, comments on artificial intelligence, and explains how he has been using AI tools in his daily work.
