Agustín Rotondo, managing director, Hispanoamérica, Wayra Hispam, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing in 2024.
Agustín Rotondo has been at Wayra Hispam, the seed-stage investment arm for telecommunications firm Telefonica’s Latin American subsidiary Telefónica Movistar, for more than five years, part of a 15-year career at the company that has seen him rise to managing director for Hispanoamerica.
Telefonica initially hired Rotondo in 2008 as a market analyst for Argentina. He gradually rose up through the organisation, working on strategic planning and customer retention before landing a chief of staff role for its global chief financial officer.
The next step involved leading a 50-person team managing Telefonica’s sales and customer support strategy. Rotondo moved to Wayra in 2018 to lead its investment activities in Argentina, where he ran a 30-strong portfolio.
Within 18 months, his responsibilities expanded to overseeing the unit’s operations in Chile and Peru, and by mid-2020 he had ascended to his present position.
“Within 18 months, his responsibilities expanded to overseeing the unit’s operations in Chile and Peru, and by mid-2020 he had ascended to managing director.”
Rotondo runs a portfolio of 150 startups across a region that includes Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. Exits during his time include Argentina-based tech academy Acamica, Chilean long-distance bus travel service Recorrido and Argentinian accounting software provider Colppy.
Wayra also invested in Glim, a Colombian developer of an employee financial benefits platform, late last year, along with Mexican human resources management startup Erudit and Argentina’s Chaindots, which is putting big data to work in analysing business risk. It also struck a deal that will see it back strategic startups in partnership with energy utility Grupo Energia Bogota.
In addition to his investment work for Wayra, Rotondo has been on the board of Asociacion Mexicana de Capital Privado, the trade organisation for Mexico’s venture capital and private equity industry, since 2022. He had previously sat on the board of its Argentinian counterpart, ARCAP, for close to four years.
See the full list of GCV Emerging Leaders for 2024 here.
