Arthur Alves, corporate venture capital manager, Gerdau Next Ventures, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing in 2024.
Described by some of his industry peers as focused, resilient, an excellent negotiator and an exceptional leader, Arthur Alves’ journey into CVC was not a linear one.
From being on the sales team at Proctor and Gamble, to a management position at a security company, to founding his own startup during the covid-19 pandemic before going into CVC consultancy, each step made him more familiar with how a company works from the ground up. This prepared him to head corporate VC at the largest steelmaker in the Americas.
Brought into Gerdau Next Ventures to take over investment activity from a CVC-as-aservice firm, it has not taken long for him to establish himself as an important figure in the industry.
“Arthur is one of my go-to people to discuss any CVC obstacle, idea or plan,” says Luiz Silva Néto, an associate at RX Ventures.
Alves sees CVC as a means of bringing real change. The ability to help the unit’s parent – in one of the most emissions-heavy sectors in the world – become more sustainable is a way to have a real and tangible impact on the world.
“The difficult part of every CVC is bringing the synergy to life. How can I bring value to the startup and, at the same time, how can this startup help the parent company?”
The main challenge in CVC is not necessarily the capital deployment itself, says Alves, but rather bringing to life the benefits to all parties involved.
“The difficult part of every CVC is bringing the synergy to life,” says Alves. “How can I bring value to the startup and, at the same time, how can this startup help the parent company? That is harder to do. That is the art that just a few people can do well.”
Those just taking their first steps in CVC should make sure they understand their thesis very well, he says. They should see how every investment fits into their thesis, rather than just investing on an ad hoc deal-by-deal basis. Focus on real achievements rather than getting swept up in marketing and hype, he says.
See the full list of GCV Emerging Leaders for 2024 here.
