Carlos Alberto Ochoa Valencia, investment manager at Bancolombia Ventures, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2025.
Carlos Alberto Ochoa Valencia leads the CVC arm of Bancolombia (CIBest Group), a Colombian bank founded in 1875. Previously leading mergers and acquisitions for the bank, Ochoa Valencia has headed the corporate venturing arm since its launch in 2018.
He has overseen the CVC’s growth to an investment team of six and an open innovation group that connects the portfolio companies with executives at the parent.
Over the past six years, the CVC has invested $60m in 32 startups and five funds. Most of the portfolio companies are in Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Peru. The unit also has investments in the US and the UK.
Many of Bancolombia Ventures’ investments are in fintech, but it also invests in industries that are tied to its clients. It does this to gain insights in the technologies that benefit its customers. These technologies include deeptech, generative AI, quantum computing, robotics, fraud detection and cybersecurity.
“Investing in a range of areas can help our understanding of how different technologies work and we can help leverage these through our clients,” says Ochoa Valencia. “The main purpose is to bring the technologies to our region. If our countries do well, we do well.”
“The main purpose is to bring the technologies to our region. If our countries do well, we do well.”
The CVC team also invests in cleantech, energy tech and the circular economy to meet its goal of being the most sustainable bank in Latin America.
As one of the largest CVCs in Colombia, the team helps other corporates interested in corporate venturing. One key learning is the need to structure itself internally so that it can connect the portfolio companies to the corporate. The unit head also advises against growing too quickly. “If you ask me right now, I would not have invested in so many companies, that fast,” says Ochoa Valencia.
His plan over the next three years it to invest larger cheque sizes in fewer companies, with the goal of growing the fund to $120m.
See the full list of Emerging Leaders 2025 here.
