Thiago Iglesias, head of Torq, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2025.
Thiago Iglesias is the head of Torq, the innovation hub and CVC arm of the Puerto Rican financial services company Evertec. Now entering his fifth year with the fund, he finds that the constant opportunity for learning keeps his motivation sharp.
“If you’re always looking for that evolution of the learning curve while you’re doing your job, it will be more rewarding to you, for the company and for society as a whole,” he says.
Torq’s investment focus is on B2B tech startups operating in Latin America and the Caribbean that can serve Evertec’s retail and financial institution customers.
“There’s a lot of opportunity for us to provide banks with better technology, to customize the connection that they have with [end users], to better evaluate credit analysis, to develop better products in themselves, [or] to do risk analysis,” he says.
Before starting in corporate venturing, Iglesias had already co-founded and run two startups, including Keenesys, a cloud-based software company. He credits his entrepreneurial experience with helping him work effectively with founders.
“Being resilient and looking for a clear, transparent communication and alignment of expectations is one of the first things that should be done”
“Having that background helps me connect more with entrepreneurs and also fight for their side within the company, so that the company understands there is a culture shift needed [when working with startups].”
He is proud of Torq’s large 2024 exit of Celcoin, a Brazilian banking-as-a-service company providing embedded finance across payments, banking and lending. Looking to the future, he favours tokenisation, in the form of a Brazilian central bank digital currency called Drex, and opportunities that will come related to that.
Iglesias believes that to thrive in CVC, an investor has to navigate effectively through the corporate hierarchy and make sure the strategic alignment is clear.
“Being resilient and really looking for a clear, transparent communication and alignment of expectations is one of the first thing that should be done,” he says.
“When you’re talking about corporate venturing, the corporate aspect is one of the hardest parts. You have to devote more energy to it, and sometimes it doesn’t go your way.”
See the full list of Emerging Leaders 2025 here.
