Sebastián Spena, managing director at Galicia Ventures, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2025.
“CVC is a very powerful thing. It has the power to transform organisations, but you have a very tight space to really play and convince the organisation and really help it see the power,” says Sebastián Spena, managing director of Galicia Ventures.
Spena originally joined financial services company Grupo Galicia to head up the corporate development department in 2021, during which time he overhauled the team and led on some M&A deals. He was then asked to found and lead the new venturing arm and has since led nine investments in two years.
Spena is on the lookout for disruptions across Latin America in real-time and cross-border payments, AI integration and data analysis. Agtech remains the biggest challenge, but there are promising areas in geospatial technology and process efficiency.
“This is a very relationship-driven ecosystem. You need to build strong rapport, confidence and position yourself outside and inside your organisation”
Galicia Ventures’ portfolio includes startups such as cross-border payment technology provider Remitee, account management software developer Simetrik and Fudo, an accounting platform provider for food delivery businesses.
Those coming up in the industry should remember that venture capital is, above all, a people business. “This is a very relationship-driven ecosystem. You need to build strong rapport, confidence and position yourself outside – in the entrepreneurial ecosystem – and inside your organisation.”
He also underscores the importance of having sponsorship within the corporate and the understanding within the leadership that this is a long-term enterprise.
“Sometimes you will be investing in seed companies that are not ready to work with your organisation and maybe you will to have to wait a year and a half,” he says. “With all the anxiety and all the speed and all the velocity that we are currently seeing in organisations, most of the time they are requesting results in the next quarter, but this is something you are going to see in the next 12, 14 or 15 quarters.”
See the full list of Emerging Leaders 2025 here.
