Q&A with Gonzalo Soriano, senior investment analyst, AC Ventures
Héctor Shibata, director of investments and portfolio for AC Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Mexico-based beverage bottler and distributer Arca Continental, said of senior investment analyst Gonzalo Soriano: “Gonzalo’s support to AC Ventures has been instrumental to broaden our scope of opportunities and to increase the strategic value we return to Arca Continental.
“His proactive mindset for finding new investment opportunities and his bold attitude to generate strategic relationships have been a key element for our entry strategy into new markets. His efforts have been materialised in the addition of two investments to the portfolio this year, which he led from the sourcing up to the closing and monitoring stage.
“Additionally, he has been fundamental to the closing of three investments as LPs in GPs from three different geographies. He has always been keen to keep looking for emerging pain points across the different business units of the corporate, and he relentlessly presents numerous technologies to the internal areas that constantly are considered for potential POCs.
“Gonzalo is increasingly looking for ways for the corporate business units to engage with the portfolio companies and show the strategic value that de CV unit brings to AC. He has proven to be a motivated, challenge-seeking and ambitious team member, with great ideas and skills to help AC Ventures thrive and flourish within the innovation ecosystem.”
1. First, just give us a quick overview of who you work for, what you do, and how long you have been doing it.
AC Ventures is a CVC sponsored by Arca Continental, the third-largest bottler and distributor for Coca-Cola Company in the world, with operations in the US, Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Ecuador. We invest globally in early-stage startups within the retailtech, industry 4.0 and fintech verticals mostly, although we also look for opportunities in snacks, healthy food and the value chain of plastics and water. Additionally, we act as LP in other VC funds globally.
Since I joined AC’s CVC unit in 2019, my efforts have been channelled into finding value-added technologies that can help drive the strategic innovation initiatives of the company, participating within the entire investment process; including the deal sourcing, pre-screening analysis and due diligence execution of potential investment opportunities. Also, I am in charge of monitoring and supporting a handful of portfolio companies by connecting them with other Institutional and Corporate VCs, as well as building the bridges between startups in the portfolio and the corporate’s business units based on their more pressing necessities.
Additionally, I have participated in the strategy of entering into new markets, leading and supporting the mapping and analysis of the Brazilian, Israeli and US VC ecosystems, and establishing and managing strong relationships with global GPs to strengthen the quantity and quality of deal flow, improve the team knowledge on new markets and technologies and to share insights and opportunities with relevant players in the ecosystem.
2. What attracted you to CVC?
I strongly believe in the benefits that innovation and technology will bring to the future of societies around the globe, and I like to see CVC as the vehicle to help these ideas scale into real, impactful and prosperous businesses; by merging the novel and energetic mindsets of emerging founders, with the experience, assets, network and scope that corporates have built throughout the years; and by establishing strategic partnerships to help startups scale, becoming the wheel and the fuel to drive increased innovation to the private sector and enable economic growth for multiple countries.
3. What have been your greatest successes at your unit?
In the three years of operations of AC Ventures, some of my greatest successes are:
Having led the entire investment process of two portfolio companies, from the deal origination stage, up to the deal execution and investment monitoring. I have also been a very agile and active team member within the investment process, with more than 20 DDs performed to help the corporate’s IC and business units understand the potential and impact of new technologies.
Additionally, I have been in charge of connecting portfolio companies with internal business units, with a portfolio company – Justo, a Chilean e-commerce and last-mile delivery enabling platform – having deployed operations and partnerships with the corporate on a multinational level (Peru fully deployed and already generating value, and extending pilot to Mexico and Ecuador). At the moment, I am acting as the bridge to connect three additional portfolio companies with the business units hoping to materialise a pilot with each of them in the coming months.
I have also helped by either leading or supporting the entrance into new markets, by executing an extensive mapping and analysis of the VC ecosystems in Brazil, Israel and the US. My efforts were key to identifying more than 600 VC funds among the three geographies, having supported the first approach with the administrators of 200-plus funds, helping organise face-to-face meetings with some 80 of them and currently actively managing the relationship with more than 50 of them. As a result of this work, the investment committee has approved the commitment of four funds originated through my efforts.
Collaborating in the editorial draft and writing of articles for AC Ventures’ monthly newsletter and opinion columns for El CEO, with more than 100 publications across several topics of VC investing, entrepreneurship, team dynamics and corporate innovation; co-hosting a monthly webinar, with 17 of them realised so far, covering relevant topics for the entire VC ecosystem and having GPs and startups founders from all around the globe; and hosting a biweekly podcast series along with the rest of my team to permeate innovation culture and diversity into entrepreneurship on the LatAm region and globally.
Supporting the entrepreneurship and VC ecosystem by acting as judge, mentor and speaker in industry events both regionally and globally. Additionally, my team and I supported on the agenda construction and organisation of this year’s virtual edition of INCMty, GCV and AmexCap’s INC Corporate Venture Capital event, with the participation of 30-plus global panellists that enriched the minds and vision of Mexico-based corporate leaders to help them open their way into an open innovation strategy.
4. What have been your biggest challenges?
Most startups are still uncertain on how nurturing collaboration and partnerships with the corporate might bring them an added value beyond a commercial agreement, but rather at a level of strengthening structural or operational capabilities, knowledge and network. From the corporate side, we still find resistance from some business units to integrate and permeate an innovation culture within their teams, hence we have intensified efforts to evangelise those areas of the company and to make the correct matchmaking with startups that really solve their necessities, and in some cases, we have seen a good response from these business units.
5. What is your main professional ambition for the future?
Continue to establish strategic relationships and alliances with key players on the ecosystem, both investors and operators, in order to increase the chances to build an outperforming portfolio and generate a robust track record to facilitate the fundraising of a VC fund or CVC-as-a-service firm of my own in the future. Also, I would like to become a well-known angel investor and at some point a startup founder.
6. What do you think all CVCs could do better to make it a stronger industry?
Boost the awareness of the importance of CVC in different industry events, research, papers and overall conversations with people within the market, and collaborate jointly by nurturing co-investment opportunities, sharing more pipelines, providing relevant introductions and enhancing the opportunities for corporates to connect with similar CVCs in other geographies.
7. And, finally, for colour, what did you do prior to CVC or in your spare time?
Prior to CVC, I did my bachelor’s in finance from Monterrey Tech Institute (ITESM) and I also completed a finance certificate from Sauder Business School, at University of British Columbia.
