After five years leading SoftBank’s operations in Latin America, Alex Szapiro is leaving the company. By the end of September, he will transition command of Brazil to Rodrigo Costa, and the rest of the region to Juan Franck – who have been at the fund since 2019 and 2022, respectively.
“It was the most peaceful decision I’ve ever made in my life,” said Alex in conversation with the Startupshighlighting the team’s qualifications and the portfolio’s momentum. According to him, almost 100% of the 70 active companies are standing on their own two feet. A very different picture from when he arrived there, in 2021. Furthermore, 10 to 15 companies are ready for a possible IPO – with two or three already going to market to test the waters in the format known as non-deal road show.
According to Alex, the departure had been discussed since January, and the final decision was made about a month ago. The idea is to do new things taking advantage of the current moment of market transformation. “I’m going to be 56 this year and I should work with this energy until I’m about 70. And there’s no better time than now to look at opportunities”, he says.
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Despite already having some conversations underway, the executive said he has not yet defined his next steps. The idea is to have a definition towards the end of the year, after the transition at SoftBank is completed. The only certain position so far is that of advisor at the Chilean retailer Falabella. Before the SoftBankAlex was responsible for the arrival of Amazon in Brazil and led the operations of Apple and from Palm not country.
SoftBank’s soft tone
The announcement of Alex’s departure comes almost a month after another of the company’s senior leaders announced a move. Eduardo Vieira, who has led SoftBank’s communications in Latin America since 2021, will divide his time as vice president of operations for private clients at the agency FSB.
When Alex arrived at SoftBankthe fund had already lost important names such as its creator, Marcelo Claure, Paulo Passone and André Maciel. These changes, according to Alex, do not change SoftBank’s thesis or interest in any way. This is because, according to him, many of these names end up being external references. To the market. Internally, on a day-to-day basis, the founders have other connections. “The relationship with the founders shows this commitment. We are not a tourist fund. We have a long-term commitment”, reinforced Alex.
According to him, the structure that serves Latin America within the SoftBank globally it reaches 40 people. In Brazil alone, the team has 13 dedicated professionals and an office in the Pinheiros region, in São Paulo. “How many funds operate locally and provide hands-on support to portfolio companies”, defended Alex. He illustrated this dedication by recounting an episode in which he participated in a meeting to define the product roadmap for the next 24 months of an investment.
Investment strategy and the future of AI
Since arriving with pomp and circumstance in Latin America in 2019 with its Latam Fund, SoftBank has made 100 investments and invested almost US$8 billion in the region. The amount was important to bring global visibility to what was being done here, but it also caused distortions in the market, which was not used to such significant volumes of resources.
With the shift in strategy towards AI, no new investments have been made in the last two years. With checks of US$30 million to US$50 million, SoftBank had difficulty finding targets at the ideal development stage to receive an investment. “It doesn’t make sense at this point to put money in. Companies have to wait a while to reach the ARR level that makes them comfortable to invest”, said Alex. The opportunities, according to him, are in the application layer and, eventually, help companies that are already operating to apply artificial intelligence to scale their operations.
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Despite not having made any new investments in two years, he assured that the fund’s team has remained very active in recent times. After all, there were 12 operations carried out with the portfolio companies, including follow-ons, sales of secondary stakes and M&As. And there are more things coming. “The team is very busy. This is a big focus for the team”, he added.
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