2.0 Expand Cartagena

November 10-12, 2021

The picturesque town of Cartagena held our 2.0 Expand, November 2021, event with two opportunities in Fintech through special purpose vehicles, attendees observed the LATAM VC environment, and the power of a disrupting VC through the journey to exit.  An early morning workout with the IDC Ventures team was followed by coffee served as founders mingled with attendees.  Our first corporate presentation provided insight into the Curve financial super app.  Bobby Aitkenhead and Alejandro Rodriguez of IDC Ventures gave back-to-back presentations as Compara en Casa closing out the morning before the break.

Leal, the ultimate rewards app discussed at noon financial inclusion and the 400 brands participating on its platform.  IDC Ventures then brought together various parts of its VC community with presentations by advisors McKinsey’s partner Santiago Carbonell, and managing partner Ryan Bloomer of K50 Ventures delivered early and pre-seed stage companies to the discussion.  Ensemble described its team building and how start-ups scale, with Unicorn Hunters rounding out the presentations before a late lunch.

The afternoon started with a fireside chat about overcoming adversity and entrepreneurship, then Novopayment’s CEO shared their roadmap to redesigning financial services.  Bobby Aiteknehead replayed the Bipi journey to exit just before a transfer to watch the soccer game Colombia vs. Brazil.  The next morning started with a tour of Colombia’s leader in mobility after a morning workout.  

The fireside chat gave an expansive view of how entrepreneurship and technology are positive influences on societies, two stellar companies presented afterward, Lunar and Merqueo.  Distributed material made a light working lunch engaging with the EU leader Hastee while Tradeshift gave the final SPV opportunity of the event while IDC Ventures wrapped up things by closing the week with a Friday evening boat ride and cocktail party.