The past year has not been the most active for the Brazilian CVC market. High interest rates, lack of sufficient liquidity, and decreased dealflow, among other things, have all slowed it down relative to past years. But that is not true across the board. Some funds, like, L4 Venture Builder – the single-LP fund backed by Brazil’s main stock exchange, B3 – have been investing a lot since it officially launched early in 2023.  

L4 is one of the most flexible corporate-backed funds you’re likely to find out there. They can invest pretty much anywhere, at any stage, and because of their sponsor’s breadth of activity, it spans a range of sectors far beyond financial services.

My guests today are Pedro Meduna and Tiago Wigman, co-founders and general partners of L4.

They take a contrarian view – if you were to look back at when the market was really hot in 2021-2022, when the valuations were high, much of that excitement won’t end up translating into returns for those investors. The caution of other investors is an opportunity for those who recognise the Brazilian market is inherently very cyclical, and are willing to make bets.

Their flexible mandate allows them to invest in late-stage private equity-type sure things – including public companies – while still being able to take the early-stage risks that bring in bigger returns.

While others are cautious in a slower Brazilian market, L4 wants to be greedy

The CVC Unplugged podcast is a weekly show that brings you fascinating and wide-ranging conversations with leading corporate venture capital investors, subject matter experts, startup founders, journalists and other market participants to keep you informed of the most important trends affecting early-stage investing.

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