This article was published on May 24, 2012

Sequoia Capital said to be expanding to Brazil? Well yes, said by Sequoia.


Sequoia Capital said to be expanding to Brazil? Well yes, said by Sequoia.

Yesterday, The New York Times’ DealBook reported that VC firm Sequoia Capital may be opening an office in Brazil, citing unnamed investor sources.

Need a bit more solid confirmation? Well, look no further than the words uttered by Sequoia’s David Velez himself.

That’s right: Velez, who cares after Latin American investments for Sequoia, confirmed the ‘rumor’ about a month ago in a video that was posted on the Spanish-speaking blog PulsoSocial.

The clip is part of a reality TV-style show on the Argentine accelerator NXTP Labs. In this episode, we can see its founders have a Skype call with Velez, who details the firm’s plans in Brazil. You can watch the video (note: it’s in Spanish) below:

http://youtu.be/fCaKXGxvxs0?t=3m59s

Here’s a short transcript of Velez’s most interesting quote:

“I am Colombian, and I have started working for Sequoia in January last year, beginning to look at opportunities for Sequoia in Latin America.

Our plan is to open offices in Sao Paulo in July, where I’ll be based and have a team.

Eventually, we will have a bigger team and a deeper knowledge of opportunities in Argentina, and we may start looking at opportunities that are a bit more early stage.”

According to DealBook, the move has apparently been in the works for over a year. Before Velez was hired, Sequoia partner Doug Leone visited Brazil in December 2010 to look for opportunities.

However, the firm hasn’t yet backed any Brazil-based tech startup. Still, it has already invested in companies for which Brazil is a key market: Uruguyan SaaS provider ScannTech and Argentine travel portal Despegar, but also Tumblr, which recently launched a Portuguese version of its platform.

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