Jose Miguel Cortes, Fondo de Fondos: Supporting the venture capital industry in Mexico and Latin America, Ep 137

<p><span style="font-weight: 400; font-size: 24pt;">Jose Miguel Cortes, Fondo de Fondos: Supporting the venture capital industry in Mexico and Latin America, Ep 137</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A fund of funds raises capital from different investors to invest in Venture Capital or Private Equity funds. These investors –mostly institutional– pick funds of funds so that they can trust a professional manager to pick the best VC funds to invest in. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jose Miguel Cortes is the Head of Venture Capital and Impact Investing Strategies for Fondo de Fondos, a leading Mexican private equity and VC fund of funds and co-investment alternative investment management firm. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I sat down with Jose Miguel to talk about what a fund of funds model entails, from their investment criteria to what it’s like raising capital. We also discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the VC market in Mexico and Latin America and the vision behind Fondo de Fondos’ new impact fund.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I have a lot of respect for VCs”</span></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Raising capital as an entrepreneur can be challenging, but raising capital as a VC is a lot harder. Jose Miguel understands how painful it can be to raise money in a region where capital is very scarce for these asset classes. However, though similarly challenging, Jose Miguel explains that raising capital for a fund of funds has its own peculiarities. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Learn about why the fund of funds model makes sense for certain investors in this episode of</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Crossing Borders</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">COVID-19 aftermath in Latin America</span></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When COVID-19 hit in late March, Jose Miguel along with other investors in the fund became conc