WeXchange 2019
Women STEMpreneurs Creating Global Businesses
November 13 and 14 | Asuncion, Paraguay.
Forum report
Relive the highlights from WeXchange 2019, held in November 13&14 in Asuncion, Paraguay.
Photo Gallery
WeXchange insights through images. Were you captured? Tag yourself on our Facebook album.
Speakers 2019
Adriana Mata
CEO Cuantix
Adriana is the founder of Cuantix. She has been named the finalist of MassChallenge México and Startup Chile. Prior to this, Adriana worked with the CAF, executing impact measurements in 8 Latin American countries. She is currently mentor of impact measurement for Google and Village Capital. She is an engineer by training and an MBA holder — and also a mom of two children.
Agustina Fainguersch
CEO Wolox
Agustina is CEO and Partner of Wolox, a leading provider of tecnological solutions for companies in digital innovation process in Argentina. Software engineer by training, Agustina was recognized by MIT as one of 35 innovators under 35.
Elizabeth Acuña
Associate Angel Ventures
Elizabeth is a Senior Analyst at Angel Ventures, a regional venture capital firm focused on making investments in early stage and early growth stages, Elizabeth is a mentor in Peruvian accelerators and leads the Women empowerement Initiative, which seeks to involve more women, both entrepreneurs, investors and mentors, in the startup exosystem.
Jalak Jobanputra
Socia fundadora Future\Perfect Ventures
Jalak Jobanputra is Founding Partner of Future\Perfect Ventures, an early stage VC fund in NYC . Jalak was awarded Institutional Investor’s Top Fintech Dealmakers in 2017 and 2016. In 2017, she was cited as a “Top 5 Investor Powering the Blockchain Boom” and CB Insights. Jalak is a recognized speaker.
Jazmin Gustale Gill
Innovation and Comptetiveness Coordinator Republic of Paraguay Presidential Office
Jazmin is the Innovation and Competitiveness Coordinator in the Republic of Paraguay Presidential Office. She leads the National Innovation Strategy initiatives to improve the business climate and innovation in Paraguay. Prior to this, she served as the Vice Minister of Planning, Chief of Staff of the Central Bank and Operations Coordinator at the World Bank.
Jennifer Reyna Portugal
CEO - Co-Founder Gaszen
Jennifer is the co-founder the CEO of Gaszen. She has extensive experience in the development of startups and social enterprises. She has raised more than MX$15 million in investment capital, and is the winner of various international and domestic competitions including those of Tec de Monterrey, Johns Hopkins Business School, and Stanford CSB.
Juan Savino
Partner Altment capital Partners
Juan Savino is a founding partner at Altment Capital Partners, an Investment Placement Platform that brings co-investments opportunities to family offices and institutional investors in Latin America, Iberia and Israel. Prior to this, he served as Director of Research at the Latin American Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (LAVCA) and is currently an advisor to the Argentine Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (ARCAP).
Laura Mendoza
CPO and Co-founder Unima
Laura Mendoza is Chief Product Officer and co-founder of Unima, a Mexican StartUp that works to diagnose rapidly and low-cost sicknesseson people living in emerging countries. Laura is a chemical engineer, has two master’s degrees in biotechnology and one in marketing from ITESO, the University of Guadalajara and the Ciatej. Laura is also a wife and a mother of two children aged 5 and 3.
Liza Velarde
CEO and Co-founder Delee
Co Founder & CEO at Delee (And Combinator W17), a company that created a technology that allows cancer diagnosis as well as continuous monitoring of the effectiveness of cancer therapies. Winner of cartier Woman Initiative Awards 2019 for Latin America and Wexchange 2015. Passionate feminist and “strong advocate” of women in STEM and Executives.
Lizbeth Flores
Partner Private Advising Group, P.A.
Lizbeth Flores is a leading corporate attorney with over 16 years of experience advising clients in complex cross-border transactions. She has advised some of Latin America’s most well-known tech, industrial and financial companies. Graduate of Harvard Law School, she has served as an Adjunct Professor of the Sao Paulo Law School – Fundação Getulio Vargas.
Mariano Amartino
Managing Director, Microsoft for Startups LATAM Microsoft Startups
Mariano Amartino is Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups for Latin America. Mariano has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and investor: Prior to the current role, he was the CEO of startup Hipertextual. He also managed Wayra, Telefonica’s startup accelerator, where he supported more than 700 startups. He currently forms part of board of directors for several startups.
Marta Cruz
Founding Partner NXTP Labs
Marta promotes equal opportunities, leading the initiative that created the Day of the Woman Entrepreneur in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to NXTP Labs Marta founded Nextperience, a digital performance agency and led Regional Sales for MRM in Latin America.
Marta del Castillo
CEO Koga
CEO of Koga. She has experience in project management in international organizations, cooperations agencies, NGOs and companies in India, Tanzania, Colombia, Bolivia and Spain. Lawyer and MBA from the IE Business School and Tufts, Boston. Specialized in Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford University. In her free time she is a social entrepreneur and mentor.
Nadia Alvarez
Business Development MarkerDAO
Nadia Alvarez is part of Business Development team of MaakerDAO, the first company to have a stablecoin based on Ethereum called Dai. She develops alliances within and outside the Blockchain ecosystem in Latin America, especially with organizations with the vision of integrating decentralized finance.
Nathan Lustig
Managing Partner Magma
Nathan Lustig is the Managing Partner at Magma Partners, a US/LatAm venture capital fund that’s invested in 55 companies across Latin America since 2014.
Nora Palladino
Community Manager Bitso
Nora Palladino es una experta del marketing, constructora de comunidades y criptoentusiasta. Es Community Manager para el Cono Sur en Bitso. Ha desarrollado comunidades de emprendedores como Founder Friday, Startup Grind y ahora, Cryptomondays desde cero. Con varios años en la industria tecnológica y de capital emprendedor, Nora ha colaborado con más de 200 startups en América Latina.
Susana García-Robles
CIO, IDB Lab. Gender Initiaves Coordinator and WeXchange Cofounder. IDB Lab
Susana is convinced of the impact of business, innovation ecosystems and the venture capital industry in development. For this reason, since 1999, she has worked in creating these industies and ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Today, as CIO of IDB Lab and co-founder of WeXchange, she works every day towards a greater inclusion of women in businesses, and better and more flexible policies to balance work and family.
Tere Cremona
CEO Uniko
Tere is the CEO of Uniko, a leading online gift table in Mexico, with more than $ 7 million of gifts delivered up to date. She is also a graduate of 500 Startups of Silicon Valley. Having pitched to investors in San Francisco, London and Latin America, Tere has raised more than US$1 million of investment. She is also the winner of the prize of best Fintech of Latam by NXTP Labs and best pitch of Visa´s Everywhere Initiative.
Vivianne Bernardes De Cibils
Director Cibersons Group
Investor, inventor and serial entrepreneur. Co-founder, past CEO and Director of CIBERSONS a multinational corp and Ringold Ventures a Silicon Valley firm. Software developer with top academic and business awards. Proud mother of three.
Yanire Braña
CEO and Founder Met Community
Yanire has 20 years of experience in strategy, innovation, technology with top organizations such as Accenture, Booz Allen, IDB and World Bank. In 2004, she founded the MET Community, global network for responsible and innovative female entrepreneurship in more than 8 countries. She has also been teaching as a professor in business schools in Spain, USA , and Latin America.
Monica Sacarelli
CEO and Founder Diin
Monica Saccarelli is the Founder & CEO of Diin, the first micro-investing app in Brazil. In 2011, she co-founded Rico Corretora, which became the largest Brazilian online investment platform and after 6 years was acquired by XP, which is the brokerage leader of Brazil.
Santiago Zavala
Partner 500 Startups
Santiago is an investor in early stage startups in spanish speaking latin america. In his 8 years as part of 500 Startups he has been part of the 161 investments done in the region including startups like Clip, Konfio, Conekta, Ayenda, Grin and more.
Sylvia Chebi
ThalesLab
Sylvia is co-Founder and Executive Director of ThalesLab, a Uruguayan cmpany builder that creates disruptive technologies. Prior to this she was the Director for Latin America of LOC-AID Technologies, and also Senior Consultant in Telecommunications Regulation for various telephone companies in LATAM.
Hernán Fernández
Managing Partner Angel Ventures
Hernan is the Founder and Co-Managing Partner at Angel Ventures, where he manages deal-flow, investor relations and shares duties in creating value for the investment portfolio. He is the founder of the largest angel investment network in Latin America.
Gabriela Estrada
Co-founder and Director of Finance and Risk Vexi
Gabriela is Co-founder and CFO at Vexi, a Mexican challenger bank that offers credit cards to under-banked youth. Gabriela arrived in Vexi after a successful 16-year career in the financial and banking industry, with management positions at American Express and Citi.
Alessandra Vallese
CEO Abitapp
Alessandra is the founder of Abitapp, a prop-tech company that optimizes administration for buildings and condominiums for residents, via a mobile app that provides finance, notifications and other relevant information in one place.
Ana Barrera
Founder and CEO Aflore
Ana is CEO and Co-founder at Aflore, a fintech that leverages a community of informal advisors and technology to bring financial products to the underbanked. Before that, Ana was director of “Housing for All” at Ashoka, where she worked with corporations and social entrepreneurs to deliver affordable housing to the ”bottom of the pyramid”. She comes from a strong financial background.
Florencia Attademo-Hirt
Country Representative IDB Paraguay
Florencia is an Argentinian and Italian citizen, has been the IDB Group Country Representative in Paraguay since July 2018. Previously, she was the IDB Group Country Representative in The Bahamas from mid-2015 to June 2018, and prior to that was an Operations Principal Specialist in the Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Division of the Institutions for Development Department.
Iliana Benítez
CEO Vertex Studio
liana Benítez is the Founder and CEO of Vertex Studio, the company that created Simbotic, an AI-powered simulation training for robots for citizen safety purposes. Iliana started working for the gaming and mobile applications industry in El Salvador 9 years ago. She is a wife and a mother of 2 young women.
Isabelle Chaquiriand
Executive Director XCALA
Isabelle serve as the general director of Xcala, an IDB Lab initaitive to improve the access to finance for entrepreneurs in Latin America & the Caribbean. She is the Senator for Uruguay of the World Business Angel Forum (WBAF) and vice president of ATMA, an industry leader in packaging manufacturing. Isabelle was named twice as the Entrepreneur of the Year int he manufacturing industry in Uruguay, and in 2016 was named Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by EY.
Pablo Grandinetti
Co-founder/COO Blink
Pablo is a serial entrepreneur, advisor and investor. In the last 20 years he co-founded and sold more than 15 companies. He is currently the co-founder & COO of Blink (www.blink.la), a New York startup considered the largest content production platform in the world.
Pia Garat
Co-founder and CEO Eolo Pharma
Pia is co-founder and CEO of Eolo Pharma, a drug development company, incubated and invested by CITES. Eolo Pharma is developing its first clinical trial in humans (phase I) for compound EOLO3, developed for the prevention and treatment of obesity and its metabolic complications (in type II diabetes).
Ezequiel Chiapero
Chief Technology Business Developer Officer CITES
Ezequil is a Mechanical Engineer graduated from the Balseiro Institute with a PhD from the NTNU (Norway). He worked at the startup Norway Innsep AS. Graduated from the IAE Business School executive training program. Part of the CITES team since November 2014.
Gloria Ortega
General Manager Bancard SA
Gloria was the first female to become an Industrial Engineer in Paraguay, having graduated from the UNA. For 6 years, she served as the General Manager of Millicom International in Latin America and Africa. She is supporting the Ministry of Labor of Paraguay and the IDB in improving labor intermediation in Paraguay (SIPAIL) through the use of technology and digital media. As the General Manager of Bancard, Gloria currently leads projects to bring better electornic payment systems to Paraguay.
Valentina Raggio
Design Thinker ThalesLab
Throughout her career as a university professor for 10 years, as well her studies in Graphic and Digital Editorial Designs, she has learned that she is a Deisgn Thinker. She currently works at ThalesLAB, a Company Builder, supporting tech entrepreneurs in both communication and design (UI UX branding), as well as innovation methodologies.
Silvia Torres Carbonell
Excecutive Director, Entrepreneurship Center, IAE Business School.
Silvia is the Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at IAE Business School. Silvia is also director of the GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) research project in Argentina, a member of the board of directors of the Endeavor Foundation and ASEA (Association of Argentinean Entrepreneurs), vice president of the International Women’s Forum of IWF and active angel investor.
Pitch Competition
Six women entrepreneurs were selected to pitch their company before an international investors’ panel, during the Pitch Competition finale.
Meet the finalists of the Pitch Competition 2019
Andrea Puente
Co-Founder and CEO Panal Fresh
Ingrid Briggiler
CEO Llamando al Doctor
Regina Espinoza Athié
Co-Founder and CEO Cuéntame
Sully Siucho
Co-Founder and COO Rebaja Tus Cuentas
Sofia Gancedo
Co-Founder and COO Bricksave
WINNERVicky Ricaurte
Co-Founder and CEO Arukay
Meet the jury of the Pitch Competition final
Vivianne Bernardes De Cibils
Director Cibersons Group
Nathan Lustig
Managing Partner Magma
Santiago Zavala
Partner 500 Startups
Jalak Jobanputra
Socia fundadora Future\Perfect Ventures
Adriana Tortajada
Global Entrepreneurship Director Santander Universidades
Javier Sánchez Aldana
Regional Director Andel Ventures