Negocios Now

www.negociosnow.com Febrero 2020 17 NegociosNow NegociosNow S amara Mejia Hernan- dez has known about the lack of capital for minority-owned and women- owned companies for some time now and she now has a fund to do something about it. After spending five years in venture capital, she founded Chingona Ventures in 2019. It's a venture capital fund spe- cifically for companies not likely to be funded by tradi- tional venture capitalists. "When I started it in this space, I saw the types of entre- preneurs who received early- stage capital to grow their Chingona Venture Samara Hernandez is done talking; she's doing something "W hen I started it in this space, I saw the types of entrepreneurs who received early-stage capital to grow their businesses, and they always looked the same in terms of industries they were in, business models they had or in the CEO background," businesses, and they always looked the same in terms of industries they were in, busi- ness models they had or in the CEO background," she said. "Many people, especially people of color, do not have access to early-stage capital typically raised from friends and family, so they have trou- ble starting or growing their business at scale. Before starting her fund, she would advise companies and time and time again she heard the same issues they were having — lack of access to capital, lack of mentors- hip, lack of role models. The- se were businesses that many times had to go outside of the Midwest to get venture fun- ding. So Hernandez decided to create a fund to invest at the earliest stages, in busi- nesses not well funded by the venture capital community and to be intentional about making sure that at least 50% of businesses she looked at had women or minorities as CEOs. Her company's name comes from a name she and her sisters used to call one another. As her website expla- ins it: "Chingona: A woman who is intelligent, fearless, and can get things done. Also, see Boss or Badass." As Her- nandez thought about it, she saw the word reflects a key characteristic necessary for a Latina businesswoman to succeed — including herself, a 35-year-old Latina who is a Mexican immigrant and who- se family immigrated to the US with nothing. Her parents worked 2-3 minimum wage jobs at a time to make sure she lived in an area where she could receive a good educa- tion. "The probability of me doing this is very low," she said. "Do you know how many Latinas in the United States are running their own funds? There's probably 18, and I am one of the 18 in the United States. It is crazy." So far she has invested about $1 million in ten com- panies. She invests in high growth technology and tech- nology-enabled companies that are changing the world and are adapting to the chan- ges in consumer demands. For example, one company she invested in is working to make healthier baby food accessible to all, where most in this space have a high price point and are only available in big cities for the upper- middle class. Hernandez also invested in another company that is doing non-plastic gro- cery delivery as large compa- nies like Amazon are incre- asing waste with every box package they deliver. Each investment is about $100,000 to $250,000 per company. For companies that are about a year old, that is a significant amount, she said. It's a risk but also has the highest rates of return. "I go super early, and that is the hardest part because these companies have very little that they have done so far, and you have to use very little data to make an investment decision but this is where I can really help the founder get to the next stage of their business. Also, where I need to have more conviction than anyone else," she said. Growing businesses like those to a large scale will also involve changing attitudes in how traditional venture capi - talists invest as well as brin- ging in new investors, espe- cially women and minorities, at the earliest stages, she said. Hernandez is working on educating and bringing in more investors to invest in her fund and alongside her. She wants to make money for the people she invests in and those who invest with her, but there are broader goals in her vision. "When you bring more wealth into the community, there are a lot of things that happen," she said. "You bring more influence in shaping our society, in how we are seen in politics, in the media, and can make positive chan- ges in the next generation of Latinx leaders. NegociosNow NegociosNow Latinas in business

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