Valor Capital Group

Recap from Valor’s 13th Annual Summit at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream in Washington, DC. Thank you to everyone who joined us and stayed engaged throughout a packed agenda. The energy and conviction in the room reminded us why this ecosystem matters. Valor Capital Group is committed to our mission of being a purpose-driven venture capital firm that believes superior returns create enduring impact.  A consistent theme emerged: nothing meaningful is built without a healthy obsession, a balanced mindset, and a diplomatic approach. As Michael Milken put it, “there are always challenges to the system… but unless people feel they have a chance, nothing works.” The belief in opportunity — and in the systems that make opportunity real — ran through the day’s discussions. André Esteves noted, “bad companies need good governments. Good companies go even with bad governments.” It’s a reminder that hustle and long-term ambition don’t exist in isolation; they grow when institutions create room for them to thrive. We heard from Aravind Srinivas, Founder & CEO of Perplexity, who captured the mindset behind building with intensity, sharing that “when you have momentum and see the proof for your labor, working hard doesn’t feel like work.” Senator Bill Hagerty and Chairman French Hill highlighted the regulatory shifts shaping blockchain and stablecoins, noting that “The Genius Act is the beginning… it’s only one piece of the puzzle,” and “We’ve got leaders here in Washington, D.C., legitimizing it, providing a framework for it to thrive.” Our founders brought that same intensity and passion, showing what long-term ambition looks like in practice and why they continue to push the frontier across fintech, blockchain, and AI. Huge thank you to our speakers, partners, founders, and sponsors (PwC, Gunderson Dettmer, BDO), and to the entire Valor team for bringing this summit to life. To our guests — thank you for your active participation and energy and making the room enjoyable and insightful. We are excited about building something together that matters! #ValorAnnualSummit

#13thValorAnnualSummit To close up the day, we transitioned into a series of cutting edge talks on AI and global innovation. We are honored to have hosted leading figures in the most revolutionary AI companies of our day. Valor Managing Partner Antoine Colaco kicked off the session with a presentation on Valor's AI Investment Thesis. Then, we hosted fireside chats with Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, Alex Mashrabov, CEO and Co-Founder at Higgsfield AI, Linda Rottenberg, Founder & CEO at Endeavor, and Ben Budde, Head of North America GTM at ElevenLabs Alex: "I realized that actually most of the images and videos on the internet will be generated." Aravind: “People don’t care what model they’re using—they open the app and expect it to just work. Our job is to build the agent behind the scenes that gets it right.” Linda: "When economies turn down, entrepreneurs look up." That's a wrap for today folks, thank you to all who participated and followed our event throughout the day!

And now, a highlight for our founders! We had the honor of hosting 3 of our amazing Valor entrepreneurs for a spotlight on their companies. Thank you for participating in our summit!! Jorge Vargas Neto, Founder and CEO of BHub Gabor Gurbacs, Founder and CEO of Pointsville Mateus Costa-Ribeiro, Founder and CEO of Enter

#13thValorAnnualSummit We now transition into our tokenization thesis, hosting a series of panels with industry experts and leading regulators with a panel on US Leadership in Blockchain Regulation with Senator Bill Hagerty and Chairman French Hill and a fireside chat with Bo Hines, CEO of Tether USA Valor Managing Partner Michael Nicklas kicked off the session presenting Valor's Tokenization Thesis. Senator Bill Hagerty and Chairman French Hill discussed the Genius Act's impact on fintech and blockchain. Senator Hagerty explained its inspiration: "to make certain that one of the most important technologies in the world is to move offshore... to gain a balance in the world... to make our whole payments far more efficient" . Representative Hill noted, "We've seen the U.S. put back into the super brain, coders back, venture capital back, and its ability to integrate the dollar-backed stable coin into other fintech applications".  Bo Hines, CEO of Tether USA, highlighted the transformative power of stablecoins in re-engineering finance, making transactions faster, cheaper, and more secure. He emphasized how the Genius Act is enabling banks to treat stablecoins as digital dollars, driving B2B adoption and new product offerings.

Next up, in our panel sessions, we hosted a series of unique talks with some of the main leaders in the financial, regulatory, and fintech space in Brazil. Our distinguished guests were Luis Silva, Founder and CEO of Cloudwalk, André Esteves, Chairman at BTG, Roberto Campos Neto, Vice Chairman of Nubank and Former President of the Central Bank of Brazil, and Alexandre Bettamio,Co-Chairman of Global Corporate IB, Bank of America We’ll leave you with some of the main highlights! Luis Silva: “20 years is short term thinking, when you think in time horizons of 10,000 years” “When is it time to give back? Every day” Roberto Campos:  "I think the winner has to do two things. First, you create an ecosystem that is so powerful that the marginal cost is very high... And the other is that you have an AI that is so powerful that he doesn't want to leave." Andre Esteves: "Bad companies need good governments. Good companies succeed even with bad governments.". Alexandre Bettamio: “Brazil does have some uniqueness, right? We are, by far, the best grid in the world for clean energy in a world that desperately needs power." #13thValorAnnualSummit

Next up, at the 13th Annual Summit, Richard Ditizio, CEO of the Milken Institute opened up the afternoon session, highlighting the strategic importance of cultivating capital markets in emerging and underserved regions. This approach seeks to efficiently deploy substantial latent capital, aiming to yield both compelling financial returns and significant societal benefits. Then, two panels — featuring leaders from Bancomext & NAFIN, Tecnológico de Monterrey, IDB Invest, the World Bank, IFC, and the U.S. DFC — converged on a shared message: the Americas are entering a pivotal moment where collaboration, innovation, and faster capital deployment must move in sync. Across the conversations, Carlos Botello, Omar Morales, Diana Alarcón, Mohamed Eissa, and Conor Coleman underscored the same themes: strengthening regional integration, accelerating financing for entrepreneurs, and enhancing public-private coordination to unlock long-term growth. As James P. Scriven, CEO of IDB Invest, highlighted, “This can only happen through partnerships — it can’t happen on our own.” At Valor, we firmly believe this. Building bridges across the Americas is essential to driving innovation and shaping the region’s next wave of growth.

Good morning! Bom dia! We are kicking off Valor's 13th Annual Summit at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream! As usual, we will post a couple of highlights and updates from the event along the day. To start off the day, Scott Sobel, co-founder and CEO of Valor Capital Group, delivered an inspiring opening, sharing the "human formula" behind Valor's success. As Scott wisely put it, "Obsession is a sustained and healthy fixation on solving important problems, building innovative solutions, and pursuing excellence with consistent discipline." A powerful start to a day focused on driving enduring impact and superior returns. #ValorSummit #VentureCapital

Concluímos na Vixtra hoje uma nova captação via FIDC ancorada pelo Itaú BBA, o que representa muito mais do que só funding para a Vixtra. Ela comprova a força da nossa tese junto a investidores líderes do mercado. Estamos construindo uma plataforma completa de trade banking: crédito, câmbio, logística e tecnologia, para transformar a experiência de quem importa no Brasil. Mais um passo na consolidação desse ecossistema. https://lnkd.in/d9bG8XhS

Congratulations to the Advolve.ai team on the acquisition by iFood! We’ve been close to this journey since the very beginning - backing the founders when Advolve.ai was still just an idea. Seeing that vision evolve into a product that now attracts players like iFood is a real testament to the team’s talent and bold execution. Congrats to João Sobreira, Djary Veiga, João Paulo Martins and team on this milestone. We’re cheering for you in this next chapter! Read announcement here: https://lnkd.in/dBX_Wdbr