Friend of fire? Former Marcos Galperin partner and co-founder of Mercado Libre has joined one of its most promising competitors

Hernán Kazakh, co-founder of MercadoLibre and creator of one of the largest venture capital funds in Latin America, has joined the board of directors of Valoreo, the Mexican e-commerce start-up based in Mexico, “while the company is seeing a rapid evolution towards unicorn status, ”Bloomberg noted.

Marcos Galperin He still presents himself formally as “co-founder” of Mercado Libre, the most profitable company in Argentina and the region, with a market capitalization of 77,000 million dollars, according to its current price of shares on Wall Street. It’s a detail, but that Galperin, who is the alma mater of “Meli” – like the acronym with which the platform is listed on the stock exchange -, is not the only founder of the company because there is more 20 years old, when it was created, there were two founders. The other is Kazah, who had been in the company since minute zero and held important positions for over 10 years, as COO and CFO, until he left to found with another former Mercado Libre, Nicolas szekasy, Kaszek Ventures, one of the largest venture capital funds in the region, like Nubank, from Brazil.

According to Bloomberg, Valoreo said on Wednesday that the addition of Kazah to the board of directors would be accompanied by an investment from Kaszek Ventures. Although it was not disclosed, the investment will be on track to be valued next year at over $ 1 billion, a level known as the unicorn for its rarity in the world of startups.

Founded last year, Valoreo is investing in e-commerce brands in Latin America and expanding in Colombia and Brazil, with plans to open offices in Bogotá and São Paulo. Kazah will participate in Valoreo’s strategy, the company said in a statement.

Who is Kazah?

In principle, one of the most respected investors in the region. From a low profile, he is recognized as a friend of Galperin’s, although his paths took different directions when he decided his role in Mercado Libre had ended.

The two became friends at Stanford University in the United States in the mid-1990s and it was at first glance that Galperin told him of his idea of ​​creating the “Latin eBay”. In fact, they had met in Buenos Aires a few months earlier at meetings attended by those who were to become classmates in the United States and they hit it off very quickly.

“Son of hierarchical civil servants, Kazah lived all his life in La Lucila, in the north of Buenos Aires, and completed his secondary education at the prestigious National School of Buenos Aires. During his studies in economics at UBA he worked at the National Ministry of Economy – in 1991, with Domingo Cavallo at the head of the portfolio, at the Ministry of Industry, commissioned by the current Governor of Cordoba Juan Schiaretti -, later in one and also in the field of marketing of the multinational Procter & Gamble, for four years, “noted the book” The new Argentine kings “.

“We were rendering: we spoke with investors and took photocopies “He recalled the origins of the Mercado Libre in the garage of the Sadesa building, the Galperin family’s tannery. And of Meli’s IPO in 2007, he said, “We had nothing. Today, with my investor hat on, I think about it and can’t believe it. And not only that: a few months later there was another round, previous investors plus Goldman Sachs, Banco Santander and GE Capitals: they gave us $ 46.5 million. It was difficult to close this second round between February and March 2000, when the Nasdaq started to fall. “

A fervent defender of the Mercado Libre culture, he now joins as an investor and director a nascent competitor who promises a lot. To arrive at Do I like Argentina?

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