Iluminar Ventures
ActiveVenture Capital
Updated: ·
Financial History
Total Raised
N/A
Valuation
N/A
Leadership Team
Key people at Iluminar Ventures.
Key people at Iluminar Ventures.
Iluminar Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on backing high-potential startups across Spanish-speaking Latin America. Its mission is to accelerate the growth of the region’s innovation ecosystem by connecting brilliant entrepreneurs with enlightened capital, global networks, and strategic partners. Iluminar takes a stage-agnostic approach, investing from idea and prototype stages all the way through scaling and pre-IPO, with check sizes ranging from $50,000 to $25 million.
The firm is sector-agnostic, backing startups across all industries—from fintech and healthtech to agritech and enterprise SaaS. A key part of its strategy is a close partnership with Gaingels, one of the world’s most active venture investors focused on diversity and inclusion in tech. Through this collaboration, Iluminar enhances access to global capital, talent, and corporate alliances, helping Latin American startups scale beyond regional borders and compete on a global stage.
---
Iluminar Ventures was founded with the vision of becoming a bridge between Latin America’s rising entrepreneurial talent and the global venture ecosystem. While exact founding details are sparse, the firm has positioned itself as a modern, cross-border VC with roots in both the U.S. and Mexico, operating out of San Francisco and Mexico City.
Led by Victoria Garcia Besne, a General Partner with deep regional and international experience, Iluminar has evolved from a regional investor into a structured venture player that co-invests alongside major global funds and syndicates. Its strategic alignment with Gaingels—managing over $1B in collective investments since 2018—has been a pivotal development, allowing Iluminar to amplify its reach, diversify its deal flow, and bring a strong ESG and inclusion lens to its portfolio construction.
---
---
Iluminar Ventures is riding the wave of Latin America’s tech maturation, where digital transformation, fintech adoption, and startup density are rapidly increasing. The region is producing more venture-backable companies than ever, but many still struggle with access to global capital, mentorship, and cross-border scaling support. Iluminar addresses this gap by acting as a connector—linking Latin American founders to U.S. and global networks while maintaining a strong regional focus.
Its sector-agnostic, stage-flexible model is well-suited to a region where innovation is emerging across diverse verticals and at different maturity levels. By partnering with Gaingels, Iluminar also taps into a broader trend: the institutionalization of impact and inclusion in venture capital. This positions the firm not just as a financier, but as a catalyst for a more diverse and globally integrated Latin American tech ecosystem.
---
Iluminar Ventures is well-positioned to become a defining VC player in Latin America’s next chapter. As the region’s startups increasingly look beyond local markets, Iluminar’s cross-border model and Gaingels partnership will be critical in helping them raise larger rounds, enter new geographies, and build durable, global businesses.
Looking ahead, Iluminar is likely to deepen its focus on high-growth sectors like fintech, climate tech, and healthtech, while continuing to champion underrepresented founders through its inclusion-oriented strategy. If it maintains its high-conviction, ecosystem-first approach, Iluminar could evolve from a regional VC into one of the most influential gateways between Latin American innovation and global capital. In a world where the next tech giants are as likely to come from Bogotá or Mexico City as from Silicon Valley, Iluminar is betting early—and smartly—on that future.
Key people at Iluminar Ventures.
| Date | Company | Round | Lead Investor(s) | Co-Investor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 1, 2025 | Progressive Robotics | $2.0M Seed | — | 83North, Balderton Capital, Marathon Venture Capital, Pareto Holdings, Picus Capital, Alfonso De los Rios, Edvard Engesæth, Gokul Rajaram, Liam Casey, Lluís Cañadell, Pablo Viguera |
| Mar 1, 2024 | Gather AI | $17.0M Series A | — | Bain Capital Ventures, Credo Ventures, Flucas Ventures, Jetstream, Ocean VC, Pareto Holdings, The Hit Forge, Tribeca Venture Partners, Tucker Seed Fund LLC, Weekend Fund, Fadi Bishara, Jeff Seibert, Jeronimo Uribe, Jonathan Wasserstrum, Ragnar Sass, Wayne Chang, Zak Kukoff |
| Dec 1, 2023 | Abbey Cross | $7.0M Seed | — | Magma Partners, Morpheus Ventures, Valar Ventures, Cornelius Boersch, Luis Galvez Y |
| Jun 1, 2023 | Outdid | $3.0M Seed | — | AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, Archetype, Audacity, Awesome People Ventures, Bankless Ventures, Battery Ventures, Chapter One Ventures, CoinFund, Divergence Ventures, Divergent Capital, Electric Ant, Electric Capital, Ethereal Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Future Perfect Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Hack VC, Hashed, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Kearny Jackson, Kleiner Perkins, M34 Capital, Makers Fund, Matterscale Ventures, Nascent, NFX, Not Boring Capital, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Robot Ventures, Seed Club Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, SID Venture Partners, Solana Ventures, Sound Ventures, TBD Angels, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Urbanist Ventures, Version One Ventures, Ryan Zurrer, Weekend Fund, WPP Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Adam Jackson, Alex Pack, Aliaksandr Hudzilin, Alice Lloyd George, Anastasia Andrianova, Andrew Steinwold, Balaji Srinivasan, Biz Stone, Bo Shao, Brad Holden, Charlie Songhurst, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Nage, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Do Kwon, Eric Wu, Immad Akhund, Imran Khan, Jeff Morris, Jess Sloss, Loreanne Garcia, Luis Cuende, Martin Varsavsky, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Nathaniel Whittemore, Regan Bozman, Rene Reinsberg, Ricardo Weder, Scott Belsky, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Sina Habibi, Stani Kulechov, Stefan George, Stelleo Tolda, Steve Weinstein, Tegan Kline, Trevor McFedries, Tyler Scott Ward |
| May 1, 2023 | Num Finance | $2.0M Seed | — | Kayyak Ventures, Newtopia VC, Seaya Cathay Latam Fund, Pierpaolo Barbieri |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Clerkie | $33.0M Series A | — | 1984 Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Left Lane Capital, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Urbanist Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Y Combinator, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Dileep Thazhmon, Eric Futoran, Immad Akhund, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Ricardo Weder, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda, Tom Blomfield |
| Feb 1, 2023 | Betterhalf | $9.0M Series A | — | Andreessen Horowitz, BigSpring, Commerce Ventures, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Pareto Holdings, Picus Capital, Quiet Capital, Redpoint eventures, Urbanist Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Arash Ferdowsi, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Gabriel Jarrosson, Immad Akhund, Kunal Shah, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Nate Matherson, Ricardo Weder, Rodrigo Teijeiro, Samvit Ramadurgam, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda, Tom Blomfield |
| Feb 1, 2023 | Uktena | $270K Seed | — | Bain Capital Ventures, Credo Ventures, Flucas Ventures, Jetstream, Ocean VC, Pareto Holdings, The Hit Forge, Tucker Seed Fund LLC, Weekend Fund, Fadi Bishara, Jeff Seibert, Jeronimo Uribe, Jonathan Wasserstrum, Ragnar Sass, Wayne Chang |
| Jan 1, 2023 | CYGNVS | $55.0M Series A | — | Andreessen Horowitz, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Urbanist Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Immad Akhund, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Ricardo Weder, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda |
| Jan 1, 2023 | Portão 3 | $4.0M Seed | — | Andreessen Horowitz, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Urbanist Ventures, Xochi Ventures, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Immad Akhund, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Ricardo Weder, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda |
| Dec 1, 2022 | Kuona | $6.0M Seed | — | Kayyak Ventures, Newtopia VC, Seaya Cathay Latam Fund, Variv Capital, Matias Woloski, Pierpaolo Barbieri |
| Dec 1, 2022 | WOODEA | $1.0M Seed | — | Andreessen Horowitz, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Urbanist Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Eneko Knorr, Immad Akhund, Loreanne Garcia, Luis Martin Cabiedes, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Ricardo Weder, Sergio Fogel, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda |
| Dec 1, 2022 | Klubi | $6.0M Venture Round | — | Andreessen Horowitz, Canary Ventures, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Urbanist Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Igor Marchesini, Immad Akhund, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Ricardo Weder, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda |
| Oct 1, 2022 | Upheal | $1.0M Seed | — | Bain Capital Ventures, Credo Ventures, Flucas Ventures, Jetstream, Ocean VC, Pareto Holdings, The Hit Forge, Tucker Seed Fund LLC, Weekend Fund, Fadi Bishara, Jeff Seibert, Jeronimo Uribe, Jonathan Wasserstrum, Ragnar Sass, Wayne Chang |
| Oct 1, 2022 | REWORTH | $3.0M Seed | — | 83North, Andreessen Horowitz, Balderton Capital, Adeyemi Ajao, Broadhaven Capital Partners, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Marathon Venture Capital, Matterscale Ventures, monashees, Mouro Capital, NFX, Pareto Holdings, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Sarona Ventures, Softbank Latin America Fund, Urbanist Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Y Combinator, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Edvard Engesæth, Gokul Rajaram, Immad Akhund, Justin Mateen, Liam Casey, Lluís Cañadell, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Pablo Viguera, Ricardo Weder, Roger Laughlin Carvallo, Sean Behr, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda |
| Oct 1, 2022 | Humaans | $15.0M Series A | — | Accel, Adverb Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Adeyemi Ajao, Benchmark, Bond, Creandum, DCM, Dig Ventures, Emergence Capital, EQT Ventures, Founders Fund, Golden Ventures, GSV Acceleration, ICON, LGF, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix, Morgan Creek Capital Management, Ed Mathers, NextView Ventures, NFX, Jeff Richards, Polygon, Prototype Capital, Seven Seven Six, Spark Capital, Stellar Capital, True Ventures, Uncork Capital, Aaron Levie, Aleksander Leonard Larsen, Alex Adelman, Charlie Cheever, Eric Feng, Kulpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Matt Mazzeo, Michael Stoppelman, Sean Behr, Sebastien Borget, Simon Willnauer, Zachary Sims |
| Oct 1, 2022 | Leadsales | $400K Seed | — | Andreessen Horowitz, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Ulu Ventures, Urbanist Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Immad Akhund, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Ricardo Weder, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda |
| Aug 1, 2022 | Latú Seguros | $7.0M Seed | — | Andreessen Horowitz, Canary Ventures, CRV, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Hans Tung, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Urbanist Ventures, Valar Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Chase Gilbert, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Fabian Gomez Gutierrez, Immad Akhund, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Ricardo Weder, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda |
| Aug 1, 2022 | Caju | $25.0M Series B | — | 83North, Balderton Capital, Better Tomorrow Ventures, DCM, FJ Labs, Flybridge Capital Partners, Kaszek Ventures, Lupa Capital, Marathon Venture Capital, NFX, Pareto Holdings, Picus Capital, Valor Capital Group, Alfonso De los Rios, Edvard Engesæth, Gokul Rajaram, Joao Otavio Oliverio, Liam Casey, Lluís Cañadell, Pablo Viguera |
| Aug 1, 2022 | AiPrise | $2.0M Seed | — | 1984 Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Divergent Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Matterscale Ventures, NFX, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Urbanist Ventures, Verified Capital, Xochi Ventures, Y Combinator, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Loreanne Garcia, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Ricardo Weder, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Stelleo Tolda |
| Jul 1, 2022 | Here | $4.0M Seed | — | Bain Capital Ventures, Credo Ventures, Daffy, Flucas Ventures, Hustle Fund, Jetstream, Magma Partners, Mucker Capital, Ocean VC, Pareto Holdings, The Hit Forge, Tucker Seed Fund LLC, Vdosh, Weekend Fund, Eric Wu, Fadi Bishara, Jeff Seibert, Jeronimo Uribe, Ragnar Sass, Wayne Chang |
| Jul 1, 2022 | Sonic Wallet ( SonicWallet ) | $130K Seed | — | NXTP Ventures, Pareto Holdings |
| Jun 1, 2022 | Around | $4.0M Seed | — | Backed VC, Bain Capital Ventures, B Capital Group, Change Ventures, Credo Ventures, Flucas Ventures, Jetstream, Ocean VC, Pareto Holdings, Sapphire Ventures, Tenaya Capital, The Hit Forge, Thomvest Ventures, Tucker Seed Fund LLC, Unpopular Ventures, Weekend Fund, Workday Ventures, Cory Levy, Didier Valet, Eric Ries, Fadi Bishara, Jeff Seibert, Jonathan Wasserstrum, Kristjan Vilosius, Markus Villig, Martin Villig, Ragnar Sass, Roy Rodenstein, Wayne Chang |
| Jun 1, 2022 | DAOLens | $5.0M Seed | — | 83North, 8-Bit Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Balderton Capital, Benchmark, Caffeinated Capital, David Namdar, Exponent Founders Capital, Greylock, Hardware Club, Ignition Partners, Lowercarbon Capital, Marathon Venture Capital, Morado Venture Partners, Pareto Holdings, Picus Capital, Sequoia Capital, Solana Ventures, SRB Ventures, Tribe Capital, Alfonso De los Rios, Balaji Srinivasan, Edvard Engesæth, Kenny Van Zant, Liam Casey, Lisa Cuesta, Lluís Cañadell, Matt Mazzeo, Pablo Viguera, William Hockey |
| May 1, 2022 | Miso | $2.0M Venture Round | — | 83North, Balderton Capital, Glasswing Ventures, Marathon Venture Capital, Pareto Holdings, Picus Capital, Alfonso De los Rios, Edvard Engesæth, Gokul Rajaram, Liam Casey, Lluís Cañadell, Pablo Viguera |
