Launched in 2018, Morro Ventures is Puerto Rico’s first early-stage technology-focused VC fund that invests across Latin America and the Caribbean to capitalize on the robust opportunity set while promoting entrepreneurship on the island. Morro Ventures was founded under the auspices of Advent-Morro Equity Partners, the long-standing premier private equity firm of Puerto Rico. Co-founded by Cyril Meduña, Founder and Managing Partner of Advent-Morro, and Allison Kern, a venture investor from New York, Morro Ventures provides an institutional investment framework to the nascent, early-stage investment community on the island.
The Puerto Rico startup ecosystem has expanded rapidly over the last decade through support from local government-funded initiatives, non-profit organizations, and educational programs. As a result, entrepreneurship has grown in prevalence and capital providers like Morro Ventures have entered to facilitate the next stage of company development.
From inception, Morro Ventures has been a close partner to complementary startup organizations in Puerto Rico, dedicating time, resources, and capital to young companies and local founders. To date, Morro Ventures has built a portfolio of 16 companies, with companies based in or with strong ties to Puerto Rico. Morro Ventures I, our current fund, will have 25 to 30 portfolio companies, and by mid-2023 we will have started fundraising for Morro Venture II, with a continued focus as a long-term capital partner of the early-stage startup community in Latin America and Puerto Rico.
From initial conversations, Morro Ventures works with founders and companies to provide not only capital but guidance and strategic network connections to drive the companies’ ultimate success. Different from more curriculum-based programs, Morro Ventures is geared to be a long term partner, through successive funding rounds and ongoing corporate support.
Of its existing portfolio, Morro Ventures is proud to report significant growth and subsequent equity financings from investors outside of Puerto Rico, which has led to greater recognition of Puerto Rico as a fertile environment for company development and investment. A primary goal of Morro Ventures’ investment thesis is to build a diverse portfolio of early-stage companies with an expanded geographical footprint, allowing it to unite and connect local startups with complementary peers from the greater Latin American region. By leveraging a pan-regional network, the companies within the Morro Ventures portfolio have ready access to new expansion markets, facilitating talent hiring, capital raising, and customer acquisition.
With headquarters in Old San Juan and regional offices in Chile Morro Ventures plans to raise and invest successive funds in companies across Latin America and the Caribbean and become a high-esteemed player and essential component to Puerto Rico’s multi-generational success as a hub for innovation and investment.
“Puerto Rico’s burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem provides the perfect environment for an emerging early-stage fund. It’s been especially exciting that our organization has grown alongside the companies in which we invest.”
— Allison Kern, Partner.
“Puerto Rico provides the perfect components for the acceleration of innovation and company development – a young, educated population supported by public and private organizations that, with capital, can upend traditional industry that was previously loath to change.”
— Cyril Meduña, Partner.
