Cofounder Mauricio Sirotsky, a member of the third generation of the Sirotsky family who founded Grupo RBS, started his entrepreneurial career in 2007 when he acquired an innovative food-industry startup and tripled its overall value before selling it in 2014. To avoid his business practices becoming stagnant and to reframe his view of entrepreneurship, he returned to school for an MBA at University of Southern California. After finishing his degree, he returned to work for his family at RBS in its corporate venture capital fund, e.Bricks. The firm grew and became an independent venture capital fund. Mauricio was then invited to lead Maromar Investments, the family office of one of the Sirotsky family business branches. He was able to expand its investments, even working with the Adidas group on some of its startup investments. However, there was a great demand within RBS to return to the company’s media origins. So, RBS Ventures was created to look inward to Rio Grande do Sul for innovation, giving local startups more opportunities to grow into national and international markets.  

RBS Ventures now works as a media-focused venture capital firm for the greater RBS group, investing not only in tech opportunities like Player One games but also in the media sector to help expand the outreach of the RBS group within Southern Brazil, working with local institutions such as the Gremio’s and Internacional’s arenas. Its third branch is focused on a media-for-equity model, where it is developing more investments in B2C and B2B companies. This is even helping RBS Ventures to grow their portfolio. “We are really excited to announce new projects on this side of the firm,” says Mauricio. “Health and fintechs are important industries that we are looking to invest in. So we are continuously expanding our portfolio.”

contato@rbsventures.com.br 

Main photo: Raul Krebs