Moneda Moves (172): This Investor Is On A Mission To Help Latinas Scale the Capital Ladder
If there’s anyone who understands the entrepreneurship ecosystem from different vantage points, it is Laura Moreno Lucas, a serial Latina entrepreneur, who is now a general partner and has helped list companies on the stock exchange. Today, she is founder of Libra Leaders and guest on the latest Moneda Moves podcast episode.
Libra Leaders is a new platform with a collective $1.2B in investment capital setting out to help founders scale the capital ladder by providing access to a network of influential women at every level of the capital markets, growth opportunities, and the big unlock for the Latino cohort: capital itself.
Her founding team including Carolina Bradili and Anastasia Martinez sets out to build a wholistic ecosystem to uplift the next generation of unicorns. But prior to Libra Leaders, Laura had a history of working in the space from being an entrepreneur at an exiting company, to board member at bath and body brand Nopalera to being a general partner in venture. Before then, we had a pleasure of working together at Nasdaq, the stock exchange, where she was managing director for new listings and capital market.
On today’s episode, Laura shares more about her endeavor to uplift women entrepreneurs, and learnings in her career as one of the few Latinas to rise through the ranks in capital markets.
Note: This podcast was recorded during Women’s History Month in the lead up to Libra Leaders’ launch which was reported separately via Forbes. You can read that here. And a disclosure, I am now part of Libra Leaders as a member of the media, in search of new stories in the Latino entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Con poder,
Lyanne
Headlines to put your radar.
Immigrants, Latinas and AI Adoptions Are Focus Points For State of Latino Entrepreneurship 2023 Report: Just last month, we traveled to Palo Alto to hear from SLEI on the most recent trends among our Latino cohort of entrepreneurs. Latino owned businesses continue to be on the rise with more than 4.7 million firms in the U.S., and employing 3.5 million workers across the country.
Immigrants represent more than half of all Latino-owned businesses. And while they lead in this category, they face more barriers to entrepreneurship which shows in money made. SLEI’s report shows a generational increase in median annual revenues from immigrant Latino entrepreneurs, to entrepreneurs who are children of immigrants, and entrepreneurs of generations that follow.
Latina entrepreneurs continue to create new businesses and seek funding in the process, but they come across several barriers. Notably, they have the lowest approval rates for business loans from national and local banks.
Latino-owned businesses are outpacing their White counterparts in AI adoption. And in the tech entrepreneurship space, the Latino cohort can compete. The latest report shows tech-centric Latino-owned firms create similar revenues as tech-based White-owned firms.
These are trends we will continue to monitor in our stories and ask entrepreneurs and capital allocators in the ecosystem about. While the Latino entrepreneurial cohort continues to show a lot of promise, there are also critical gaps to be filled for business owners to realize their growth potential.
Thank you for joining us! Until next time, catch us here on Moneda Moves.