Enthusiastic entrepreneur and a fervent Latin American leader, who perfectly understands the challenges, misadventures and passions of the ecosystem. He ventured into various projects over the years, from the video game industry, through Disney, to founding one of the Argentine unicorns and investing in new ventures.
Today he is Co-Founder and General Partner of Newtopia VC, a venture capital firm that aims to become the main engine of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Latin America. He was also Co-Founder and CTO of MURAL, a startup that has created the first online visual collaboration platform to support the creative process of professional teams.
In addition, he is an angel investor in more than 30 startups based mainly in Latin America, but aimed at global markets. Previously, he founded Three Melons, a company that developed video games and after publishing more than 80 highly successful games, it was sold to Playdom/Disney.
About him
Pato lives in Buenos Aires, is the father of 2 children and defines himself as a lover of water sports, nature and travel. In addition, he is a serial entrepreneur who today, from his role as an investor, helps other entrepreneurs.
“I always helped entrepreneurs. It is something that I am passionate about, it energizes me and I think that with little time I can contribute a lot because I have already experienced many of the things that those who are starting are experiencing, ”he said to El Cronista.
In 2005, he founded Three Melons, a company that developed video games for the Web, PC and console. After more than 80 published games, and great successes such as LEGO Star Wars and BOLA Social Soccer, the company was acquired by Playdom / Disney.
It was in 2011 when Pato decided to leave Disney to found MURAL, an online collaboration tool for creative teams, which digitized the usual whiteboards used in corporate meeting rooms. This company has joined the elite group of LATAM Tech Unicorns.
In parallel, and during much of his journey within the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Pato served as an angel investor in more than 30 startups that are mainly based in Latin America, but aimed at global markets.
“When the entrepreneur hit the spot, or I was passionate about the problem, I try to get involved. Either with time or with investment”, he explained about his facet as an investor.
About Newtopia VC
Newtopia VC is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on emerging startups, with investment, mentorship, and a large community of founders to guide a whole new generation of Latino entrepreneurs.
Pato described Newtopia in his own words: “Newtopia is a fund whose purpose is to help create many companies that are solving a problem for society, creating knowledge, providing jobs, innovating and changing the reality of Latin America that, in addition, is full of opportunities.”
And he commented that “at Newtopia, we are entrepreneurs who support entrepreneurs. We want Newtopia VC to be the momentum platform for the founders who are transforming and creating the new reality.”
About Mural
MURAL is a collaborative intelligence company that connects teams to create a culture of effective collaboration, where everyone is connected and contributing for results that drive the business. The growth of MURAL has been such over the years that it was the eighth Argentine company to become a Unicorn.
Regarding the start of MURAL, Pato explained: “It emerged as the reaction to a personal problem we had at Disney while designing new videogames within geographically distributed teams. Creative work was hard to do while working with remote collaborators so we created MURAL as a way of making these virtual meetings more engaging, generative and productive”
This product was a success and today it is used globally by clients such as IBM, Steelcase, Accenture, Autodesk and EY, among others.
About Three Melons
Three Melons is a company that developed video games for the Web, PC and some consoles and worked with major advertisers, media companies, and game publishers such as Coca-Cola, Lego, Audi, MTV, Discovery Networks, Disney ABC Family, among others.
In 2009, Three Melons grew from a B2B service company to a publisher of social games, launching Bola the following year, with over two million active users. In March 2010, Three Melons was sold to Playdom, one of the fastest growing social gaming companies in Silicon Valley, which was later acquired by The Walt Disney Company
Some forums to get to know him better…
“We want Newtopia VC to be the driving platform for the founders who are transforming and creating the new reality of Latin America”…Read post here
«I started investing as a way to give back to the world what it gave me when I decided to start a business, that’s why today I help entrepreneurs.»... Read post here
“Distributed work is here to stay and this virtual meeting format needed a virtual collaboration space. Just as every room has a whiteboard, every virtual room has to have a virtual whiteboard.”… Read post here
“I think that the fact of being an entrepreneur requires that courage to go ahead without measuring the consequences too much, although later one realizes that it is very, very difficult. The change of mindset for me is something very important on this path, having a more global vision, wanting to take over the world and always shooting for more”…. Link del evento
“From my investor hat, when I invest in a startup I am looking to invest in future unicorns and those are the ones that can create a regional or global business”…Read post here
“I always helped entrepreneurs. It is something that I am passionate about, it energizes me and I believe that with little time I can contribute a lot because I have already experienced many of the things that entrepreneurs who are just starting out are experiencing. When I was able, I invested in entrepreneurs and now I am doing it institutionally with Newtopia”… Read post here