Highlights from Valor’s 12th Annual Summit
No one could have foreseen the pace of transformation that defined 2024. From groundbreaking advancements in AI to the rise of nearshoring across the Americas. and evolving regulatory landscapes in blockchain technologies, the world has experienced rapid change—and there’s no sign of it slowing down. Adapting to this new reality has become imperative for businesses, governments, and society.
That’s why Valor’s 12th Annual Summit centered on the theme “The New Era of Accelerated and Exponential Change.” This year, we brought together our visionary founders, investors, and business leaders to explore these profound shifts and how we can navigate these opportunities and challenges shaping our future.
This year’s agenda spanned topics ranging from the global economy, to the opportunities in climate, AI and fintech, to the broader geopolitical landscape in Latin America and beyond, capturing the promise of this pivotal moment. As our founder Scott Sobel aptly stated in his opening remarks, “We must adapt to this accelerated pace of change or be left behind.”
For those in the Valor community who weren’t able to join us in person this year, we’re recapping the highlights, the opportunities, and the future-forward conversations that left attendees inspired to lead the charge in this new era.
The Future of Finance
Our first session of the day was a fireside chat with Roberto Campos Neto, the Governor of the Brazilian Central Bank, who shared key insights on how embracing technologies like blockchain has been critical to the advancement of Brazil’s economy and making it more inclusive, and how countries including the U.S. can learn from the BCB’s pioneering approach.
Building on the topic of blockchain innovation, our Managing Partner Michael Nicklas spoke with three leaders within Valor’s network – Partior CEO Humphrey Valenbreder, Circle’s Chief Legal Officer Heath Tarbert, and Temasek Managing Director Prady Agrawal – for a deep dive on the impact of tokenization on the economy.
“Blockchain is changing the world. If you look at the current state it hasn’t changed in the last 50 years. Cross border payments are as old as can be, and we are going after the inefficiencies.” – Humphrey Valenbreder, CEO of Partior
Beyond blockchain, we heard from Caju CEO and co-founder Eduardo del Giglio and Velotax co-founder Eduardo Esmanhotto on how fintech solutions are driving productivity and financial inclusion. Valor Partner Carlos Costa interviewed the two founders on the complexities in today’s financial system and the opportunities for disruption, from taxes to consumer lending to employee benefits.
“Brazil has the most complex tax system in the world by far. Not only that, they take up to 5 months to receive their tax return. Our technology can prepare it in 5 minutes.” – Eduardo Esmanhotto, co-founder, Velotax
AI in the Spotlight
AI was infused throughout every conversation, but two sessions in particular examined the latest innovations and what’s next. Managing Partner Michael Nicklas sat down with Logan Kilpatrick, who leads product for Google AI Studio, to discuss what AI breakthroughs are still to come, and how both tech giants and startups can win in today’s hypercompetitive ecosystem.
“Folks are worried about large model providers eating the lunch of all these startups. But the practical reality that I see is startups making their own small models. It ends up being this orchestration of lots and lots of models in the picture, not just the large models – and that’s where the value is created.” – Logan Kilpatrick, Lead Product, Google AI Studio
In a session moderated by Valor Managing Partner Paulo Passoni, AKAD Seguros CEO Danilo Gamboa and NEXU founder Abdon Nacif spoke to real-world applications of AI that are making an impact on their businesses today.
“40-50% of our customers are dealing with bots that can solve their queries. This year, we also focused a lot of our energy improving our internal processes, achieving 50% reduction in coding time and 100% of our code is tested using an AI bot, and today it’s fully automated.” – Danilo Gamboa, CEO of AKAD Seguros
A Global Perspective on Business and Beyond
Throughout the day we also heard from global leaders and business legends on our changing world and its implications on the business landscape. Our Vice Chairman & Managing Partner Dan Schulman sat down with Lazard CEO Peter Orszag who shared his perspectives on everything from the U.S. presidential election to geopolitical risks and their potential impacts on the economy, regulations, and beyond.
“You cannot with the college education population. You need the working class to win an election” – Peter Orszag, CEO of Lazard
We also dove deeper on the specific dynamics shaping Mexico. Valor Chairman, Ambassador Cliff Sobel interviewed Altagracia Gomez where we heard her insights on how nearshoring is transforming Mexico’s economy and position as a global innovation hub.
“She is a business person, and she has priorities” [On President Scheinbaum]. “Public Private partnerships are going to exist. They’re not only convenient, but necessary!” – Altagracia Gomez, Regional Economic Development & Nearshoring Advisor to President Sheinbaum
“There are 3 things that the President needs to be mindful- price of gas, USD/MXN rate, and the price of the tortilla” – Altagracia Gomez, Regional Economic Development & Nearshoring Advisor to President Sheinbaum
Inspiration and Optimism for the Future
In a world full of uncertainty and rapidly evolving challenges, we felt it was also important to take time in the agenda to recognize the opportunities for business and technology to make positive change, and inspire our community to find their purpose and passion.
Valor Managing Partner and COO Antoine Colaço led a discussion with James Kanoff, Co-founder & CEO of Terradot, and Fabio Carrara, Founder and CEO of Solfácil, on how we’re investing in solutions to the climate crisis. From carbon capture to renewable energy, advancements in technology are showing incredible promise for addressing today’s climate challenges.
“Energy consumption will continue to increase faster than GDP and economy. There will be a lot of pressure and the traditional grid won’t keep up. But I see a future in which we will produce 100x more energy, or 100x cheaper energy, with an abundance.” – Fabio Carrara, Founder and CEO of Solfácil
For a perspective outside of our normal day-to-day, our co-founder Scott Sobel spoke with Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Rickson Gracie, who shared the importance of being present, finding purpose, and being resilient through whatever obstacles may arise in life.
“If you don’t have purpose, you have a shallow life. Whatever you do, don’t have regrets.” – Rickson Gracie
“Breathing takes you from another level. The idea you need to have of how to breathe, is all about learning and practicing that. A very important tool” – Rickson Gracie
“The idea of spiritual guidance, and tools of the spiritual warrior, should be present from day 1 until the end.” – Rickson Gracie
Finally, we closed out the day with one of Valor’s Board Members, Ray Chambers who had a conversation with former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. Together, they discussed bringing your values to your life’s work and building a future of positive change.
“Take responsibility for yourself. Respect your fellow human beings. Disagree openly and honestly, and never look down on people you don’t understand. If enough of us had enough of those values, then our politics and society would keep rolling along.” – Sen. Bill Bradley, Former Senator of the U.S. and two-time NBA Champion.
We couldn’t have asked for a better event to help us close out the year, and we look forward to taking the ideas and relationships that were developed at the Summit with us into the year ahead. These connections will help all of us at the Valor team fulfill our purpose, which is partnering with world-class investors and extraordinary founders to generate superior returns and affect positive change in the world.