SoftBank's Shu Nyatta and Paulo Passoni, two of three managing partners at its $2B Latin America Fund, said they are leaving to start their own VC business
SoftBank Group Corp.'s Shu Nyatta and Paulo Passoni, two of the three managing partners at the SoftBank Group Corp.'s Latin America Fund …
Context & Ripple Effects
SoftBank built its Latin America franchise from scratch: the $2B Innovation Fund launched in 2019 targeted e-commerce, fintech, and healthcare startups, then grew into a nearly $8B vehicle under three managing partners. Now two of those three — Shu Nyatta and Paulo Passoni — are leaving to found their own VC firm.
The exit extends a pattern: SoftBank already confirmed a wave of senior departures from the Vision Fund, including its COO and four partners, in late 2020. Losing the architects of its most successful regional bet raises questions about who carries the Latin America strategy forward.
First-order effects
- Alex Szapiro, the remaining co-head, is left running the nearly $8B fund effectively alone, and every portfolio company backed by Nyatta and Passoni loses its internal champion at SoftBank.
Second-order effects
- Their new firm will compete directly with SoftBank for the same Latin American founders and follow-on rounds, armed with the relationships the fund itself paid to build — a repeat of the talent-drain dynamic SoftBank absorbed during the 2020 Vision Fund departures.
Third-order effects
- Subsequent reporting showed SoftBank completing only two new Latin America deals across two years as it struggled to find startups ready for major checks — suggesting the region's deal flow migrates toward smaller, partner-led firms like the one these founders are building, while SoftBank's mega-check model retreats.
The trend: SoftBank's centralized mega-fund model is steadily leaking its regional dealmakers into independent VC firms, shifting Latin America's startup financing toward smaller, founder-led vehicles.