The year 2022 has been a significant one for Lineup. Our three Co-Founders have devoted themselves to growing this company. Julian Franky, our CEO, took on the task of securing capital to accelerate our growth and initiate our pre-seed funding round. Our CPO, María Andrea González, left her position as a product leader in a Fintech company to focus full-time on further developing this product by listening to our users’ needs. Lastly, Juan David Gómez, our CTO, has worked tirelessly to build the technological engine of our platform. Each one, from their own front, has fought daily to turn this dream into reality. Today, we want to share one of these fronts with you: our capital raise journey.
In early May, our CEO gathered us and delivered the most important news of the year: ‘one of the world’s most diverse, active, and renowned venture capital funds believed in our idea and welcomed us into their portfolio!’ In that moment, we officially became a part of 500 Startups LatAm, a Venture Capital fund that’s part of the 500 Global ecosystem. The program in the region began its operations in 2010, trusting and nurturing talent in Latin America. Their portfolio is diverse; they seek early-stage companies that implement and develop technology to cater to users in a scalable manner. They’ve invested in over 170 startups in various industries such as Fintech & Insurtech, SME Solutions, Education, Tourism, and many more. But more than just being part of the portfolio, this meant becoming a part of a community of founders from thousands of startups worldwide and gaining access to hundreds of relevant mentors in entrepreneurship.
When 500 Startup LatAm gave us the ‘YES’, we joined Batch 16 of their Somos Lucha program, where we not only received a $60,000 USD investment, but something even more significant: mentorship, network, and guidance to propel Lineup to the next level during a period of intense work. Over 16 weeks, we had multiple weekly meetings with mentors assigned by the 500 team. Day after day, this team worked with our founders to guide them and help them become better leaders, focusing on improving our growth, scalability, and metrics objectives. Above all, they prepared them for the most awaited day of the program: the Demo Day, an investment event organized by this fund.
At the Demo Day, Lineup was officially presented to hundreds of investors, marking the start of our pre-seed funding round, where we currently find ourselves: We’re raising capital. As a team, we are incredibly proud and grateful to have garnered $3.7M USD of investment interest and over 45 introductory meetings with funds and investors from all around the world. Special thanks to René Lomelí Ojeda for all the support, and to Santiago Zavala, Didier Quiroz Ceballos, Regina Zurutuza, Guillermo Guadarrama, Patricia Desentis Calleja, Nicolas Vega Dippel, Daniela Pérez, Chepe Herrarte, Rocío Pérez, Martha Cecilia Mosquera Salas, Damaris Mendoza Loera, and the entire team at 500 LatAm and 500 Global. We believe we’re taking the right steps to build a sustainable, profitable, and scalable company… A billion-dollar company.
