Jeffery:
Well, Carlos, I want to appreciate it. And thank you very much for joining us today. And like we do, we just jump right into things. So I like to kind of casually kick off, and then we just jump right in and go right at it. So welcome to Ask an Angel. Thank you very much for joining us and the audience, as they know, that you’re in Mexico, in Mexico City, and very excited at the opportunity to dive into and learn more about the ecosystem and everything that’s going on in Mexico. But the first and the easiest way for us to start is maybe you could give us a little bit more on your background. So where you’ve come from, what you’ve been up to, where you are now and then where you’re looking to go so kind of that easy lifeline. And then, one thing about you that nobody would know.

Carlos:
Great. Thanks, Jeffrey, for having us here. So a little background on myself. I come from, you know, the traditional finance industry, working a corporate banking at HSBC here in Mexico. Then worked for a fund focused on sustainable projects, particularly in water and energy projects here in Mexico. Uh, then I continued my professional journey in corporate banking at a regional bank that’s one of the leading digital banks right now in Mexico. Then I decided to do my, uh, my MBA in the U. S. Uh, with a focus on private equity and venture capital. And after my MBA, I worked for the venture arm of a family office in Boston that wanted to tap into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. And then I returned to Mexico and joined US investor and director of finance for a Fintech startup that provides long to the underserved SME marketing in Mexico. And that’s when you know, we realized that there was a gap in this early stage funding ecosystem in fintech, particularly as well. So that’s when we decided to set up AMG block, which is a six stage, a busy fund focused on fintech in Mexico and Spanish speaking Latin. You know, Fintech. We sit across different business verticals, you know, payments, loans, wealth management and should take a Blockchain. We believe you know, technology will play a key role in financial inclusion in this region. And the Blockchain is definitely one of the technologies within our scope. Um, so that’s, you know, sort of the brief overview on how we got here and something that, you know most people don’t know about me. Uh huh. I’m so both my parents are from Peru. So, uh, my parents, they met in Peru, got married in Peru and then came here to Mexico over 40 years ago. So I was born and raised here, but I have a strong connection to other, you know, Latin American cultures. And that’s obviously one of the reasons that we’re also looking to expand sort of the Latin American opportunity through the farm. You know,

Jeffery:
I love it. I’m a big fan of Peru. I spent some time traveling through there. I’ve gone through lots of countries in Latin America, Central America. Big fan of, I guess you can say the Spanish culture and the Spanish speaking countries. But Peru was quite fun.I did some trekking through there and climbed some one, you’re only mountain that’s big in Peru, I guess. So that was fun. And overall, it’s a great experience and a lot of great people. But of course, Mexico is just as amazing too, um as we talked before. I’m a huge fan of Mexico City. It’s so active and crazy big that you can just get lost walking around there for five minutes and not know where you started. So it’s pretty amazing.

Carlos:
Yeah, it’s so it’s similar to, you know, New York and LA combined, you know, so big. But you have some, like, clusters around the city. You have to know where to move around and everything. But overall, it’s a great place to visit. You know, culturally, gastronomically — it’s amazing. So, yeah, I’m glad you’ve been a part of Latin America for a while.

Jeffery:
Yeah, big fan. I’ve been there a few times. Just from a side fact standpoint, I believe in and correct me if I’m wrong. But I think Mexico City in the last 10 years has sunk more than three inches. In the last three years, the entire city. Sorry. In the last 10 years, the entire city has dropped that much

Carlos:
Well, primarily in the city centre. Yeah, it was built on top of the lake. So when you go to the city center, you’ll see some buildings that are, you know, below ground level. I’m not sure about how much every year was safe, but, well, continue thinking for a while.

Jeffery:
Yeah, they were saying that it’s something that they can’t control. So they were actually considering at some point, building another city to offset the weight of everything that was going on in Mexico City and to see if they rebuild it in a different fashion because of it. And I think it was because it would screw up the aquifers and and everything else that’s running in the city at some point in time.

Carlos:
Yeah,. it’s a Yeah, It’s an interesting dynamics that we have here, and that’s you know what? One of the peculiarities, When when it, uh when we got some of these, uh, earthquakes right at the city center. I mean, if you’re there, which all the buildings are built on top of the water, right, you have a lot of movement. So whenever we have an earthquake here, that’s why it’s so chaotic. Uh, but I mean, we have the pros and kinds of living in Mexico City, you know?

Jeffery:
Yeah, I know. It’s pretty amazing. So I kind of want to dive back into your past because I find that a lot of what we’ve done gets as to where we are today. And, you know, you spend some time working in the banking side. And of course, oddly enough, you’re investing in Fintech and Blockchain. So I’m sure there has to be some coincidence that’s occurred there. But in that process, can you give us an idea of what that experience really detailed? Because the banking side being in numbers, it really does drive home what every startup needs to focus on, which is understanding their business, modeling, how their financial models are working and how they can drive and make money in sales. So maybe a little bit more on how you kind of explore that banking side. And how valuable was that before you went in and did your MBA?

Carlos:
Yeah, I mean, the banking sector I’d say in Mexico, in Latin America it’s a little different than another you know, more developed markets. I mean, we had an opportunity to work in traditional finance. I mean, we focused mostly on the 2% right of the SME market, for instance. So there is a huge opportunity to provide financial services and solutions to the underbanked population, to the underserved SME market. And that’s, you know, something that the fintech sector has been focused on, right? I mean, when you look at sort of the statistics in Mexico alone, less than 50% of the population is a bank, right? So but we have a lot of smartphone penetration, right? So this, uh, you know, technology definitely plays a role in reaching these unbanked populations and providing the services that the traditional finance institutions don’t provide either because it’s too catholic. It’s too much of a hassle right? Or they just don’t think it makes sense business wise, right? So I mean, it’s definitely an interesting ecosystem, and one that particularly fintech companies across different business verticals are trying to to solve, you know,

Jeffery:
And we’re finding that with that experience and then going to the US and experiencing the MBA that’s kind of shifted your mindset on how these banks were operating and maybe the time you were like that just seems reasonable. And then you’re in the U. S. You’re like, this is terrible. We need to get back there and correct this.

Carlos:
Yeah, I mean, when I mean, I was lucky enough obviously, to experience that whole experience of living out in the US, right. Uh, and it’s interesting, right? I mean, you have these one click solutions when you go out and have lunch with friends, you Ben Moh them and everything is settled, right? Pretty much the entire, you know, financial railways are already set in the U. S. But I experienced personally, So I was trying to transfer money from my Mexican account to my US account, and it took probably around two months. And at one point I was like, I don’t know where my money is because it wasn’t. It wasn’t the same bank that I was using. So obviously the the there’s triangulation in the in the transfer of funds and I had to contact my local bank, my U S bank, and none of them were able to tell me where my money was, right? I mean, at one point, it was probably somewhere in Europe because they were triangulating my transfer and this type of problems… I mean, could be, you know, uh, solved relatively easier with technology, right? I mean, launching technology obvio