Alejandro Orvañanos. Courtesy photo

Qualtrium

Industry: Financial Services / Fintech

Founding Student Names: Alejandro Orvañanos and Sebastián Velásquez

Brief Description of Solution: Qualtrium is an online platform that connects private companies in Latin America with investors such as private equity/credit funds and banks. Through our platform, private family-owned companies can improve their institutional structure, gain access to the right type of growth capital, and interact with other business over a secure network. Investors use the platform to efficiently generate quality pipeline.

Funding Dollars: $15,000

What Led You To Launch This Venture? I was considering raising a search-fund to acquire and operate a medium-sized company in Mexico. However, I realized that there is a huge disconnection between both sides of the market, even though there are billions of dollars ready to be invested into the private sector and there are tens of thousands of companies in need of growth capital and with sub-optimal institutional and operational structures. I had a hard time understanding why, if there was enough money and so many opportunities, there were so few deals that were actually taking place. It was then that I realized that this was not only an incredible market opportunity, but also a way to generate positive impact in Mexico and Latin America, where private companies provide around 70% of jobs and 40% of GDP.

Biggest Accomplishment So Far with Venture: Being selected as a Kellogg Zell Fellow in the Emerging Markets track, and getting four companies in Mexico to come on board our platform.

How Has Kellogg Helped You Further Your Venture? First, Sebastián and I enrolled in the New Venture Discovery class with Professor Gabe Vehovksy and this helped us tremendously to understand our target market and sharpen our value proposition. Then, we were granted one of the Kellogg Summer Stipend awards, and that allowed us to stay on campus over the summer to work on our venture. Finally, I was selected as a Zell Fellow for the 2018 cohort and that has provided us with invaluable mentorship opportunities, technical and leadership workshops, and funding to actually develop our product.

Long-Term Goals with Your Startup: It would be to become the premier pipeline-generating tool for investors across Latin America and other emerging markets. Another goal is to become the go-to business platform for hundreds of thousands of business owners whose companies have amazing products or services but are under-institutionalized and lack access to the right type of growth capital. We want to provide these companies with the opportunity to secure their family legacies and improve their generational transitions and growth strategies.