Hernán Kazah

Hernán Kazah is an Argentine venture capital investor, co-founder and managing partner of Kaszek, and served as Chair of Judges for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 program. Before turning to investing, he spent 12 years as an executive at MercadoLibre, the Latin American e-commerce company he co-founded, first as chief operating officer and then as chief financial officer. At Kaszek, his investments include Nubank, Kavak, and QuintoAndar.¹

Early career and education

Kazah began his career in consumer goods and finance. He worked as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble and earlier as a finance analyst at the United Nations Development Program and at a stock brokerage firm.³ In 1997 he entered the MBA program at Stanford University, where he met Marcos Galperin, later the co-founder of MercadoLibre.^{3 • 5} He had already graduated magna cum laude in economics from the University of Buenos Aires.³

He co-founded MercadoLibre, the e-commerce marketplace that EY has called the most successful "from-garage-to-Nasdaq" startup story in Latin America to date.² He spent 12 years at the company, the first nine as chief operating officer and the last three as chief financial officer.³ The company went public in 2007 and, by Kazah's account in a 2023 interview, grew afterward into a company with a $60 billion market capitalization.⁵

Founding and building Kaszek

In 2011 Kazah and Nicolás Szekasy, another MercadoLibre executive, founded Kaszek Ventures, an early-stage venture firm focused on Latin American technology.^{2 • 6} In a March 2023 interview Kazah described a firm with seven funds, five early-stage vehicles and two opportunity funds, and said it was raising one more of each.⁵ By 2024, EY's judge biography described Kaszek as the largest venture capital firm in Latin America, with over US$3 billion in raised capital and more than 100 startups in its portfolio.²

The firm's growth tracks the broader institutionalization of Latin American venture capital. Americas Quarterly reported that by the early 2020s Kaszek had raised upwards of $2 billion, invested in more than 100 companies, and backed 16 of the region's 42 unicorns.⁶ Exame counted more than 120 startups backed across nine funds by 2023.¹ Roughly 60 percent of the firm's 2023 fundraising was earmarked for Brazil.¹

Notable investments and exits

The investment most associated with Kazah's record is Nubank, the world's largest fintech bank.⁶ Kaszek invested in Nubank's seed round, when, in Kazah's words, it was "just founder David Vélez and his PowerPoint", before the co-founders had joined, and kept investing through later stages via its early-stage and opportunity funds.^{6 • 5} Nubank went public in December 2021; by March 2023 Kazah put its market capitalization at $22 to $23 billion.⁵

Kavak and QuintoAndar are also named as Kaszek portfolio companies,¹ as are Gympass and Loggi.¹

Boards and public positions

Kazah sits on the board of several technology companies and is a board member of the Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA).³ MarketScreener lists him on the boards of numerous portfolio companies, including Madeiramadeira, Dr. Consulta, Contabilizei, Credijusto, La Haus, Tienda Pago, Zup, Digital House, Restorando, and Valoreo; that list is undated, so current seats cannot be confirmed from these sources.⁴ In 2021 he took the role of Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of MELI Kaszek Pioneer Corp, the special-purpose acquisition company Kaszek launched in partnership with Mercado Libre.^{4 • 6} He also served as Chair of Judges for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 program.²

By the numbers

• Capital raised: over US$3 billion, per EY's 2024 biography;² an earlier Americas Quarterly article put the total at upwards of $2 billion, a difference consistent with the later date.⁶
• 2023 funds: Kaszek announced US$975 million in April 2023, split US$540 million for early-stage companies and US$435 million for later-stage ones.¹ Americas Quarterly had reported the same pair as a $475 million fifth early-stage fund, described by TechCrunch as perhaps the largest ever in the region, plus a $525 million second Opportunity Fund; the two outlets do not reconcile the figures.⁶
• Reach: more than 120 startups backed across nine funds,¹ including 16 of the region's 42 unicorns at the time of the Americas Quarterly report.⁶
• MercadoLibre tenure: 12 years, with the company reaching a $60 billion market cap after its 2007 listing.^{3 • 5}

No source in the retrieved set gives Kaszek's assets under management figure, fund-level returns or internal rate of return, or how much of the firm's capital Kazah personally oversees.

Controversies and setbacks

The main public criticism attached to Kazah concerns special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), which draw criticism for lighter regulatory scrutiny and due diligence and for the fees their sponsors collect. Kazah defended the Kaszek vehicle, saying it had "the right incentives" and that "all the fees that you have with SPACs, in our case only kick in if we add value over time and the stock appreciates. If it doesn't appreciate, we get zero."⁶ A second setback visible in the record is valuation: Nubank, the firm's flagship public position, carried a market capitalization of $22 to $23 billion by March 2023.⁵

References

1. Hernan Kazah, fundador da Kaszek, Exame (2023). https://exame.com/negocios/hernan-kazah-fundador-da-kazsek-dos-us-1-bilhao-que-a-gestora-de-vc-captou-60-vao-para-o-brasil/
2. Hernan Kazah – EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2024 Judge, ey.com. https://www.ey.com/en_sy/weoy/judges/hernan-kazah
3. Hernán Kazah – ARCAP. https://arcap.org/hernan-kazah/?lang=en
4. Hernan Kazah: Positions, Relations and Network, MarketScreener. https://www.marketscreener.com/insider/HERNAN-KAZAH-A0FRCL/
5. Call #118: Hernan Kazah, Kaszek Ventures Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Insignia Review (2023). https://review.insignia.vc/2023/03/14/season-5-episode-7-call-118-kaszek-ventures-hernan-kazah/
6. Still Betting Big: Argentine Venture Capitalists Hernán Kazah and Nicolás Szekasy, Americas Quarterly. https://americasquarterly.org/article/still-betting-big-argentine-venture-capitalists-hernan-kazah-and-nicolas-szekasy/

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026

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