Team – LEAP

Roman Leal

Managing Partner

Before founding LEAP, Roman held various positions in financial services and fintech, including notable roles at PayPal and Goldman Sachs. At PayPal, Roman co-led initiatives in next-gen financial services, digital currencies, and peer-to-peer strategies. During his time at Goldman Sachs, he specialized in Financial Technology and provided strategic guidance to startups worldwide through the Emerging Technology Research and Payment Processing platforms, offering valuable market and product insights. Roman holds a joint degree in Economics and Legal Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Roman focuses on Fintech and SaaS opportunities.

Roberto Aguayo

General Partner

Roberto specializes in SaaS e-commerce technologies for LEAP. With an entrepreneurial background, Roberto brings a hands-on approach to actively support our portfolio companies. He also leads the LEAP Family Office Network initiative internally. Additionally, Roberto has corporate experience and has held various roles at Caffenio, one of the largest coffee distributors/retailers in LATAM, where he currently serves as a board member. Roberto holds an MBA from the University of Texas. He is also a co-founder of Mint Machine Technologies (Exit) and serves as a Board Member at Caffenio, one of the largest family-owned coffee businesses in Latin America.

Roberto focuses on Marketplaces and SaaS.

Cuco Vega

Head of Platform

Cuco's purpose as LEAP's Head of Platform is to bring a holistic approach to VC. As a former Entrepreneur and Operator, he understands the founder's journey and the opportunities for his firm to help its portfolio companies thrive, leveraging LEAP's network and experience to support them.Before joining LEAP, he co-founded Bexi, a B2B ad-tech platform, running operations and product development. With degrees in Design and Engineering and a well-rounded experience in International Operations, Cuco brings a broad perspective to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Cuco leads Operations, Ecosystem and BizDev.

Vanessa Bello

Associate

Vanessa is an Associate at LEAP Global Partners, where she manages industry and competitive due diligence for our investment opportunities. Vanessa began her career in her family-run business, the DeBello Group, which provides management consulting, financial advisory and customer strategy for the automotive and security industries. Prior to joining LEAP, Vanessa was an Analyst at GC Capital, an early-stage fund. Vanessa also worked in Wayra as a Corporate Venture Capital Innovation Specialist. Vanessa focused on increasing the fund’s pipeline in e-commerce and women-led startups, something she continues to do at LEAP.

Vanessa leads Sourcing and our CVC program.

Manuel Yañez

Associate

Manuel Yañez is an Associate at LEAP, managing the financial and legal due diligence for investment opportunities and coordinating with fund accountants, legal counsel, and auditors. With experience since 2014 in the US and Mexico's VC sectors, he previously contributed at Nacional Financiera (NAFIN), pivotal in Mexico's Venture Capital growth by funding US and Latin American ventures. At NAFIN, he helped select and invest in over 14 VC Funds and served on the Boards of companies NAFIN invested in directly. Before LEAP, he was with GC Capital, focusing on early-stage SaaS and E-commerce investments.

Manuel leads Finances and Investor Relations.

Eva Lepe

Chief of Staff

Eva leads our efforts to engage with our network of founders and LPs. She manages our LEAP Founder Happy Hours and Investor Spotlight Series. In addition, Eva plans and manages our founder/LP events, including our annual LEAP Conference. Prior to LEAP, Eva worked in a variety of restaurant and hospitality management roles, including operations, Human Resources, Branding and special events. Eva graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor’s in journalism: Public Relations.

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