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EWA Capital
Patricia Sáenz's EWA Capital mandates a 40% gender-lens allocation for early-stage LatAm tech investments, spanning fintech to climate.
EWA Capital
In EWA Capital, we prioritize impact investing with a gender lens, focusing on smart money and transformative partnerships to drive gender equity.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Latin America
Country
Colombia
City
Bogotá
Corporate office
Cra. 7 N.º 114-33 of. 806, Bogotá, Colombia
Principals
Patricia Sáenz
Managing & Founding Partner
Melissa Sesana
Operating Partner
Víctor Muñoz
Operating Partner
Carlos Fernandez de la Pradilla
Operating Partner
Jaime Bastidas
Principal
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at EWA Capital?
Managing and Founding Partner Patricia Sáenz leads the firm's investment strategy. She has more than 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur and investor in Colombia and Latin America, including nine years as an angel investor and VC fund manager. Operating partners Melissa Sesana, Víctor Muñoz, and Carlos Fernandez de la Pradilla contribute sector-specific expertise, while Principal Jaime Bastidas handles investment structuring and portfolio management.
How does EWA Capital's gender-lens mandate actually work in portfolio construction?
EWA Capital allocates at least 40% of fund capital to companies where women hold a minimum of 30% of founding team, board, or C-suite positions. The firm also prioritizes businesses where at least 60% of the user base benefits women directly. Every portfolio company must make a 100% commitment to actively promoting gender equality — this is a closing condition, not a post-investment aspiration.
Is EWA Capital structured as a single family office or a venture firm?
EWA Capital is a venture capital manager, not a family office. It raises third-party capital and deploys it into early-stage tech companies across Latin America. Its structure, disclosed principals, and ESG reporting framework all point to a regulated fund manager rather than a private family investment vehicle.
What investment stages does EWA Capital target?
EWA Capital invests across seed, early-stage, and growth rounds, with a focus on technology-enabled companies that have scalable business models. The firm also participates in co-investments. Its portfolio includes companies at various maturity levels, from pre-revenue edtech platform BeeReaders to later-stage fintech TPaga.
Which sectors does EWA Capital explicitly avoid?
The firm's portfolio shows no exposure to extractive industries, heavy manufacturing, or traditional infrastructure. EWA Capital concentrates on technology-driven business models — fintech, enterprise SaaS, edtech, healthtech, climate tech, e-commerce, and logistics — aligned with its thesis that technology drives regional transformation.
How does EWA Capital source deals across Latin America?
The firm's sourcing combines a senior team with deep local networks — Sáenz's Colcapital presidency, Sesana's WeXchange platform leadership, and Acuña's role as WeInvest Ambassador in Peru — with the operating partners' corporate and venture-studio backgrounds. This produces proprietary flow across Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay without reliance on aggregators or placement agents.
Does EWA Capital maintain philanthropic structures, and how are they separated?
EWA Capital has not disclosed a separate philanthropic foundation. Its impact approach is integrated into the investment vehicle through the gender-lens allocation and ESG monitoring aligned with IFC Sustainability Standards, rather than outsourced to a parallel grantmaking entity.
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