Zenda Capital

Zenda Capital

Zenda Capital operates from Miami, led by General Partner Esteban Reyes, who brings 21 years of startup experience and 10 years of investing. Reyes co-founded and exited four B2B companies at an aggregate enterprise value of $1.1 billion, then incubated eight companies with personal capital before formalizing the firm. The team also includes Operations lead Sol Franco, formerly an M&A advisor at Deloitte, and dedicated research investors Jeffrey Dong (US) and Raphael Santolin (Latin America), supported by venture partners with operating backgrounds at Coralogix, Twilio, Aerospike and Scale AI. The firm deploys concentrated, thesis-driven capital at the formation-to-Series A stage, typically making 2 to 4 commitments per year. Initial checks span $500,000 to $1.5 million, with reserves to follow on indefinitely. Zenda's portfolio reveals a heavy concentration in cross-border logistics, supply-chain software, and fintech infrastructure. Confirmed positions include Cargado, building software for US-Mexico cross-border trucking (co-investors Primary Venture Partners, Ironspring Ventures); Solvento, automating payments and financing for logistics brokers in Mexico City (co-investors Quona Capital, Dynamo Ventures); and Dockware, which autonomously captures shipment data for carriers. Fintech bets include Caveo, a financial and accounting platform for Brazilian doctors, and the Stripe-acquired billing infrastructure company Octane. Geographically, the portfolio spans North and Latin America, with companies headquartered in Miami, Chicago, Mexico City, São Paulo, New York and Tulsa. Zenda does not disclose total firm assets, but its fund structure is notable for a risk-alignment feature: the manager is the second-largest LP in the vehicle, a posture the firm pitches as a guard against misaligned institutional capital. The investment team is augmented by a roster of formal advisors — including former Twilio distribution lead Chetan Chaudhary and former Nova Credit CEO Misha Esipov — who provide portfolio companies with introductions and guidance on go-to-market, security engineering and data science. In its most recent public output, the firm highlights new US thesis development led by Jeffrey Dong and expanding Latin American coverage under Raphael Santolin. Zenda operates as a lean, proprietor-led venture firm where the General Partner's own operating exits provide the investing credentials, rather than third-party LP capital alone. There is no parent family office or sovereign wealth anchor; the firm is structured as a standard venture partnership. The governance differentiator is the explicit commitment to concentrated portfolios and the risk-aligned LP base — a model that puts the operator-investor's own economics directly on the line in every deal.