How a $115M Crypto Fund With Big Ambitions Plans to Invest In Latin America

There’s
a
big
business
opportunity
for
crypto
funds
focused
on
Latin
America.

That’s
according
to
Paola
Origel,
the
CEO
and
co-founder
of
Hyla
Fund
Management
—
a
firm
that
invests
in
other
hedge
funds
on
behalf
of
its
clients
—
with
$115
million
assets
under
management.

“Many
big
funds
like
Sequoia
and
a16z
have
been
trying
to
capture
that
market,
but
it’s
very
fractionalized
and
challenging
to
break
in
because
of
the
difference
in
culture,”
Origel
told
CoinDesk
in
an
interview.
“You
really
need
boots
on
the
ground,
people
who
understand
the
market
and
communicate
opportunities
to
founders.”

“In
Latin
America,
and
specifically
in
Mexico,
there
are
very
few
venture
capital
funds,”
she
continued.
“They’re
almost
non-existent
…
I
scouted
the
entire
region
for
the
best
managers
with
the
most
impressive
track
record
to
put
together
this
fund.”
She
eventually
picked
three,
all
based
in
Mexico
City.

Originally
from
Mexico
herself,
Origel
has
17
years
of
experience
in
the
financial
sector
and
was
recently

included
in
the
top
50
women
leaders
in
investment
management
by
Women
We
Admire
—
a
membership-only
organization
for
professional
women.

The
crypto
ecosystem
in
Latin
America
in
2024
presents
similar
opportunities
—
and
challenges
—
as
the
crypto
industry
did
on
a
global
scale
in
2017.
“Back
in
the
day,
there
were
no
service
providers
or
vendors
that
understood
blockchain
or
crypto
at
all,”
said
Origel.
“I
believe
we
were
the
first
institutional
fund
to
open
a
bank
account
with
Wells
Fargo,
because
they
didn’t
understand
what
it
was.”

One
of
the
biggest
roadblocks
in
converting
Latin
American
investors
to
concept
of
crypto,
is
education
about
the
sector.
Cryptocurrencies,
which
don’t
have
a
physical
existence
like
gold
or
cash,
can
be
a
difficult
concept
for
investors
to
grasp.
“Latin
American
investors
are
still
very
traditional,”
she
added.
“They
tell
me
they
only
invest
in
things
that
they
can
stand
on,
or
things
they
can
touch.
We’re
trying
to
change
that
mentality…
we
need
to
prove
to
them
that
these
technologies
actually
work.”

A
crypto
fund
of
funds
acts
like
a
bridge
between
traditional
investors
and
the
crypto
ecosystem,
Origel
said.
The
crypto
space
is
new
and
rapidly
evolving,
and
some
investors
simply
don’t
have
the
time,
resources
or
specialized
knowledge
to
dive
into
the
industry
and
figure
out
which
crypto
hedge
funds
they
want
exposure
to.
That’s
where
Hyla
steps
in.

“The
value
of
a
fund
of
funds
is
access,”
Origel
said.
“We’re
jurisdiction
agnostic,
so
we
know
most
of
the
fund
managers
around
the
world,
and
each
manager
has
their
own
strategy.
For
example,
some
funds
are
fully
dedicated
to
the
development
of
layer
2s
on
Bitcoin.”

Not
only
is
Hyla
is
in
regular
contact
with
fund
managers,
but
the
firm
also
has
lines
of
communication
with
all
the
founders
that
these
funds
have
invested
in
—
which
gives
Hyla
a
unique
perspective
on
the
crypto
ecosystem
as
a
whole,
and
makes
it
easy
to
help
the
right
people
meet.

“It’s
not
a
new
concept.
Funds
of
funds
have
been
tried
and
tested
in
traditional
finance
for
many
years,”
Origel
added.
“But
in
crypto,
that
approach
holds
even
more
value
because
of
how
fragmented
and
complex
the
space
can
be.”

So
why
Latin
America?

According
to
Origel,
crypto
can
have
a
transformative
impact
on
the
region’s
economies
and
help
them
rise
up
“to
the
next
level,
to
stop
being
frontier
markets.”

She
sees
Remittances
as
one
of
the
obvious
areas
of
growth,
since
most
Latin
Americans
must
contend
with
exorbitant
fees
and
difficult
banking
sectors
when
they
try
to
send
funds
internationally
—
like
from
the
U.S.
to
Honduras,
for
example.
Mobile
companies
also
have
plenty
of
room
to
improve
their
products,
Origel
said,
for
peer-to-peer
transactions,
especially
since
a
large
percentage
of
the
region’s
population
is
still
unbanked.

The
global
shift
in
supply
chains
is
presenting
further
opportunities
for
Latin
America,
she
said,
as
is
the
rise
in
entrepreneurial
talent
in
countries
like
Brazil,
Colombia,
and
Argentina,
and
the
fact
that
venture
capital
investment
in
the
region
remains
“disproportionately
low.”

At
the
same
time,
Origel
says
that
it’s
still
very
early
days,
and
that
has
an
impact
on
investment
decisions.
“The
market
is
still
so
small
that
you
can’t
be
very
picky,”
she
said.
“You
can’t
say
‘Oh,
we’re
only
going
to
focus
on
infrastructure,’
because
there’s
not
enough
deal
flow
for
that.
You
need
to
be
open
to
any
sector.”

And
not
all
Latin
American
countries
have
the
same
profile,
obviously.

Origel
singled
out
Brazil
for
its
technological
development
in
the
crypto
sphere,
as
well
as
Mexico
because
of
her
experience
in
that
country’s
markets.
Argentina
and
El
Salvador
are
also
on
her
radar.
In
the
end,
though,
the
jurisdiction
doesn’t
matter
as
much
as
the
quality
of
a
project
and
the
caliber
of
a
team.

“We
want
to
find
the
next
unicorns
that
will
have
not
only
a
regional
impact,
but
a
global
one,”
Origel
said.