Two months ago HR tech startup Revelo acquired Listopro, a Mexican tech talent marketplace. In this episode, I interviewed the founders of both companies: Lucas Mendes (Revelo) and Giuseppe Belpiede (Listopro). Together, these startups have more than 300,000 tech professionals and are the largest platform for US companies to hire Latin American talent.

Lucas, Revelo’s cofounder, is Brazilian and previously started a beauty e-commerce company which was backed by Tiger Global and Kaszek. Originally from Italy, Giuseppe cofounded Rocket Internet startups like as Linio and worked at Foodpanda.

In this episode of Crossing Borders Lucas and Giuseppe discuss building HR tech businesses in Latin America, share insights about why they decided to work together, and share fundraising advice for startups.

The impact of Covid-19 on the remote tech talent industry

Giuseppe and Lucas founded their startups before the Covid-19 pandemic transformed the talent market globally. Revelo helps companies find, screen, source, and onboard remote Latin American tech workers and Listopro is a marketplace that helps companies hire tech talent in Mexico. The pandemic was a tailwind for both businesses, and Revelo grew seven times since 2020.

Listen to this episode to learn how Listopro and Revelo are solving one of the biggest bottlenecks for companies: hiring high quality tech talent.

Why Revelo Acquired Listopro and Listopro said yes

The Covid-19 pandemic attracted more US companies to Revelo’s services, which led them to. setup headquarters in Miami, as 80% of its business is in the US. As they expanded, Revelo decided they should find top talent across Latin America, not just in Brazil and started looking for opportunities to expand in Latin America.

After getting to know each other,Revelo decided that acquiring Listopro’s was the best way to expand, and Listopro was fully onboard with the Revelo mission. for expansion. They believe they will grow faster together than separately.

Check out this episode of Crossing Borders to understand how these startups are well positioned to connect the Americas through remote tech work.

Fundraising advice for entrepreneurs

Lucas and Giuseppe have impressive track records as entrepreneurs and have raised venture capital for multiple businesses at different times in the VC cycle.

In this episode, they shared advice on how to approach fundraising and explained why persistence can pay off, consistency is key and discussed how investors make decisions based on trust. Find out more about their recommendations in this episode of Crossing Borders.


Outline of this episode:
[01:50] - About Listopro
[03:50] - About Revelo
[08:30] - Lucas’ background
[12:42] - Giuseppe’s background
[16:55] - Giuseppe as part of Linio, Rocket Internet and LSE’s mafia
[19:52] - Lucas’ decision to pivot to HR in tech
[22:41] - Lessons learned by Lucas with his first startup
[25:09] - Advice from Lucas on fundraising
[28:18] - What’s wrong with incentives in VC
[30:55] - Giuseppe on fundraising for Listopro
[34:10] - Revelo’s expansion outside Brazil
[36:59] - Acquisition deal between Revelo and Listopro
[40:50] - Book and podcast recommendations by Lucas
[41:45] - Book and podcast recommendations by Giuseppe
[43:00] - Giuseppe’s advice to younger self
[44:55] - Lucas’ advice to younger self
[47:23] - What’s next for Revelo and Listopro


Resources and people mentioned:
Giuseppe Belpiede
Listopro
Lucas Mendes
Revelo
Rocket Internet
Linio
Foodpanda
London School of Economics
Beleza na Web
Tiger Global
Kaszek
Magma Partners
Books/Blogs/Podcasts
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
Platform Scale: How an emerging business model helps startups build large empires with minimum investment by Sangeet Paul Choudary
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
Steve Blank blog
NFX blog
Paul Graham blog
Open by Andre Agassi