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Marcelo Claure & Shu Nyatta: LATAM's New $500M Growth Fund; Investing Billions at SoftBank | E1042

Marcelo Claure is the Founder & CEO of Claure Group, a multi-billion-dollar global investment firm. He is the Executive Chairman and Managing Partner of Bicycle Capital, a $500M Latin America-focused growth equity fund, and was appointed Chairman in Latin America of SHEIN, the global #1 on-demand fashion company in the world. Claure was also the CEO of SoftBank Group International where he launched SoftBank’s $8B Latin America Funds, and had direct oversight for SoftBank’s operating companies. As an entrepreneur, Marcelo built Brightstar from a small local distributor to the world’s largest global wireless distribution and services company. In addition, Claure led the turnaround of US wireless telecommunications company Sprint and helped orchestrate its US$195 billion merger with T-Mobile. Shu Nyatta is the founder of Bicycle Capital. Before Bicycle, Shu was most recently a Managing Partner at SoftBank Group International, where he launched and managed two separate funds – the SoftBank Latin America Fund and the Opportunity Fund for early-stage investments in US-based founders-of-color. In the first part of his SoftBank career, Shu was a founding Partner of SoftBank’s Vision Fund. Several companies have retained him on their boards as an independent board member following his departure from SoftBank, including Lemonade (NYSE: LMND), Kavak and Tribal Credit. Shu also serves on the board of Endeavor Global – the leading global community of, by and for high-impact entrepreneurs. ------------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Epic Partnership: Marcelo Claure & Shu Nyatta 6:18 How Bicycle Capital Helps Founders 11:45 How to Give Hard Feedback 16:28 The Details of $500M Fund 21:32 Best Ways to Build a VC Firm 28:17 Deep Dive into LATAM’s Market 37:30 The Liquidity Challenge of LATAM 45:16 Biggest Mistakes Made at SoftBank 47:50 Work-Life Balance Tips 53:39 How to Have a Hard Conversation 56:12 Quick-Fire Round 58:54 Meeting Steve Jobs 1:01:04 Investing $150M in FTX 🚨 ------------------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode Featuring Bicycle Capital We Discuss: 1. From Deploying $10BN at Softbank to Founding Bicycle Capital: What was the founding moment for Marcelo and Shu in the founding of Bicycle? What does Shu believe is Marcelo’s superpower? How has working with Marcelo changed the way he thinks? Why does Marcelo believe that he is not a good investor? How does Shu make him better, specifically? 2. Lessons from Investing $10BN at Softbank: What are 1-2 of the biggest lessons from investing $10BN over the last few years at Softbank? How did missing OpenAI and Nubank impact how Shu and Marcelo think and invest today? Why was losing $150M on Softbank’s FTX investment, the biggest lesson of Marcelo’s career? What are Marcelo and Shu doing differently at Bicycle, having seen how it went at Softbank? 3. The Venture World is Changing: Why do Marcelo and Shu believe the world of venture is changing? How is it changing most? Why are founders going directly to LPs to raise rounds today, over going to VCs? Do Marcelo and Shu believe that many VCs provide value? Who will win in the next 10 years of venture? Who will lose? Why do Marcelo and Shu believe you should not invest in founders that do not take your advice? Do Marcelo and Shu agree with the statement that “the best founders do not need your help”? 4. LATAM is Under Construction: It is Time to Build: What are the two reasons that the next decade will be the best ever for LATAM? What are the biggest misconceptions about the LATAM tech market? How do Marcelo and Shu answer the question of the lack of liquidity available with few M&A deals taking place and very few LATAM companies listing on the NASDAQ? How do Marcelo and Shu evaluate the withdrawal of foreign capital from LATAM tech markets? Is it good or bad? Have a load of US funds lost money on early-stage LATAM deals? ------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Marcelo Claure on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure Follow Shu Nyatta on Twitter: https://twitter.com/snyatta Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ------------------------------------------------------- #MarceloClaure #ShuNyatta #BicycleCapital #HarryStebbings

Marcelo ClaureguestHarry StebbingshostShu Nyattaguest
Jul 30, 20231h 13mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Bicycle: Betting Big on Latin America’s Overlooked Growth-Stage Gap

  1. Marcelo Claure and Shu Nyatta, former leaders of SoftBank’s Latin America fund, discuss launching Bicycle, a $500M growth equity fund focused on Series B–D in Latin America.
  2. They frame Bicycle as a concentrated, high‑involvement firm investing mostly their own capital, blending Marcelo’s operating momentum with Shu’s disciplined investing to alter portfolio companies’ trajectories.
  3. A major theme is that Latin America is structurally under-capitalized at growth stage yet macro‑favored (nearshoring, commodities, large local markets), with Brazil and Mexico as the core opportunity.
  4. They reflect candidly on lessons from SoftBank (be more selective, avoid FOMO bets like FTX, don’t over-index on markups) and outline a vision to become for Latin America what Sequoia China is for Chinese founders.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Target the under-served growth-stage gap in Latin America.

Early-stage and late-stage capital exist in LATAM, but Series B–C is a ‘desert’; Bicycle positions itself to lead these rounds, price risk, and act as a catalyst for additional capital.

Concentrated portfolios and real partnership beat scattershot ‘beta’ venture.

Bicycle plans to back only ~10–14 companies, insisting on mutual enthusiasm and deep engagement instead of placing dozens of small, passive bets across the market.

Putting significant personal capital in the fund changes behavior.

By committing over $200M of their own money, Claure and Nyatta say they stop thinking in abstract “bets” and approach each deal as a long-term, personal partnership with the founder.

Operators plus disciplined investors create a stronger value-add model.

Marcelo focuses on momentum, operating scale, and altering company trajectories; Shu balances that with risk analysis, conservatism, and structured investing—an explicit operator–investor hybrid model.

Great founders still want coaching and hard truths, not isolation.

They reject the idea that top founders ‘don’t need’ investors, arguing that the best founders actively seek honest, sometimes uncomfortable feedback and high-quality board discussions.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Work and play are not different things. They are the same thing, which is life.

— Shu Nyatta (describing a Marcelo Claure quote he admires)

There’s one fundamental basic rule of life, and most people don’t follow it…and that is, you gotta do what you love.

— Marcelo Claure

Average founders want to be left alone. Good founders want to be coached. Great founders want to hear the truth.

— Shu Nyatta

Operating is a science, investing is an art. If you can combine both, I think we’re going to have something really, really special.

— Marcelo Claure

Tourist capital is done… I want people to be busy thinking about the US, thinking about China, thinking about Europe, and we’ll do our thing in Latin America.

— Marcelo Claure

Origin story and partnership dynamics between Marcelo Claure and Shu NyattaBicycle’s strategy: $500M Latin American growth fund focused on Series B–DHow their own capital and operating experience shape their investing approachState of the Latin American tech ecosystem, macro tailwinds, and fragmentationFundraising, capital cycles, and the retreat of “tourist” foreign investorsLessons from SoftBank: portfolio construction, FOMO, and mistakes like FTXFounders, boards, and the future of venture: speed, value-add, and alignment

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