Veronica Serra (MBA ’97)

The HBS network, your window here, and a Latin American scoop

Before I even knew that coming to HBS was a possibility, I had spent years following Veronica Serra (MBA ’97). Her appearances at podcasts, industry news, and events always struck me with her clarity of thought, which felt rare. When I wrote my post-interview reflection, I illustrated what I wanted to achieve through a few alumni examples, and unsurprisingly, I named her as one of the people I had in mind.

What I had not fully appreciated when I selected who I wanted to interview first for this Latin American Alumni Interview series was that she had also written for The Harbus during her time here. 

I guess some circles close in ways we truly cannot plan for.

One Thread Pulls Another

I am at HBS largely because of the generous donors behind the school, in my case the Jorge Paulo Lemann Fund scholarship. Lemann (Harvard College ’61) is a legendary Brazilian investor and philanthropist. The ways his work contributions have played into various moments of my life are something that the more I reflect, the more unimaginable it seems and the more grateful I feel. But that is a story for another article. Who knows, maybe he will be featured here in the future?

When I asked Veronica about a defining moment of her career, she shared that she was also at HBS through a Lemann scholarship, in her case through Fundação Estudar, an organization which has sent dozens of Brazilians to the world’s best universities. Lemann became a mentor for her and their relationship did not end at her graduation; it became a working partnership through which, decades later, they would help place a Baker Scholar named Arthur O’Keefe (MBA ’04) into Brazil’s top hedge funds within a single afternoon.

The story begins with an email. In the late 2000s, Andre Perold, Veronica’s former Investment Management professor and head of the Finance Department at HBS, wrote to her about a Baker Scholar named Arthur O’Keefe. Arthur had married a classmate, Priscilla Zogbi (MBA ’04), and was moving to Brazil in need of a job. Veronica forwarded the email to Lemann within the hour. His response: “Who are we introducing him to?” They drew up a short list of Brazil’s four top hedge funds, split the calls between them, and by that afternoon Arthur had interviews set at all four. A few days later, he had an offer. 

The most fascinating part? Veronica had not yet met him in person.

Fast forward to 2013. Veronica had raised Innova Capital’s first growth fund, a $160 million vehicle focused on innovation. At a dinner hosted by Martin Escobari (MBA ’98, also a Baker Scholar) marking General Atlantic’s ten years in Brazil, she ran into Arthur again. By then, he was CFO of Movile, a technology company providing content to carriers’ end customers, with Naspers as its controlling shareholder. Fabricio Bloisi (OPM 58, ’22)  was CEO. Andre Perold had by that point left HBS to co-found Highvista Strategies with Brian Chu (MBA ’97, and guess what? A Baker Scholar too!), and Highvista ended up investing in Innova’s fund. 

The threads kept weaving together.

There was no obvious deal with Movile. Prosus, a subsidiary of Naspers, already controlled the business. But Veronica and her team spent a year and a half building trust with Fabricio and Arthur, relationship by relationship, through the accumulated goodwill of years of HBS connections. Innova eventually became a partner in Movile’s journey. Movile had already acquired a small food delivery startup called iFood when it was doing 18,000 deliveries a day. By the time Innova exited, the number was 45 million. Today it is approaching 180 million. This exit returned more than the entire fund. Lynda Applegate, who had been Veronica’s professor, later wrote a case on Movile in which both Veronica and Arthur appear.

The connections kept completing themselves. 

Fabricio became an Endeavor entrepreneur, joining the leading organization for high-impact founders, where Veronica also sits on the global board. Priscilla Zogbi, the classmate Arthur had married when this whole chain started, went on to work for HBS’s office in São Paulo and invited Veronica to join the HBS Latin American Advisory Board. Prosus’s chairman later invited Fabricio to become global CEO of the Prosus Group. And if the coincidences were not enough, a fun fact: iFood is now one of HBS’s Global Partners for FIELD in Brazil this year—I can’t wait to learn from my classmates’ experiences working with them during FIELD.

The story is almost too good to be true. But Veronica recounts it naturally, because for her it is not surprising. It is simply how powerful the HBS network is, if you show up for it.

On Breaking In: Use The Time You Have Here

During her second year, Veronica took two classes that she says allowed her to build strong relationships in her field. One was Strategy with Michael Porter. The other was about the Central Bank, a functional versus institutional perspective, with Nobel laureate Robert Merton. For both, she reached out to the top CEOs of Brazil's financial industry. Her observation: many CEOs are happy to meet and speak openly when a student is studying their industry or building something while at HBS. She shared her findings with everyone she spoke to. By the time she went back to Brazil, the network was already there.

“Don’t be shy!” she says. “Ask for help. Use your connections with professors, alums, and students. Develop a storyline of why this is relevant and show your passion. One would be surprised at how responsive people are, even when they are very busy.” 

On a personal note: to write this piece, I sent Veronica a cold LinkedIn message. She replied the same day. So I really take her advice to heart and would recommend you do too!

What LatAm Teaches You That the US Cannot

A Latin American series would not be the same without asking her what the region actually demands from the people who operate in it. I asked Veronica what she would do differently if she were running Innova Capital in the U.S. instead of LatAm, what she would keep intact, and what that comparison reveals about the region.

One of the key differences in her view is that LatAm is very relationship-driven while the U.S. is much more transactional. She believes that knowing how to connect and empathize with entrepreneurs while at the same time being straightforward and honest with feedback, is a very powerful combination.  “Founders go through a very tough journey, and if they see that you appreciate them and can connect with them on a personal level, you do have a great advantage in a more competitive market like the U.S.” 

But there is something else. Latin America has been shaped by cycles of economic and political crisis in ways that produce a particular kind of founder, and a particular kind of investor. The ability to adapt fast, to survive volatility, is a skill that LatAm carries, and one that is more valuable than ever.

For The Builders: A Bull Case And A Problem Worth Solving

One of Veronica’s near-term convictions is cybersecurity. As AI becomes embedded in critical infrastructure and money flows entirely through non-bank digital channels, she believes Latin America, which has historically produced some of the world’s most sophisticated hackers, also has the talent pool to build the companies that will protect against the attacks it once pioneered. She sees this as a national security issue, not just a market opportunity.

I also asked what she would go after if she were starting fresh out of her MBA today. She said healthcare. Not the system in the abstract, but a specific gap: the fragmentation of personal health data. Her vision is a personal health account, where individuals aggregate their records, DNA profile, allergies, habits, food intake, and exercise data, then share it with pharmaceutical companies, health service providers, or insurers on their own terms. 

“The more you share, the more benefits you have,” she says. “If there were a cheaper version of the Oura Ring, added to the processing of pictures of what a person eats or how long they exercised, one could earn money for sharing the data and receive discounts on healthcare expenses, or guidance based on the data.”

Better data enables awareness and prevention, which ultimately means cheaper healthcare. The right professional reaches the right patient at the right time, with no delay from missing information. The market is inefficient today precisely because the data is scarce, low quality, or misaligned in its incentives. That is the problem she would go after.

Rapid-Fire

Core HBS memory: “First day in class, first year, fall of 1995, feeling so lucky to be among a class of amazing people that I would soon get to know. Thinking about how my life would change and how excited I was to start that journey. Section A.”

LatAm alumnus she admires most: Jorge Paulo Lemann: “my mentor and role model for investing and supporting young talent.”

Something she has changed her mind about: “I consider myself an optimist. But for the first time I am truly concerned about AI being used in a way that will destroy humankind.”

HBS case she would write: Her own story: the challenges and the accomplishments, the personal and the professional, and how to weather both.

Veronica Serra (MBA ’97) is the Founder of Innova Capital, a growth equity fund focused on technology and innovation in Latin America. She serves on the HBS Latin American Advisory Board and the HBS Alumni Board, and is a global board member of Endeavor.

This piece is part of the Latin American Alumni Interview series, a recurring Harbus column dedicated to the stories, lessons, and careers of HBS alumni from the region. If you have a name I should interview next, I’d love to hear from you!

Luiz Silva Néto, MBA ’27, Section J, spent more than six years in venture capital prior to HBS, leading 15+ transactions spanning investments and exits across LatAm and the U.S. He co-founded Emerging VC Fellows, the largest VC fellowship in LatAm with a presence in Brazil and Argentina, and led a $30 million CVC fund at a leading fashion retailer in Brazil. He also writes a newsletter on technology exits in LatAm for 4,700+ readers and spent his pre-MBA summer at an a16z-backed AI-native healthcare startup. Luiz is deeply passionate about Latin America and believes there are amazing stories coming from the region that deserve to be spread across the HBS campus.