Mubadala Anchors Former SoftBank Executive Marcelo Claure’s LATAM Growth Equity Fund
Posted on 06/14/2023
Marcelo Claure, the Bolivian investment executive who was once Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Group International and Chief Operating Officer of SoftBank Group Corporation, formed his own asset management company – Bicycle Capital – focused on Latin America. Bicycle Capital is a growth equity firm focused on Latin America. The firm announced the launch of its first fund, Bicycle I with initial commitments of approximately US$ 440 million, targeting a total fund size of US$ 500 million. The firm will be led by Marcelo Claure as Executive Chairman and Managing Partner alongside Mwashuma (“Shu”) Nyatta as Managing Partner. Claure launched SoftBank’s US$ 8 billion Latin America Funds. Bicycle’s strategy is to partner very selectively with the best founders in the region, helping them scale their startups into resilient and valuable companies. Beyond capital, In addition, Bicycle will provide access to a global network of mentors, talent and commercial partners. Although Bicycle is focused primarily on founders in Latin America, the fund may also invest opportunistically in leading global growth-stage companies with meaningful business in Latin America. Bicycle Capital represents a significant bet on Latin America, in particular Brazil and Mexico.
Marcelo Claure is the Founder & CEO of Claure Group, a global investment firm. He has made a commitment to focus his time, capital, and expertise to Latin America over the next several years. As part of this commitment, in January 2023 Claure invested US$ 100 million in SHEIN, Chinese global on-demand fashion company, where he now serves as Chairman of Latin America. Marcelo Claure built Brightstar from a small distributor to the world’s largest global wireless distribution and services company. In addition, Claure led the turnaround of U.S. wireless telecommunications company Sprint and helped orchestrate its US$ 195 billion merger with T-Mobile.
Shu Nyatta is a former Managing Partner at SoftBank Group International where he, under the leadership of Claure, was a co-founder of SoftBank’s Latin America Funds as well as the SB Opportunity Fund for under-represented founders in the US. Prior to that, Nyatta was a Partner at SoftBank’s Vision Fund and a founding member of SoftBank’s growth investment team in San Francisco, starting in 2015. While at SoftBank, Shu invested in a broad range of industries and geographies, from semiconductors, AI and genomics in the US and Europe to marketplaces and fintechs in China, India and Latin America. Shu was previously an investment banker with JPMorgan and a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
Bicycle I is anchored by Mubadala Investment Company, an Abu Dhabi based sovereign investor, and Claure Group, Marcelo Claure’s family office. Additional capital commitments for the initial closing come from global tech investors and founders.