IPO Edge and the Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association hosted a fireside chat with the Founder & CEO and Latin America General Manager of Semantix and the Co-Founder & President of Alpha Capital Acquisition Company (Nasdaq: ASPC) to discuss the business combination between Semantix and Alpha Capital, why Semantix chose the SPAC route, the Semantix data platform, the importance of data analytics right now, and the market opportunity for Semantix in the future. The live event featured Semantix Co-Founder & CEO Leonardo Santos, Latin America General Manager Andre Frederico, and Alpha Capital Co-Founder & President Rafael Steinhauser. They were joined by IPO Edge Editor-in-Chief John Jannarone and Editor-at-Large Jarrett Banks in a moderated video session lasting approximately 60 minutes and including a Q&A with the audience.
Watch the two highlight videos below (or click the link underneath to see the entire event):
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL 1-HOUR REPLAY
About Semantix:
Semantix is Latin America’s first fully integrated data software platform. Semantix has more than 300 clients with operations in approximately 15 countries using Semantix’s software and services to enhance their businesses. The company was founded in 2010 by CEO Leonardo Santos. For more information, visit www.semantix.ai.
About Alpha Capital Acquisition Company:
Alpha Capital (Nasdaq: ASPC) is a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) that has planned to combine its business with a Latin American-focused technology company since its $230 million initial public offering on Nasdaq in February 2021. The firm’s founders and sponsors are Alec Oxenford, CEO and Chairman, and Rafael Steinhauser, President and Director. The company’s co-sponsors include Innova Capital, FJ Labs and Dr. Irwin Jacobs. For more information, visit alpha-capital.io.
Messrs. Santos, Frederico, and Steinhauser discussed:
- Why Alpha Capital selected Semantix
- Why Semantix opted to become public via SPAC and why Alpha Capital was the right partner for Semantix
- The Semantix Data Platform
- The importance of data analytics right now
- Examples of how Semantix works with its clients
- The market opportunity for Semantix in the future
About the Speakers:
Leonardo Santos is an IT professional and the Co-Founder and CEO of Semantix, a Brazilian company specializing in Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analysis and Internet of Things.
In 2010, with inspiration from Silicon Valley’s Data Driven companies, he was a Co-Founder of Semantix, a pioneer and unique in the Brazilian One-Stop-Shop model, building end-to-end value companies.
The country’s leading company in the segment, Semantix grows above the market average. Between 2016 and 2017, it was voted one of the top 10 Fastest Growing Big Data Companies by the Silicon Review and ranked one of the 100 Most Promising Solutions Companies by CIO Review, rewards published in several vehicles such as the Exame Review. In addition, Semantix entered the international market in 2017, with operations in Colombia.
With so much progress, he has led investment rounds, always focusing on entrepreneurship, disruptive innovation and the construction of intellectual capital. This evolution is the result of a big purpose in terms of growth, vision, strategy and direction of new business models.
He is also a board member of the FIA, besides having extended the MBA in Strategic Leadership of Technology and Innovation at Stanford University, and has attended strategic management courses at Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford and University of China.
Andre Frederico is currently acting as General Manager Latin America at Semantix, a reference company in BigData, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence in Latin America. Responsible for the entire operation in the region and focused on accelerated growth in SaaS.
He previously worked for 11 years at TIVIT, working since 2018 as General Manager of TIVIT’s largest business units (+BRL 700M annual revenue, +750 FTEs), being responsible for all results, sales and cloud operations. He worked as executive director of Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategy, Marketing and Investor Relations at TIVIT. He had the challenge of helping the company to continue its growth, mixing organic and one-off acquisitions for the business. He is a member of the company’s Executive Committee and has an active role on the Board of Directors of TIVIT.
He has a degree in Business Administration from Escola Getúlio Vargas, completed an Executive MBA from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, in addition to having deep experience in finance and technology, having worked at BRQ as CFO, Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch and Private Equity at Patria Investments.
Rafael Steinhauser is the Co-Founder and President of Alpha Capital Acquisition Company. Mr. Steinhauser has over 35 years of senior corporate experience in Europe and Latin America in the high-tech industry. He served as president of Qualcomm Latin America from 2011 to 2020. During that time, he contributed to Brazil’s digital inclusion through the broad access to the internet via smartphones and to technological evolution through the commercial launch of the first worldwide SiP-based smartphone in Brazil. He fostered Qualcomm’s investment in the Latin American region’s Center for the 4th Industrial Revolution which is led by the World Economic Forum. He also led the effort to create Qualcomm Ventures in the region, currently one of the largest corporate venture capital investors in Latin America, which has invested in several companies that are now unicorns (for example 99, Quinto Andar and Loggi) and the creation of the first public-private partnership fund devoted to the Internet of Things. Mr. Steinhauser was President for Latin America for Acision from 2009 to 2011 and president of NextWave Latin America from 2006 to 2009. He also served as President of Cisco Brazil from 2002 to 2006, where he was recognized in 2005 for growing Cisco Brazil’s operations faster in terms of revenue than those in other countries within Cisco’s large country category, and as president of Brazil Nortel Networks from 2000 to 2002. Earlier in his career, Mr. Steinhauser held executive positions with various telecom service providers, such as Head of Mobile Satellite Services of Eutelsat in Paris and as Executive VP of the Competitive Local Exchange Carrier Vésper in Rio de Janeiro, and as a sales engineer at Standard Electrik Lorenz and Siemens in Germany. He has extensive corporate and private venture capital experience in Latin America.
Mr. Steinhauser graduated in Aerospace Engineering from the Technische Universität Berlin and in Performing Arts from the Escola Superior Célia Helena in São Paulo. He co-founded in 2015 the B Future Forum, a sustained action-oriented dialog on the future of humanity, and EBAC in 2016, a world-class higher educational institution for the Creative Arts in Brazil. He was nominated and won various awards including the Shell Prize and twice the State of São Paulo Governor Prize for his work in Performing Arts. He has three nationalities and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and German.
Contact:
Alan Hatfield, Director of Research
ah@capmarketsmedia.com
Twitter: @IPOEdge
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