The New Bravo Venture Fellowship Provides Equity Funding and Other Support to Innovative Early-Stage Founders in Puerto Rico Looking to Scale Businesses across the U.S.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Aug. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bravo Family Foundation, a nonprofit led by Orlando and Katy Bravo that focuses on social and economic empowerment in Puerto Rico, today announced the launch of the Bravo Venture Fellowship. The Bravo Venture Fellowship will see the Bravo Family Foundation move beyond charitable financing for the first time to make direct venture investments in Puerto Rico's most promising early-stage startups, marking a new chapter in the Foundation's commitment to nurturing local entrepreneurial talent.

The Bravo Venture Fellows were handpicked for their potential to achieve global scale and drive lasting local economic impact in Puerto Rico. In addition to equity funding, Fellows will receive strategic networking opportunities, enhanced visibility within the global investor community, and one-on-one mentorship from industry leaders associated with the Bravo Family Foundation and private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

Candidacy for the Bravo Venture Fellowship was highly competitive, drawing from alumni of the Bravo Family Foundation's long-running Rising Entrepreneurs Program accelerator as well as standout founders within the broader Puerto Rican entrepreneurial ecosystem. Selection criteria focused on the company's quality of business model, along with its scalability potential and commitment to fostering economic growth and job creation within local communities in Puerto Rico.

"Puerto Rico is a breeding ground for some of the world's most ambitious entrepreneurial talent, but these founders have historically faced significant barriers in accessing the capital and connections necessary to scale globally," said Orlando Bravo, Chairman and Co-founder of the Bravo Family Foundation and a Founder and Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo. "We launched the Bravo Venture Fellowship to be the partner these founders have been missing, providing them with the support and resources they need to scale their operations and broaden their impact."

This year's Bravo Venture Fellows are:

• Emmanuel Oquendo, the Co-Founder and CEO of BrainHi, an AI-enabled virtual assistant for healthcare organizations looking to provide fully digital patient experiences. BrainHi helps businesses rescue missed calls, streamline their order and appointment operations, and grow revenue. It was the first Puerto Rican startup to go through San Francisco-based accelerator program Y Combinator in 2018.
• Juan Parra, the Co-Founder and CEO of Skootel, a micro-mobility company providing eco-friendly transportation alternatives to users in Puerto Rico and the greater Caribbean. Skootel is the first Puerto Rican company to enable by-the-minute rentals of alternative transportation vehicles via mobile application.

Blanca Santos, Executive Director of the Bravo Family Foundation, added, "We are thrilled to support this extraordinary group of entrepreneurs. Their innovative products and services are already a testament to the bright economic future of Puerto Rico, and we're looking forward to contributing to their progress through the Bravo Venture Fellowship and beyond."

The new initiative comes on the heels of more than five years dedicated to growing Puerto Rico's nascent startup scene; since 2019, the Bravo Family Foundation's philanthropic accelerator, the Rising Entrepreneurs Program, has supported more than 120 founders building 60 companies in key sectors such as software and technology, consumer goods, and healthcare.

About The Bravo Family Foundation
The Bravo Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 2017 by Orlando and Katy Bravo, with the mission of fostering principles of social justice in Puerto Rico, thereby empowering underserved communities to have equal access to socioeconomic development opportunities. Orlando Bravo, who is from Puerto Rico, is a Founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo, one of the largest private equity firms in the world.

As a Bravo Family Foundation-funded program, the Bravo Venture Fellowship complies with all relevant U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules and regulations regarding investment activities for charitable foundations.

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SOURCE Bravo Family Foundation