Carolina Huaranca, Tech-Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist & Principal of Kapor Capital
Latinos in tech have a long way to go (grow) less than 1 percent of venture-backed start-ups has a Latino founder, according to CB Insights. The good news is Carolina Huaranca is ready to change the game. The Peruvian-American is one of Silicon Valley’s few Latina venture capitalists. As a Principal at Kapor Capital, she specializes in identifying and investing in early-stage tech companies that are closing gaps of access, opportunity, or outcome for low-income communities in the U.S. Carolina has also been on the other side of the table as a tech founder prior to venture. She was the CEO and co-founder of Spriggle, a marketplace that helped parents identify education products for children ages 3-9. In
Carolina Huaranca Mendoza joined Kapor Capital in 2016 and focuses on identifying early stage investments, evaluating those investments, and partnering with entrepreneurs to grow their companies. She is particularly interested in Future Work, People Operations Technology, and Education. Prior to becoming Principal, she was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Kapor Center for Social Impact (KCSI) working on a tech platform for teacher professional development.
Carolina began her career as a Mergers & Acquisitions investment banker at Citi but left to pursue opportunities in the technology and education sectors. She began her technology career in 2003 as a Sales & Marketing Manager at SchoolNet, which sold to Pearson for $230MM. In 2012, she founded Spriggle, a marketplace helping parents identify science and math inspired products for children ages 3-9.
Carolina is a graduate of Cornell University and was awarded the Konologie Fellowship at The Wharton School. As a woman and first-generation Peruvian-American from Long Island, Carolina is passionate about ensuring that people from all backgrounds know how to access capital. Based on her experience serving as the founding National Director of Girls Who Code Clubs, where she launched 186 Clubs serving approximately 2,000 girls, she is extremely passionate about working to close the gender gap in technology. Outside of work, Carolina mentors women entrepreneurs and low-income teens interested in pursuing careers in tech.
