Sunny Ray talks with Eduardo Amadeo of Kamay Ventures, an independent corporate-backed VC fund based in Argentina that invests across Latin America in supply and value chain technology. Amadeo recounts starting Nazca in 2012, when few investors were writing checks in the region, and shares lessons drawn more from losses than wins, including why "at least we won't lose the money" is a warning sign. He explains how Kamay acts as a buffer between corporations and startups, running roughly 260 proofs of concept in five years with fewer than 15% succeeding, and why budget and problem must sit with the same person. The conversation then turns to automation: where labor regulation makes automated plants attractive, why agriculture and high-output bottling lead adoption, and why mining still lacks the economics. Amadeo also covers Argentina's high cost of capital and how startups now embed financing or leasing into their offers. He closes by describing Kamay's deliberately slow, client-first approach to investing.
Eduardo Amadeo explains why Latin American automation follows labor rules and budgets, and why capital is never cheap.
What is Kamay Ventures and what problem does it solve?
Kamay is an independent corporate-backed VC fund based in Argentina, investing all throughout Latin America. We invest in supply and value chains for industry. We partner with large corporations to help them introduce technology, talent and innovation into those value chains, and automation is a big part of that story.
What did running a fund across Chile and Argentina teach you about risk?
First, find a playbook that makes sense and grow it. Ecosystems grow from successful companies like Mercado Libre, Rappi or Nubank, not from government programs. Second, get your product market fit and numbers right in your first country before planting flags elsewhere. Third, founders should go to the market where the product works best, and we like helping them do that.
Which investment taught you the most?
The losses teach more than the wins. The one I regret most is where I told my investment committee that at least we wouldn't lose the money, and then we did. Never say that. In another, we put in a million dollars and lost everything, but I fought for it and the founders are still great friends.
What did you believe about the region ten years ago that turned out to be wrong?
The rate of adoption. You think things take long to happen, and then a pandemic or a black swan changes the speed of everything. Ten years ago I wouldn't have expected today's adoption rates in fintech or AI within companies. Automation still has a long way to go, but you have to be ready for sudden leaps in some sectors.
You've run 260 proofs of concept. What share become real, and why do the rest fail?
About 15%, and I would love more. What works is finding the person who has both the problem and the budget. Often we find people with a problem but no money, and we sin by being too optimistic that budget will appear. The failures don't kill startups. They learn, pivot and find another corporate.
What robotics and automation is actually being deployed in Latin America?
It depends on labor regulation and where technology meets infrastructure. Hiring is cheap in Latin America, so automation makes sense where regulation makes hiring costly. One partner here in Argentina has run a fully automated plant for ten years. We also see it in agriculture, with data, drones and tractors, because there are few people in vast countryside.
Which industry will automate first, and what makes it go first?
Agriculture, because the markets are unsubsidized and very productive, and there are vast lands with few people. Then high-output industries like Coca-Cola bottling, where I've seen a plant serving a huge population run with about 50 people. Mining has risks that favor robots, but hiring people is still cheaper, so the economic equation isn't there yet.
How does Argentina's cost of capital change what a robotics company can be?
Interest rates are really high and our economy has been shaky, so financing this kind of technology is hard. Startups increasingly bring a financial solution to their clients. Some lease their own solutions or raise debt to build financing vehicles. A company in Mexico found banks approved only about 10% of its clients, so now it works with second-tier institutions.
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