Inanc Balci is a founding partner at Crestone and heads our investments in Asia from our office in Manila. He is a Board member in multiple ecommerce and fintech companies and an active Seed investor. Before founding Crestone, he was a co-founder of Lazada Group, one of the largest e-commerce companies in SEA. In 2018, Alibaba acquired Lazada for US$3.2bn. He started the Lazada operations in the Philippines in 2012 and grew the business over $1bn in GMV as CEO between 2012-2018. Inanc was instrumental in establishing the ecommerce ecosystem in South East Asia, and helped build the payment systems and logistics operation of Lazada, now one of the largest last mile logistics companies in the region. He has experienced first hand how ecommerce changed business landscape in the region and created opportunities for thousands of merchants and a better purchase experience for millions of customers. He sees Financial Services as the next frontier in the fourth industrial revolution. Inanc is passionate about driving growth and sharing his experience with the next generation of entrepreneurs. He also co-founded helloPay, which was acquired by Ant Financial in 2017 and rebranded AliPay, and is a Seed investor in several Fintech companies operating on the intersection of ecommerece and financial services. Inanc started his career as a TMT investment banker in London.

Kai Schmitz is a founding partner at Crestone and covers the Americas region out of Washington, DC. He also serves as Board member at different Fintech companies in the US and Latin America and investment vehicles in the US.

Before Crestone, he was a partner at Amadeus Capital, a Deep Tech Venture Capital fund in London, where he covered Emerging Markets and Fintech. Previously he spent 7 years at IFC, the private sector investment bank of the World Bank as Investment Lead for IFC’s $500m Fintech investment portfolio. Kai was responsible for 20 investments in equity, structured debt and funds.

Kai joined IFC from the World Bank, where he was a Senior Expert in the Payment System Development Group. He advised Central Banks and other government entities in Africa, Latin America, Europe and Australia on payment market infrastructure and regulation.

Kai started in Fintech when he left law firm Hogan Lovells in 1999 to start Money System with a classmate from his MBA. The Company operated an international payments platform between Europe and Africa. When the company was sold in 2003, he moved to the US to become co-founder of MFI Corp., which provides financial services to Latin-Americans in the US.

Originally a lawyer, Kai holds a J.D. (equiv.) from University of Hamburg and an MBA from Henley Business School in England.

Carolina is a Principal at Crestone and is based out of Sao Paulo.

Prior to joining Crestone, Carolina worked for the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World bank Group, where she led strategic initiatives in Brazil and across Latin America. Her key projects involved promoting innovative solutions for the socio and economic integration of refugees in Latin America and developing investment strategies for investment of up to US$ 5 billion. Prior to that, she worked at Integration Consulting Finance and Management practice, participating in projects in a broad range of sectors, such as private equity and pharma.

Carolina also holds a double master from the University of Oxford, in Public Policy and Business Administration. While at Oxford, Carolina engaged with projects focused on financial inclusion in Latin America and on impact VC investments.