Santiago Zavala

Santiago holds a bachelors degree in mechanical and electrical engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (Mexico).

Santiago is a Partner at 500 Startups, an early-stage fund and accelerator based in Mountain View, California. Santiago is the fund manager of a Spanish-speaking Latin American microfund, fundraising, generating deal flow, investing, and leading an acceleration program in Mexico City.

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Santiago has a product development and programming background that helps him to identify and generate top entrepreneurs for tech startups in Latin America. Previous fund experience includes the Mexican.vc fund and the first microfund combining a total of 170 investments in the region, covering a wide range of sectors, including educational games, payments and fintech, transportation, ecommerce, SaaS, and tourism and ticketing platforms.

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As an individual, Santiago is also a very active member of the startup community.

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Before joining 500 Startups, Santiago founded multiple hacker communities and participated in the creation of apps and websites, ranging from collaboration tools to social networks and games that have benefitted millions of users.

Santiago served his fellowship at 500 Startups as a member of Class 21 under the mentorship of Christine Tsai.