It’s been a milestone-filled season for Ulupreneurs! Figure debuted on Nasdaq and reached a $7B valuation in its latest round. Palantir reported $1B in Q2 revenue. Zum CEO Ritu Narayan was named a CNN “Champion of Change.” And throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re honoring our Latino founders with inspiring stories and highlights.
Miriam Rivera received VC Familia’s 2025 Legacy Award for her leadership in helping to make the VC and entrepreneurial communities more inclusive. VC Familia is the world’s largest Latino/a community in venture capital.
Miriam spoke at the Avance Global ProXimo Conference on the panel “Capital is King: Where is the Smart Money Going?”—discussing where sophisticated capital is flowing and spotlighting startups reshaping U.S. and global markets. ProXimo’s mission is to increase access to capital for Latino/a innovators.
Steve Reale was invited back as a featured speaker for Professor Stephen Moyer’s “Introduction to Venture Capital and Private Equity” class for graduate and undergraduate students at USC’s Marshall School of Business. The discussion centered on the risks and opportunities of venture capital, and how Ulu Ventures utilizes decision analysis and our market mapping process to underwrite investments.
We highlighted two Latino Ulupreneurs during Hispanic Heritage Month, both serial founders. Jorge Heraud co-founded Blue River, a Ulu Ventures Fund I firm acquired by John Deere, and is now building TerraBlaster to help farmers use fertilizer more wisely. We also shared updates on Bismarck Lepe, co-founder and CEO of MiSalud, a platform that helps non-English speakers access healthcare, highlighting several impressive milestones for the firm.
