Pasito wins $25,000 in Latinx Pitch Competition
Pasito, a New York City-based financial wellness startup won $25,000 by out-pitching nine other companies during VCFamilia’s inaugural Latinx Pitch Competition, held as a virtual event on Oct. 6.
Pauline Roteta, CEO and co-founder of Pasito presented the winning pitch. Her presentation clearly articulated the vision and potential for the company, which is focused on helping parents and employers access healthcare and caregiver benefits. Roteta and co-founder Julie Scotland launched the company in January 2021, and have already achieved traction in the marketplace.
Pasito, which means small step in Spanish, took a big step forward by winning the pitch competition. Even though the company just started selling its family care financial management software in August, the judges liked the company’s vision and its potential to fill a need in an estimated $526 billion market.
The other nine finalists were Atexto, Code Inspector, Company Combo, ConnectCareHero, Parabeac, People Clerk, Rebus, StoryBrook App, and ToDoolie. The judges included Brendon Kim, Head of Global Investments, Samsung Next; Barry Eggers, Founder, Lightspeed Venture Partners; Sandra Campos, ex-CEO of DVF (Diane von Furstenberg); and Rodolfo Gonzalez: Partner, Foundation Capital.
VCFamilia’s Hispanic Heritage Month Pitch Competition, sponsored by Samsung Next, was designed to help Latinx founders raise start-up funding.
Just 2.6% of venture capital funding in the United State goes to Black and Latinx founders, according to a Crunchbase report. The pitch competition is part of VCFamilia’s broader mission of creating a more inclusive environment to support Latinx investors. VCFamilia has built a community of venture capital investors that are committed to providing more funding for diverse founders.
In order to qualify to pitch, companies had to meet the following criteria:
Minimum of one Latinx founder or co-founder
Pre-seed or Seed company
Company has raised less than $2M to date
No deep-tech, such as life sciences, robotics, and biotech
Headquartered in the U.S.
In choosing a winner, the judges focused on key success indicators, including:
Founder-market fit
Market size and growth of problem the company is trying to solve
Go-to-market strategy and traction
Scalability
VCFamilia’s mission dovetails with Samsung Next's to better support best-in-class founders who are often hiding in plain sight — whether due to race, gender, or geography.
The goal of the Oct. 6 competition was to increase the visibility and recognition of Latinx-founded companies, while helping Samsung Next identify promising companies for potential funding opportunities. More than 150 submissions were received for the pitch competition.
“The Latinx Pitch Competition showcased the tenacity and quality of the Latinx ecosystem,” said Brendon Kim, who is also Global Head of Investments for Samsung Next. “Clearly, the judges were impressed by Pasito. But it was not an easy decision. All 10 finalists presented a compelling vision for a better future, and all will no doubt succeed in their fundraising efforts.”
Carlos Castellanos is an Investor at Samsung Next. Samsung Next's investment strategy is limited to its own views and does not reflect the vision or strategy of any other Samsung business unit, including, but not limited, to Samsung Electronics.
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