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Marco Poli is an entrepreneur, mentor, board advisor, and one of Brazil's most active angel investors, with 8 companies founded and a personal portfolio of 52 invested startups across Brazil, the United States, and Canada. An Engineering graduate of the University of São Paulo (USP), with an Executive MBA in Finance from Insper, executive coursework at Babson College and Stanford University and a PhD in Innovation from USP, he founded his first startup straight out of university and four more thereafter. Over two decades in the ecosystem he has mentored more than four thousand startups, building a career at the intersection of technology, business-model design, regulated markets and capital formation.
His work centers on corporate and open innovation and creating new products and ventures, helping both established companies and early-stage ventures find value from first concept through M&A or IPO, on which he advises on both the sell-side and buy-side. He is the founder of ClosedGap Ventures, a firm with over a decade in corporate innovation, and also of Startup Advocacy, which convenes leading players in Brazil's entrepreneurial ecosystem. He has delivered innovation projects for organizations including Cyrela, Bradesco, Grupo Zap, Ogilvy, Ford, and Sebrae, and created the "Minimum Risk Startups" method and the "Enabling Open Innovation Canvas" assessment for corporate open innovation.
Marco's experience spans both private capital and public-sector innovation instruments, where private investment and public frameworks intersect. His cross-border investment network reinforces this profile. He is a member of the Angel Capital Association in the United States and the National Angel Capital Organization of Canada and belongs to Sand Hill Angels in Silicon Valley, in addition to founding and advising Insper Angels and Poli Angels. A winner of the Startup Awards' Angel Investor prize, Brazil's most prominent recognition of its kind, he brings to the financing of real estate for popular habitation the rare combination of Brazilian market depth, US and Canadian capital relationships, and direct experience connecting innovative ventures to investment at home and abroad.