Daniela Arruda is a co-founder at Babel Ventures who brings an unusual combination of legal training, serial entrepreneurship experience, and cross-border investment expertise rather than following a traditional finance-only path to venture capital. As one of the few Latina co-founders of a Silicon Valley VC firm that raised a $30M fund, she maintains dual roles as both a venture partner and Executive Director at BTG Pactual, giving her a rare blend of large-institution capital markets experience and early-stage investing across Latin America and Silicon Valley.

• Emphasis on team dynamics and culture as the foundation of growth. She explicitly argues that projects cannot scale without team alignment and suggests that working with people you enjoy makes the process feel less like work and more like fun.
• Values emotional intelligence and a positive mindset in founders. She frequently shares thoughts on the importance of soft skills, such as the power of smiling, building relationships on admiration and respect, and practicing mindfulness through everyday activities like running or cooking rather than just sitting still.
• Active engagement with the startup media landscape and mentorship. She acts as a judge and participant in the reality show Planeta Startup, indicating a strong interest in guiding early-stage companies and popularizing entrepreneurship through mass media.
• Interest in progressive health and wellness markets. She has highlighted the commercial potential of cannabis for skincare while criticizing its stigma, and previously predicted a major boom for the organic sector in Brazil.
• Monitoring the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets. She tracks market movements involving major investment banks entering the cryptocurrency trading space and broader economic outlooks on fixed income and leverage.