Carmen Alfonso Rico

Carmen Alfonso Rico, Investor at Samaipata, looks for defensible, scalable marketplace businesses that have data-driven founders. In this episode of the Backstage, she explains all about Samaipata’s investment thesis and the factors that catch her attention in marketplaces.

Carmen Alfonso Rico leads Samaipata’s UK office. Samaipata is a thematic fund investing in marketplaces and digital brands because, ultimately, they invest in defensibility.

According to Samaipata’s investment thesis, defensibility is the main driver of long-term value in a business. Rico evaluates a marketplace’s defensibility mainly by looking at three characteristics: network effects, the power of the brand, and switching costs. In the interview, she explains how Samaipata analyzes these factors when making investment decisions. In addition to defensibility, Rico talks about scalability, retention and engagement, and the importance of making data-driven decisions.