Joao Duarte

Senior Manager, Venture Investments @ eBay Ventures

2022 - Current

eBay Ventures is the Corporate Venture Capital unit of eBay. We invest in startups building the future of eCommerce. My focus is on innovation in AI and marketplaces.

Senior Manager

2022

Board Observer

2023

Board Observer

2023

Investment Manager - Lead for Nordics / CEE

2020 - 2022

Led full investment process for European Series A/B investments in SaaS, Marketplaces, and AI. Executed seven new investments with top-tier co-investors, resulting in a high follow-on funding rate (90%) for portfolio companies in 2023-24. Actively involved in portfolio management, including serving as a board observer at several companies. Select Investments: Druid AI – Enterprise focused Generative AI platform Minut – Rental property protection using edge computing and ML / AI Soter Analytics – Workplace injury prevention using wearables, ML / AI and computer vision Threatray – Enterprise Malware Analysis and Detection using AI Bob W – Tech-enabled short-term rentals company Fractory – B2B marketplace for industrial manufacturing

Expert

2020 - 2022

Expert monitor for Point.IOT project, a program designed to empower innovation using Galileo and IoT technologies

Venture Partner

2019 - 2020

Managed full investment process for pre-seed/seed investments in B2B SaaS, AI, and marketplaces across Central and Eastern Europe. Led five investments, including pre-seed investment in Investown, the leading Czech Republic crowd investing platform, and AhoyConnect (exit to Commsor)

CEO & Co-Founder

2015 - 2019

Built and scaled Techloop, leading CEE marketplace for hiring tech professionals, to over 20,000 users and a 60-person team. Secured over €5M in funding from prominent CEE VC/PE firms. Acquired by Alma Media in 2020.