Ramphis Castro
Limited Partner at VC3 DAO
Ramphis Castro
Limited Partner at VC3 DAO
Caguas
Overview
Work Experience
Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Investments
2021 - Current
The Platform for Social Impact (PSI) is a 501(c)3 impact investment fund focused on youth and economic mobility for families in Puerto Rico. We believe the most effective path to reducing poverty is through the investment of patient capital in companies, programs, and people building products and services that accelerate economic mobility for vulnerable families enabling them to transform their lives. We believe the strategies for reducing child poverty in Puerto Rico will serve as a model for the eradication of poverty in the United States and beyond, creating a proof of concept in a jurisdiction with a complex set of variables not exclusive to the island; including fiscal constraints, public debt, an aging population, and a declining legacy economy.
Limited Partner / Founding Genesis Member / Founding Governance Committee Co-Chair
2022
We bring together a vetted network of venture professionals, starting with the Kauffman Fellows, to invest in Web3 companies and funds through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure. VC3's mission is to build a new venture investment model based on the principles of Web3 and decentralization. Member contributions are rewarded in tokens for deal flow, expertise, portfolio support, and more, while entrepreneurs can tap into the network directly for capital and expertise using tokens. This new model better aligns incentives, value accretion, and liquidity for all parties.
Co-Founder / General Partner
2016
ScienceVest, a venture capital fund for hard-tech and life science companies supporting founders by providing seed-stage capital and support for connecting with the best stage-relevant investors for their journey of changing the world through breakthrough science. The founders we work with have developed technology in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Genomics, Sensors, and many other fields at the best research institutions in the U.S. - Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Columbia, among others. We serve as the premier co-investor for founders and investors, by leveraging the best investor network on the planet - Kauffman Fellows - and other networks (YC, Founder Institute, iCorp, and others) to build the right syndicate of investors for the company's journey from lab to IPO. Some of our recent investments include: - Calyx (https://calyxtechs.com/) - GreenSight Agronomics (http://greensightag.com/) - Correlia Biosystems (http://correliabio.com/index.html) - Avro Life Science (http://www.avrolifesci.com/) - Advano (https://www.advano.io/)
Member, Board Of Trustees
2018
With over 900k artists and organizations served, and over $200M deployed supporting the arts, Fractured Atlas is the largest fiscal sponsor for artists and creatives in the US. I serve on the governing board for this innovative nonprofit organization, whose mission is “to make the journey from inspirational to living practice more accessible and equitable for artists and creatives.” They help individual artists and arts organizations at every level of the cultural ecosystem, in every creative medium by providing fundraising tools, educational resources, and personalized support. That means artists can devote their effort to doing what they do best — making art that matters to them and the world.
Selection Committee Member
2015
Parallel18 is an acceleration program that presents a unique gateway for global startups to scale from Puerto Rico. We offer USD $40K equity-free funding, multicultural high level resources, competitive tax incentives, access to a global network, and co-working space in sunny Puerto Rico. The program now has a portfolio of 300+ seed/series A companies from over 40 countries across multiple verticals. I worked to include the initiative as a key policy program for the government of Puerto Rico, support funding sources for its creation, identified and supported key candidates for launch team, secured relationships and support from dozens of ecosystems globally, recruited hundreds of investors, advisors, and mentors, as well as dozens of judges for selection process, and secured top tier media relationships for program promotion.
Pledger
2019
Proud member of the Founders Pledge community: A group of entrepreneurs and investors who have pledged to give a substantial part of future proceeds to charitable causes. 🙏
Advisor / Co-Founder @ Inicio Ventures
2020 - 2022
Hispanics in Philanthropy is a transnational network of foundations bridging the gap between funders and Latino nonprofits across the Americas. Supported the design and served on the investment committee of the Inicio Ventures (formerly PowerUp Fund), a $60M 5-year initiative to fund Latinx-led companies across the US + Latam and help other pools of capital (LPs + GPs) be directed towards the most effective ways to bridge the funding gap for Latinx-led efforts. Inicio Ventures is an early-stage impact investment fund that backs US-based Latinx founders across markets and industries, partnering with them to refine their ideas and scale their businesses. Note for other donors: It is the most effective way for me to stay up to speed on who are the grass-root organizations, non-profits, and foundations doing the best work addressing the issues that affect our communities the most, so I can best direct my dollars and support.
Mentor / Fundraising EIR
2019 - 2020
Fundraising EIR (Expert in Residence) supporting IndieBio NY, dLab, and FOOD-X accelerators. Advising start-up cohorts with business model, growth, and fundraising strategy and execution across multiple touchpoints. SOSV is "The Accelerator VC". They run the world's leading accelerator programs in hardware (HAX), life sciences (IndieBio), cross-border internet/mobile in Asia (Chinaccelerator/MOX), food (Food-X), and blockchain (dlab). SOSV has $700M+ in assets under management and provides seed, venture, and growth-stage funding to startups. Market-specific accelerator programs are located in the US, Asia, and Europe. The firm has a staff of over 100 worldwide, and 620+ global mentors. SOSV is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey with offices in San Francisco, New York, Cork, Boston, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Taipei, Xi'An, and Tokyo. Over the past 20 years the firm has funded well over 900 startups and currently to fund over 150 startups per year. All startups are funded initially through SOSV accelerators. SOSV invests substantial effort in social innovation and transformation in various fields, especially in education and computing, where the company and its staff have supported or founded such initiatives as Coderdojo, Open Ireland, Mathletes, Khan Academy, WeForest and more.
Chief Product Officer
2018 - 2018
Align17 is a venture-backed independent impact investing platform that connects private wealth to third-party vetted co-investment opportunities alongside some of the world's top institutional impact investors. It is backed by some of the world's leading financial institutions including UBS, PWC, and Hamilton Lane. We believe that private wealth holds the key for impact financing to scale. By creating the most relevant digital destination for private investors to source vetted, impactful deals, Align17 accelerates the positive effect of finance in the world. As Chief Product Officer, I lead the product management, engineering, and design teams.
Kauffman Fellow, Class 19
2014 - 2016
The Kauffman Fellows Society is the premiere global investment community, where more than 470 Fellows have collectively deployed nearly $200 billion in capital and created more than 750 thousand jobs worldwide. Graduates lead venture capital, government, corporate, university, and startup innovation efforts in more than 40 countries. Kauffman Fellows has a strong commitment to diversity and actively recruits women and minorities. Inspired by Ewing Marion Kauffman and his legacy of shared ownership, accountability, and experimentation, we measure success in enduring new businesses that generate long-term returns for principals, investors, and society as a whole.
Education
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)
1999 - 2004
Doctor of Law (JD)
2006 - 2010
Doctor of Law (J.D.)
2010 - 2010
Doctor of Law (J.D.)
2009 - 2009
Executive Education
2009 - 2009
High School Diploma
1998 - 1999
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