Matias De Tezanos
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- Full Name
- Matías de Tezanos
- Title
- Founder, Chairman & CEO of PeopleFund; Co-Founder & CEO of Kata
- Firm
- PeopleFund
- Firm Type
- Private multi-family office / holding company (active angel & growth investor)
- Investment Stage
- Seed through growth (early-stage to late/public; has led a $140M Series E)
- Check Size
- Not publicly disclosed (ranges from angel seed checks to leading multi-million-dollar growth rounds)
- Target Company Profile
- High-growth, technology-driven startups, often founder-led; companies where PeopleFund can add operational value through its network and management expertise
- Sector Focus
- Internet/consumer, marketplaces, fintech/insurtech, healthcare, energy, biotech, and business/productivity software
- Geographic Focus
- United States and global, with strong ties to Latin America
- Location
- San José, Costa Rica (PeopleFund headquartered in Miami, Florida)
Background
Matías de Tezanos is a serial internet entrepreneur and investor. He began his career in 1999–2000 founding Hoteles.com, one of the first online hotel-reservation sites aimed at Spanish-speaking internet users, which was later acquired by Expedia. In 2002–2003 he co-founded and led as CEO ClickDiario Network, which became the #1 internet advertising network in Latin America and was acquired by Fox International Channels (News Corp) in 2006.
He continued building U.S. companies in the insurance and healthcare space: co-founding HealthCare.com (2006), a full-stack health insurance platform ranked the #1 Inc. 500 insurance company in 2019, and BrokersWeb (2007), an auto-insurance quoting engine ranked by Inc. 500 as a top revenue-growth company in 2011 and 2012. He was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2009 and named one of the top 10 Hispanic entrepreneurs by Inc. Magazine in 2011 and 2012.
In 2012 he founded PeopleFund, a private multi-family office and holding company that invests globally in technology startups and partners closely with management teams from early stage through growth. Through PeopleFund he has backed several Inc. 500-ranked and notable companies. More recently he serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Kata, based in Costa Rica, marking a return to hands-on company-building.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests as an active, hands-on partner — PeopleFund describes itself as "a multi family office that is a global active investor" that adds value through its network, management expertise, and technology knowledge, working with companies "at any stage."
- Stage-flexible: participates from seed/angel through growth and public markets (e.g., participated in Getaround's Series A and D and led its Series E).
- Favors founder-led, high-growth technology businesses, drawing on his own operating background as a repeat Inc. 500 founder and CEO.
- Sector interests span consumer internet/marketplaces, fintech/insurtech, healthcare, energy, and biotech.
- Brings operational credibility — pitches to him benefit from an operator-to-operator framing rather than a purely financial one.
Notable Investments
- Getaround — global peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace; PeopleFund participated in Series A and Series D and led the $140M Series E, with de Tezanos taking a board seat.
- HealthCare.com — full-stack U.S. health-insurance platform; #1 Inc. 500 insurance company (2019).
- AutoWeb / AutoBytel — auto marketplace that merged into the Nasdaq-listed company (ABTL).
- DiamondFoundry — lab-grown diamond producer.
- Orionis Biosciences — biotech company; de Tezanos joined as investor and board director (2018).
- CookUnity — chef-to-consumer meal marketplace.
- BlueKite — cross-border financial-services startup (acquired).
- Amply Power — EV fleet-charging company (acquired by BP).
- SmartRound, Windfall, Mapfit — additional early-stage investments across fintech and data/software.
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