Romero Rodrigues

Romero Rodrigues is a Brazilian entrepreneur and venture investor best known as a co-founder and former CEO of Buscapé, the price-comparison and digital commerce company founded in 1998/1999 while he was studying electrical engineering at Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo. Buscapé was acquired by Naspers in September 2009 for about $374 million, and Rodrigues remained involved in leadership until the end of 2013.

Before becoming a full-time VC, Rodrigues was an angel investor and mentor. Redpoint Ventures announced in November 2015 that he had joined Redpoint eventures as a Managing Director, noting that he had invested in 25 startups across Brazil, South Africa, the U.K. and the U.S. and served on boards including Movile, Neogrid, TOTVS, ViajaNet and Wayfair.

Rodrigues later became a Managing Partner at Headline in Brazil. Headline says his focus is “Brazil and LatAm consumer internet and software companies led by incredibly talented founders,” and Rodrigues describes his own background as founding Buscapé, selling it in 2009, and investing since 2010. In 2021, he helped structure Headline Brasil, and Startups reported that Headline operates in partnership with XP Asset to build a portfolio of roughly 20–25 startups over about four years.

His education includes electrical engineering at Universidade de São Paulo and executive education at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School, according to his LinkedIn profile and public biography listings.

• “I like to invest in bold and ambitious entrepreneurs solving painful problems in huge and inefficient markets.”
• He says the most important traits in an entrepreneur are “coachability and emotional intelligence.”
• Headline’s stated area of focus for Rodrigues is Brazil and Latin America consumer internet and software companies led by highly talented founders.
• Sector focus from Headline: fintech, ecommerce, software, digital health and media.
• Signal lists his investment range at $500K–$10M, with a $3M sweet spot, and tags him across Series A and Series B categories including SMB software, marketplaces, ecommerce, consumer internet, SaaS, fintech, enterprise applications, digital health and generative AI.
• Rodrigues has said his team looks for strong operators with soft skills: ability to hear feedback, reflect on blind spots, recruit strong teams and sell well.
• He emphasizes discipline in venture investing: avoiding inflated valuations, focusing on founders rather than falling in love with a model, negotiating the right deal terms and being willing to say no.
• Headline’s broader Brazil thesis is “local to global”: identify early-stage founders locally, support them with global network and tools, and help companies expand across borders.