Rising Stars 2026: Cecilia Martinez, Bice Ventures

Cecilia Martinez, CVC principal at Bice Ventures, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2026.

Since taking over as head of Bice Ventures, the CVC arm of Chilean financial services company Bice Corp, two years ago, Cecilia Martinez has “made a remarkable impact both within the organisation and across the broader innovation ecosystem,” says Guillermo Ferraro, chief development and strategy officer at Bice Corp.

Martinez spends a lot of time finding the right startups to invest in to make sure there is a good fit between investee companies and the corporate parent. This means fewer, but more meaningful investments each year, and close collaboration between the unit’s investment and venture building activities.

One of her biggest success stories was the establishment of Bice’s banking-as-a-service platform, Bice Connect, which was co-created with Shinkansen, a Chilean fintech startup, which was backed by the CVC arm.

“It is very important to know who to talk to and to develop that network and ecosystem in the best way that you can.”

The biggest hurdles have been convincing internal sponsors to work with the investment unit to develop and support startups. Now the venture team has a track record to point to and can show real results – not just of successfully built ventures, but also exits – such that it is now being approached by business units to work with startups.

The unit mainly looks at fintech infrastructure and payments technology that align well with the company’s core business. It also has its eye on new technologies such as AI, though it has yet to find an AI startup that is a good fit internally.

Martinez advises newcomers to CVC to focus and hone their networks in the ecosystem – there is no substitute for talking to people you know when it comes to finding the next best startup to invest in.

“Sometimes, people can say that a startup is great, that a founder is great. But then you talk with a friend of the ecosystem and they say that it is not really as great as you had been told. It is very important to know who to talk to and to develop that network and ecosystem in the best way that you can.”