Renata Arauz-DeStefano

Renata holds a BA in International Relations and French from Tufts University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  A proud SEO and Toigo alumna of Ecuadorian descent, she is passionate about increasing access to capital for diverse GPs and founders and building a bench of future capital allocators who reflect the changing demographics of the US.

Renata is an investor at Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company.  In her role, Renata backs women-led venture capital funds and makes mission-aligned direct investments. 

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Prior to joining Pivotal, she spent a decade bridging the finance and social impact sectors, having held roles in microfinance, investment banking, start-ups, and venture capital.  She most recently was based in Nairobi, first as an investor with a climate-focused fund called KawiSafi Ventures and then as an independent consultant.    

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Earlier, she worked as an investment banker with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and tried her hand at entrepreneurship, launching a Malawi-based social enterprise.