Natalia
Pineda

Born and raised in rural Colombia at an altitude of 2,200m, Natalia grew up surrounded by mountains and animals. While she loved the fresh air and quiet of outer Medellin, a childhood spent watching nature documentaries nurtured young Natalia’s urge to explore the world. Her journey began at 18, pursuing adventure through language and education—from improving her English in Canada to learning Portuguese while teaching English in Brazil, a scholarship from Santander Bank sent her to Portugal, where she began her career in finance.

So began Natalia’s love affair with Europe and entrepreneurship. To finance her studies at Nova School of Business and Economics, she worked part-time for 2 years at the university’s Entrepreneurship Centre. Here, she gained extensive experience in venture capital as part of their startup acceleration program and the European Innovation Academy, securing a Top10 spot in the entrepreneurship competition.

After finishing her MSc. in Finance, Natalia joined Rovensa as an M&A Associate, where she executed 8 successful deals with a combined EV of over EUR 850 million, supporting Bridgepoint and Partners Group's ambitious buy-and-build strategy in the green agricultural sector. In her 4th year, she moved to Munich where she decided to hit pause on the whirlwind pace of her life and take 14 months to learn German and to do mountaineering and climbing tours throughout Europe.

Now a Finance Manager at HV Capital, Natalia still spends most of her free time in the Bavarian and Austrian Alps. She spends bad weather watercolour painting, indoor rock climbing, reading, and going for walks with her cat, Monkey.

In keeping with her love of startups, Natalia has lived the meaning of “scrappy”; she says, “I learned to do life by trial and error, and being an immigrant in a foreign country, where a foreign language is spoken, definitely helped me built a tough skin and a spirit of never giving up. I am stubborn as it gets when it comes to following my dreams and achieving my goals.