Francisco 'Kiko' H. de Mello

Founder @ Qulture.Rocks

About

Founder of Qulture.Rocks (exit to UOL Edtech in 2022). Angel investor in tech-heavy startups in Latam and the Bay Area. Employee #12 at Nubank. Before that, 10y in finance (ItauBBA and BTG/BTG Pactual.

Country

United States

City

San Francisco Bay Area

Industry

Computer Software

Skill

Startups, Human Resources (HR), Cooking, Music listening, Caxixi playing, Microsoft PowerPoint, Performance Management, Human Resources, Organizational Culture, Business Development, Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital, Start-ups, Start-up Ventures, Angel Investing, Early-stage Startups, Valuation, Financial Modeling, Financial Product Development, Corporate Finance

Experience

Founder

Qulture.Rocks

2015-2 - Present · 11 yrs 8 mos

CEO

Qulture.Rocks

2015-2 - 2026-3 · 11 yrs 2 mos

Greater São Paulo Area

Founded Qulture.Rocks in 2015 to help customers implement world-class performance management, climate/engagement management, goal management and leadership practices. Scaled the company to $~10m in ARR, with customers such as publicly listed giants Nubank, Lojas Renner, PagSeguro, and ~1500 more. We were backed by investors such as Y Combinator, Canary, Redpoint/Headline, and Funders Club. Sold the company to UOL Edtech, and was the CEO until March 2026 (now helping on product, especially incorporating AI and agents head-first into our products, and marketing).

Angel Investor

P.A.

2012-2 - Present · 14 yrs 8 mos

Angel investor. Some of the most notable investments: - Gympass (now Wellhub) - Creditas - Cotopaxi - Magie - Brendi - Lerian - Igual ... and 20+ other amazing startups.

Winter 2018 Batch

Y Combinator

2017-12 - 2018-4 · 5 mos

Mountain View, California

Qulture.Rocks is part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2018 batch. YC is where companies like Airbnb, Doordash, Dropbox, Twitch, and Stripe came out of.

Product Manager

Nubank

2014-6 - 2015-1 · 8 mos

São Paulo

Executive Director

BTG Pactual

2013-1 - 2014-5 · 1 yr 5 mos

São Paulo Area, Brazil

Director

BTG Pactual

2011-12 - 2012-12 · 1 yr 1 mo

São Paulo, Brazil

Associate Director

BTG Pactual

2008-6 - 2011-12 · 3 yrs 7 mos

São Paulo, Brazil

Trainee

Itau BBA

2005-12 - 2007-8 · 1 yr 9 mos

São Paulo Area, Brazil

Education

FGV EAESP

Business Administration; Business Administration; Finance and Entrepreneurship

2003 - 2006 · 3 yrs

Junior Researcher at the Center of Private Equity Studies (CEPE) – working on the completion of Brazil´s first census of the Brazilian private equity and venture capital industries.