Former PayPal and American Express leader Dan Schulman is joining Valor Capital Group, a cross-border venture fund that focuses on connecting technology markets in the US and Latin America.
Schulman, who departed PayPal last year after a nine-year tenure as president and CEO, will take on the role of managing partner at Valor. Valor co-founder Scott Sobel has referred to Schulman as a “mentor,” highlighting their longstanding relationship that dates back to the mid-1990s when Schulman was a senior executive at AT&T and Sobel was developing the internet telephony company Net2Phone, which was later acquired by AT&T.
Founded in 2011, Valor is the first US-Latin America cross-border venture fund. According to Sobel, the fund is currently thriving in 2024, noting that the fintech landscape is shifting from developed markets to nations like Brazil, where public sector initiatives are fostering innovation and inclusivity in technology. This shift has the potential to fundamentally alter the global payments and financial services infrastructure.
Sobel emphasized that Schulman will contribute his wealth of experience and knowledge to the fund and its portfolio, mentioning PayPal’s significant partnership and $750 million investment in Argentine e-commerce leader MercadoLibre in 2019.
During his tenure at PayPal, Schulman successfully doubled the company’s market capitalization, tripled revenues, and increased earnings per share from $1.25 to over $5. However, in 2022, the company fell short of its revenue, adjusted operating margin, and net new active users targets, which resulted in a 32% reduction in Schulman’s compensation.