Having previously launched and led the UK office of Samaipata VC (€100M AUM), as well as co-founding the community-driven VC The Fund, and being the first hire in Felix Capital’s investment team, Carmen brings more than seven years of experience, expertise and networks to Blossom.
During her time at Felix Capital and Samaipata, Alfonso Rico is said to have sourced and invested in a number of promising European startups, such as virtual events platform Hopin, food delivery platform Deliveroo, networking app Peanut and D2C stationary brand Papier.
Beyond her vast investment knowledge, Carmen is an entrepreneur having founded two companies – one in her home country of Spain, and another in the UK; vinpho, is a Spanish crowdsourcing journalism platform; and Reconnect, a direct-to-consumer lifestyle and fashion brand for pregnant women to help them feel confident during their maternity.
Carmen is also highly active in the tech-ecosystem; a community and relationship builder, with founders and investors. She is the co-founder of The Debut Sessions – a monthly remote pitching event for startups and the EU VC Call – the first European networking platform for VCs to discuss pressing issues periodically, born on the back of COVID-19; she is the co-chair of the London Marketplace Startup Community – the largest community of marketplace founders in the UK with more than 800 members; and is the founder and host of the VC Thanksgiving Dinner – an annual VC Thanksgiving Dinner that’s been running since 2016 where c.100 VCs from across Europe get together to celebrate and raise money for charity.
Carmen joins Ophelia, alongside Blossom’s co-founder Imran Ghory and Louise Samet in their mission to uncover the brightest, most ambitious founders across Europe.
“I’m an investor at heart. It’s a people’s business backed by metrics. It’s about learning and building, every day, working with exceptional founders disrupting the status quo…the energy is electrifying. I believe having been a founder makes me a better investor. I’ve experienced many of the challenges our founders face; I have the utmost respect, empathy and admiration for what they are doing and I know how it feels, how hard it is and how great it can be. And the truth is that as a VC investor in a small young firm, I also get the entrepreneurial highs. At Blossom, the team is building a new type of VC firm for founders, defying conventions and doing things differently, which makes Blossom such a perfect fit for me.” – Carmen
Blossom is often described as ‘the most progressive VC in Europe’ and I think that’s spot-on – Blossom is bold, innovative and knows no limits,” continued Carmen. “The team will go anywhere and do anything to find the visionary, most ambitious founders and support them on their mission to build global tech champions. The perfect match for my relentless passion for investing in and working with founders. Ophelia and the team have the hunger, the boldness and the hustle to build the next leading Series A fund and I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of it.”
“Blossom is a small, dedicated partnership founded on high conviction and ambition. The bar when looking for new partners has been incredibly high and from the first meeting with Carmen, we knew she’d be a perfect fit. From her entrepreneurial spirit – a mindset that is at the heart of everything we do at Blossom – to the inordinate amount of hustle and ability to build relationships, she’s set to be an asset to our mission to build multi-billion-dollar companies.” – Ophelia Brown, Blossom Capital founder
Carmen joins Blossom at an exciting time of growth for the two-year-old company, following the launch of Fund II at the start of the year and the launch of its unique angel network, Cultivate, backed by Europe’s greatest founders.
Blossom has previously backed Duffel, Tines, Fat Llama, Frontify and Sqreen, bringing in investors, including Y Combinator, Greylock, Accel and Index Ventures. Advisors to the firm include a network of 30 founders and executives from some of the world’s leading technology brands.