Ludmila Pontremolez

Yo, you gotta hear about Ludmila Pontremolez, this Brazilian tech boss who’s straight-up crushing it. She’s the co-founder and CTO of Zippi, a fintech that’s totally changing the game for small biz in Brazil. Think about it, she’s powering over R$3 billion in transactions a year using PIX, the local payment platform. No cap, she’s legit making waves.

So here’s the scoop: Ludmila’s got a crazy solid background. She studied Computer Engineering at ITA, which is like the MIT of Brazil but only started letting women in kinda recently, so she’s already breaking barriers there. Before jumping into startups, she worked at NASA and Microsoft in the US. Yeah, NASA. Like, she’s been in the space of rocket science and tech giants. She’s legit the real deal.

Then in 2016, she jumped into the startup world as a software engineer at Square, a huge US fintech company. That’s where she really cut her teeth in the trenches, learning how to build stuff that scales. She’s also been around the block with companies like Groupon and CareLulu, and even dabbled in the water tech scene with General Water.

But the big move? She came back to Brazil in 2019 to launch Zippi. And man, did she crush it. Zippi was one of the first to use PIX as a credit and payment platform, which was a huge move in the local scene. They raised serious venture capital, a $16 million Series A led by Tiger Global in 2022. That’s no small feat for a startup in Brazil.

What’s crazy about Ludmila is her story isn’t just about tech and money, it’s about breaking barriers. She’s a woman in a super male-dominated space, leading with grit and passion. Her whole process screams motivation: she’s been in the US, working at NASA and Microsoft, then came back to Brazil to build something that actually helps people. She’s all about supporting entrepreneurship and making financial services accessible.

Basically, Ludmila’s story is about going from a girl who studied at one of Brazil’s top engineering schools, to working at NASA, then taking all that knowledge and jumping into the startup game. She’s a proof that with talent, drive, and a little bit of guts, you can totally change the game, not just for yourself but for an entire country.

She’s the real deal, a tech pioneer, a leader, and a symbol of what’s possible when you don’t let bullshit hold you back. No Cap.