Clara Bullrich is a woman of many talents, managing multiple careers while making a positive impact on the world of finance and technology. Her main role is leading her financial entity, AlTi, managing a whopping $54 billion investment fund. But she doesn’t stop there. As a member of Women in Blockchain, she runs a women-only DAO, Komorebi, that supports female and non-gender-specific projects. She’s also the founder of the gaming guild, Ola Guild Games (OlaGG), that hopes to upskill the quarter of a billion mobile gamers in Latin America so they can boost their incomes using play-to-earn blockchain games.
Bullrich’s journey towards success began in Argentina, and after studying in the United States and Ireland, she worked for a short time for Spanish Santander bank in the United States. However, feeling uncomfortable with traditional finance, she soon moved to Collective Mind, a tech company based in Argentina that grew rapidly. A few years later, she started her own family office business for high-net-worth clients under the umbrella of Guggenheim Partners.
Over 23 years, she expanded her operations from Latin America to other parts of the world. Three years ago, this fund management business became Alvarium Investment Advisors, managing over $20 billion in investments. Recently, she merged with two other companies to form Alvarium Tiedemann Holdings, AlTi, with over $54 billion under management.
Bullrich faced challenges in persuading her clients to invest in “disruptive” technology, including Bitcoin, but first, she had to persuade her colleagues of the merits of investing in progress rather than simple money-making schemes. She set up the Digital Assets Committee at Alvarium Tiedemann in 2019. “Most people there are traditional investors, so the idea of crypto, blockchain, Web3, digital assets – these were really foreign to them,” Bullrich says. “And so being able to start that committee has allowed me to educate traditional investors about the potential of digital assets and blockchain technology. I wanted to create that level of expertise to understand trends, why certain disruptions make more sense than others.”
In 2016, Bullrich founded The Venture City, an accelerator that nurtures innovative projects. The Venture City is a platform for combining technology and financial expertise with a beneficial social product. In some Latin American countries, up to 60-70% of people do not have bank accounts, restricting their ability to improve their situation. Bullrich sees The Venture City’s investments as a means of improving access to financial products and services.
Bullrich also focuses on diversity in the blockchain space; she joined Women in Blockchain (WiB) last year and hopes to develop women’s skills, opportunities and aspirations in the cryptocurrency sector. “I’m not saying women’s voices should be dominant over men; it’s not one or the other. What I truly believe is having diverse perspectives and experiences in decision-making leads to better outcomes, and my role is to provide an additional platform for women to showcase their passion, their vision.”
Her involvement with Komorebi allows her to support and amplify the voices of women in tech and finance. Komorebi is a DAO on the Syndicate Protocol, dedicated to increasing diversity and breaking down barriers to entry in the blockchain space. The thought process behind this was that women-led startups receive only 2.3% of venture funding but perform 63% better than investments with all-male founding teams, according to Venture Capital firm First Round. When Bullrich finds a project that interests her team, she brings it to the DAO, and everyone votes on whether to back it or not.
Final boss, Bullrich’s latest venture, is a sub-DAO for OlaGG that aims to create social and financial inclusion for the Hispanic community through gaming. OlaGG is a DAO that enables the Hispanic community to engage with Play-to-Earn blockchain games. According to Bullrich, the concept took off in the Philippines during the pandemic, enabling players to supplement their incomes with P2E winnings.
Despite her many successful ventures, Bullrich remains humble and grateful for her experiences. She feels lucky to have been involved with cryptocurrencies, DAOs, and the metaverse at this early stage. “My sons are nine and 11 and will live through the entire cycle of what blockchain and crypto are creating right now. And I feel super hopeful around that.”
