Santiago Roel Santos
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Hey Santiago — congrats on launching Inversion. came from a similar path (IB → growth equity) and been thinking a lot about origination in crypto-enabled PE. would be good to connect.
Hey Santiago, similar IB → PE path, though I was in London at Greenhill not JPM. origination was always the same story for me — clear thesis, decent relationships, but no proprietary system of record. the people, tools and ideas were never really connected. every deal virtually sourced from scratch, nothing compounding over time. curious if that's still how most funds operate or if I'm behind the times? — Russ
Hey Santiago, looks like we came up through a similar IB → PE path, though I was in London doing growth equity deals at Greenhill not at JPM building the foundation to go acquire and transform legacy businesses with crypto infrastructure. the pattern I keep seeing with most funds is weirdly consistent — strong thesis, solid network, but no proprietary system of record. the people, tools and ideas are never really connected. every deal virtually sourced from scratch, nothing compounds on itself. curious if that resonates or if you've built something different at Inversion? — Russ
hey Santiago — no worries if the timing's off. most funds I talk to have tried some version of building origination in-house — analyst pulling from Pitchbook or Grata, maybe using ChatGPT to help qualify, dumping it into a spreadsheet. each piece kind of works, but there's no system of record tying it together. the people, tools and ideas are all disconnected, so there's tonnes of wasted energy and everything ends up out of sync. been helping a few funds like Mentmore work through that. curious if you've run into the same thing at Inversion? — Russ
totally get it if origination infrastructure isn't top of mind right now — most funds have 10 things ahead of it on the priority list. the funds I've seen crack it early just tend to compound deal flow in a way that's hard to replicate later. if it ever moves up the list, I'm easy to find. — Russ
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Santiago — hope you're having a good Wednesday. wanted to reach out — congrats on launching Inversion — always impressed by those who've taken the leap. though we both spent time in PE (me at Treis in London), I hope to one day do the same. in the meantime I've been working on outbound origination with funds like Mentmore and Backer Group — curious what email infrastructure you're using for your origination outreach these days — still mostly on shared IPs like Instantly, or have you moved to private/dedicated senders? very best, Russell linkedin.com/in/russellt23
Prospect Research
## PROSPECT INFORMATION: Name: Santiago Roel Santos Title: Founder & Managing Partner Fund: Inversion Background: Santiago R. is the Founder and CEO of Inversion, a firm pioneering a "crypto-enabled private equity" strategy. His current focus is acquiring traditional, low-margin businesses in sectors like telecom, construction, and financial services and transforming their unit economics by integrating blockchain infrastructure, specifically stablecoins, DeFi, and DePIN. He recently raised a $26.5M seed round for Inversion Labs and is actively building a team of "truth seekers" to execute buyouts, primarily within the Latin American market. Background and Education: Santiago has a deep background in traditional finance and institutional crypto investing. He previously served as a Partner at ParaFi Capital (2020–2021) and held roles as Director of Research and Growth at Elysium Health and Associate at Sageview Capital. He began his career in Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan within the Financial Sponsor Group. He holds a BA in Economics (Magna Cum Laude) from Boston University, where he specialized in Game Theory and Statistics. Key Skills: Private Equity, Venture Capital, Crypto-Native Infrastructure, Stablecoin Deployment, Financial Modeling, Corporate Development, and Game Theory. Recent Activity and Post Quotes: February 19, 2026: Discussed how Figure built a $20B+ business by rebuilding cost structures at the technology layer. Quote: "Most of what the industry has accepted as fixed costs of doing business are now variable or optional - you can cut them with crypto. Figure proved that... at Inversion, we ask one question constantly: why does it cost X to do Y?" February 17, 2026: Shared a calculator regarding payment friction in SaaS. Quote: "I obsess about payment infrastructure because it is a drag that shouldn't be there... AI is breaking the pricing model that card rails were built around. Programmatic spend requires programmatic money, and credit cards are not that." February 2, 2026: Analyzed the divergence between crypto adoption and price. Quote: "This is the hardest cycle to stomach because adoption rises while prices bleed. History suggests this is not an anomaly... Adoption will continue to rise. Prices will not." January 25, 2026: Highlighted the B2B opportunity for stablecoins. Quote: "The stablecoin opportunity isn’t at checkout. It’s in the $25 trillion of B2B payments still crawling through correspondent banking... Stablecoins enable just in time money - and it will be transformational." November 29, 2025: Debunked the myth that Amazon didn't make money for 22 years to criticize current crypto valuations. Quote: "Believe in the exponent — but don’t go blind. Optimism makes money. Skepticism keeps you alive long enough to make it." November 18, 2025: Critiqued the overvaluation of crypto projects. Quote: "Crypto has been valuing casino activity like SaaS - and the repricing has begun... More value will be captured by the companies that use crypto than the ones building the infrastructure." September 8, 2025: Announced the Inversion Labs fundraise. Quote: "The traditional private equity model has become stagnant... Our thesis is to acquire companies with great distribution but broken unit economics, replace inefficient infrastructure with crypto, and transform low-growth players into industry leaders." June 20, 2025: Outlined his hiring philosophy for Inversion. Quote: "We want people that have a track record of making non-linear career moves... If you currently work in an elite shop but you have a growing fire inside you to break free from the bureaucracy and punch above your weight, this is for you." Fund details: - Description: Inversion is a technology-first investment company that acquires and transforms legacy businesses with blockchain technology. Our mission is to create long-term value by revitalizing companies with crypto-enabled business models and onboarding billions to blockchains. We are at the forefront of pioneering crypto-enabled businesses, demonstrating how blockchain can drive value and efficiency across sectors and proving that - like the Internet - crypto is essential for businesses to remain competitive. By integrating blockchain infrastructure into industries such as financial services and telecommunications, Inversion unlocks new growth opportunities and enhances operational performance. - Website: https://www.inversioncap.com - Location: New York, New York, United States - Lead qualification: Research: - Query: =Inversion Santiago Roel Santos recent investments fund thesis - Answer: Santiago Roel Santos is an investor focusing on crypto and stablecoins, recently involved with Inversion Capital and ParaFi Capital. He targets cross-border payment inefficiencies for EBITDA improvement. His portfolio includes notable crypto assets like NEAR Protocol and LayerZero.