Invest with conviction.
Take positions in selected companies where we see a compelling opportunity and a meaningful role for our involvement.
Principal investmentPrincipal investment & corporate development
Invested in
what comes
next.
Polanco Ventures invests its own capital, at times alongside co-investors, in a small number of companies and takes a working role in each: corporate development, capital strategy and the relationships that carry a business into its next stage.
Perspective into action.
POLANCO VENTURES / 01An investor’s conviction.
A working partner’s commitment.
Based in Dubai & Mexico City
Investment · Strategy · Corporate development
Selected companiesRobinson Energy Natural gasSea to Sky Farms Food systemsDenovia Circular materials
01 / How we work
A partner at the
working table.
Polanco Ventures is an investment corporation with capital markets and strategy advisory capabilities. We invest selectively and work alongside leadership teams on the decisions, relationships and execution that move a company forward.
Shape the next move.
Connect business strategy, capital requirements and corporate development around a clear set of priorities.
Strategic advisoryWork from the inside.
For selected engagements, take a direct corporate development and strategy role, with responsibilities defined around the company’s needs.
Direct roles, case by case02 / Selected companies
Different businesses.
A shared commitment.
Our current portfolio spans energy, food systems and circular materials. Each company has its own ambitions. Our involvement reflects the work ahead.
EnergyRobinson Energy
Advancing natural gas resources toward commercial development.
Polanco’s involvement
Investor, with capital markets positioning and strategic introductions.
Explore our involvement
Robinson is developing natural gas discoveries in Papua New Guinea, with a longer-term pathway toward LNG export. Polanco’s focus is the company’s capital markets narrative and relevant strategic relationships.
Company milestone / 6 October 2026
Robinson Energy receives a Grant Offer for Petroleum Retention Licence 68, the Triceratops gas and condensate discovery in Papua New Guinea.
Read issuer announcementCompany milestone / 22 June 2026
Robinson Energy begins trading on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Read issuer announcement
Food systemsSea to Sky Farms
Fresh produce through controlled-environment agriculture.
Polanco’s involvement
Investor, with a direct senior corporate development role.
Explore our involvement
Publicly presented as SkyFarms, the business combines controlled-environment growing with distribution. Its product range includes lettuce, basil, arugula and microgreens.
Our involvement spans strategy and corporate development, working alongside the company on its next stage.
Explore the product range
Circular materialsDenovia
Turning polyester waste into useful industrial inputs.
Polanco’s involvement
Investor, with a direct Strategy and Corporate Development role.
Explore our involvement
Denovia Inc. is a United States company developing a depolymerisation process for polyester waste, including textiles and PET, with pilot operations in Vancouver, Canada.
Our involvement spans strategy and corporate development as the business advances toward commercialisation.
Company milestone / 19 August 2026
Denovia signs a non-exclusive strategic technology licensing and commercialisation framework with an international polyester materials producer.
Read company announcementCompany milestone / June 2026
Explore the technologyDenovia moves The Ark, its containerised demonstration unit in Vancouver, into the next phase of commercialisation.
Read company announcementRecent developments
Polanco Ventures holds securities in the companies shown. Polanco does not trade in these securities around company announcements and takes no fees from investors it introduces. Company developments are presented as company milestones, sourced to each company’s own announcements, not as investment returns or outcomes attributable solely to Polanco. Company imagery is used with the companies’ permission.
03 / What we look for
Few companies.
A real role in each.
Polanco is not a fund and does not run a broad portfolio. We look for a small number of companies where capital and hands-on work both matter, and where we can take responsibility for part of the outcome.
Operating, and approaching a decision.
An operating business or a defined asset, approaching a financing, a listing, a strategic partnership or a step up in scale. We take meaningful minority positions.
Asset-heavy, real-economy businesses.
Our work so far has been in energy, food systems and circular materials: businesses with physical assets, real operations and a clear path to commercial scale. We stay open to adjacent sectors where the same work applies.
Canada and the United States.
Companies in Canada and the United States, with capital and commercial relationships that reach the Gulf and Latin America.
A position and a role.
A meaningful position and a defined role: corporate development, capital strategy or a direct senior seat. We do not take passive positions.
What Polanco is not: a fund, a broker-dealer or a placement agent. We invest our own capital and do not manage third-party capital or arrange securities offerings. Co-investors, where involved, invest directly and on their own account. Investors and specialist partners are welcome to connect; an introduction does not imply access to an investment offering.
Do you invest in every company you advise?
Investment and advisory involvement are considered case by case. Neither is a requirement or a promise of the other. The role follows the opportunity and the agreed mandate.
Can Polanco work directly inside our company?
Yes. For selected companies, Polanco takes a direct corporate development and strategy role. Responsibilities and the level of involvement are defined for the engagement.
How can investors and specialist partners connect?
Share your focus, relevant experience and the kind of relationship you want to explore. We can then assess where there may be a fit. An introduction does not imply access to an investment offering.
04 / Where we contribute
The decision.
The plan. The work.
A financing, a strategic partnership or a new phase of growth starts with the same question: what does the business need to be ready?
01Corporate development & strategy
Define the next stage, evaluate strategic options and coordinate the work across leadership, shareholders and external partners.
- Growth priorities and strategic planning
- Partnership and transaction evaluation
- Direct corporate development roles where agreed
02Capital strategy & readiness
Connect capital needs to the company’s operating plan and prepare a clear, supportable investment narrative.
- Capital requirements and financing readiness
- Corporate structure and materials coordination
- Coordination with qualified professional advisers
03Capital markets positioning
Help leadership explain the business, its milestones and its next stage to capital markets audiences.
- Public market and listing readiness strategy
- Investor narrative and company positioning
- Specialist adviser selection and coordination
04Strategic relationships
Identify relevant counterparties and prepare the company for purposeful conversations, with context and clear objectives.
- Strategic and commercial counterparties
- Investor relationship development
- Research and communications specialists
05 / Who we are
The people at
the table.
Polanco Ventures is led by its founder, supported by a small team and an advisory circle, with specialist advisers brought in for each mandate. When Polanco takes a role inside a company, this is who shows up.
Founder & Managing Director
Santiago Herrera
Santiago founded Polanco Ventures in 2025 to invest in a small number of companies and work inside them. Before that he spent four years at Fortuna Investments, a Vancouver venture capital firm investing its own capital, where he built relationships with family offices and high-net-worth investors across Canada and the United States and oversaw corporate projects including private aviation acquisitions and real estate transactions.
Through Polanco he holds a direct Strategy and Corporate Development role at Denovia, a senior corporate development role at Sea to Sky Farms, and works with Robinson Energy on its capital markets positioning. He is also co-founder and chief executive of Outer Insights, a software company that gives private and public companies investor data intelligence and the workflow to build relationships with financing partners.
Santiago is a Canadian and Mexican citizen. He lives in Dubai and spends regular time in Mexico City, and works in English and Spanish. He represented Canada on the national taekwondo team from 2016 to 2017.
06 / Our perspective
Local understanding.
Wider possibilities.
Based in Dubai and Mexico City, Polanco sits between three pools of capital and opportunity: the Gulf, North America and Latin America. Our companies are Canadian and American. Our relationships reach further: investors and family offices in the Gulf and Latin America who back North American companies, and commercial counterparties in both regions. We look at each company in the context of the markets, capital and counterparties relevant to its next stage.
Base
Dubai
Gulf capital and counterparties
Base
Mexico City
Latin American capital and counterparties
Markets of focus
North America
Where our companies are based
For companies, investors and specialist partners with a reason to work together.
Explore a partnership07 / Notes
Decisions,
written down.
Short notes from the work, on a decision we helped make or a question founders keep asking. Written from our own experience, never about a company’s plans beyond what it has announced itself.
Why we work inside the companies we invest in.
Capital does not fix a stalled company. Capital is what you get once the work is done. On the role Polanco takes, what the work is, and why it limits us to two or three companies at a time.
Read the note
08 / Start a conversation
What comes
next for you?
A company at a turning point.
A strategic opportunity.
A relationship worth exploring.
Your introduction
Ready for your review.
Send this to contact@polancoventures.com.
We could not send this automatically. Open your email app or copy the introduction to send it yourself.
Nothing has been sent. If an email app does not open, copy the introduction into your preferred email service.
Your introduction
Sent.
Thank you. Your introduction is on its way to contact@polancoventures.com. We reply from that address.