Alec Oxenford

Last updated
Alec Oxenford
OxenfordWerthein (cropped).jpg
Oxenford in 2024
Ambassador of Argentina to the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 26, 2025
Occupation Entrepreneur • Diplomat
Website https://us.letgo.com/en

Alejandro Carlos "Alec" Oxenford is an Argentine entrepreneur and diplomat. [2] He co-founded OLX, and co-founded Letgo, a mobile classified ad app in the United States, [3] and is the Ambassador of Argentina to the United States.

Contents

Personal life

Raised in Argentina, Oxenford received a BA in Business Administration from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and an MBA from Harvard University. [4]

Oxenford is an art collector, focusing on Argentine artists, such as Liliana Porter, Eduardo Navarro, Carlos Huffmann and Martin Legon. [4] His collection includes about 280 pieces. [5] In 2013, he became the president of the arteBA Foundation, the nonprofit that organizes the arteBA art fair, a Latin American event. [4]

Career

He previously worked for the Boston Consulting Group, [6] and was the CEO of DeRemate.com, an online trading platform in Latin America, which sold to eBay. [7] He also co-founded DineroMail.com. [2]

A 2014 article in Fortune Magazine characterized him as a "CEO rock star of sorts" in South America, known for his "staunch contrarianism". [8]

Oxenford received the CNN Internet Leader Award in 2001 and the Entrepreneur Award in 2003. He was elected Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2006. [9]

In 2020, Alec invested in DRIC, Inc, a Brazilian software company. Its investment was the largest ever made in a startup still in the seed phase, around US$3.5 million [10] which gave the company an initial valuation of around US$20 million. [11] [12]

OLX

In 2006, Oxenford and Fabrice Grinda co-founded OLX, an online classified ads company. [13] [14] In 2010, a majority of the company was acquired by the South African group Naspers, with Oxenford remaining CEO through 2014. [15]

Letgo

In 2015, Alec Oxenford co-founded Letgo, a mobile marketplace for used goods in the U.S. [16] He raised $100 million from Naspers that year [17] and an additional $100 million in 2016, when Letgo merged with Wallapop. [18] [19] In 2017, the company raised $175 million and reached a $1 billion valuation. [16] [20] After Letgo merged with OfferUp in 2020, Oxenford joined its board. [21]

Alpha capital

In December 2020, Oxenford co-founded Alpha Capital, a special-purpose acquisition company, with Rafael Steinhauser, with Oxenford serving as CEO and chairman. [22]

Myelin VC

In 2020, Oxenford joined a venture capital fund called Myelin VC, which focuses on North America, Europe, and Latin American region. [23]

Ambassador of Argentina to the United States

On November 11, 2024, Oxenford was nominated by President Javier Milei to serve as the Ambassador of Argentina to the United States. Oxenford has extensive experience in the technology sector and a notable entrepreneurial background. He is committed to strengthening bilateral relations and fostering cooperation between the two nations, despite lacking prior diplomatic experience. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that his focus and dedication would be essential in achieving a positive impact on the ties between Argentina and the United States. [24] [25] On February 26, 2025, he was appointed as Ambassador by decree. [26]

His nomination as ambassador was approved by the Argentine Senate on May 7, 2025, [27] and he was officially appointed to the position by the government on June 17, 2025. [28]

References

  1. ↑ "Quién es Alejandro Oxenford, el unicornio que le manda Javier Milei a Donald Trump". Letra P (in Spanish). 12 November 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 Zacharias, Maria (31 May 2015). "Alec Oxenford: "El arte es un mundo de contrastes"". La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  3. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (28 September 2017). "Used goods marketplace LetGo quietly raised $100M more at a $1B+ valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Gleeson, Bridget (2015-05-27). "Meet the Argentine Tech Entrepreneur Who Started His Own Emerging-Art Incubator". Artsy. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  5. ↑ Gavasa, Juan (30 May 2015). "Successful, Tenacious: The Most Outstanding Serial Entrepreneurs in Latin America". PanAmericanWorld. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "The Craigslist of emerging markets". Fox Business. 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  7. ↑ "Emerging world's Craigslist". Fox Business. 2015-02-03. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  8. ↑ Griffith, Erin (29 October 2014). "Meet OLX, the biggest Web company you've never heard of". Fortune. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "Alec Oxenford". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  10. ↑ dystrick (2021-04-27). "FJ Labs and Alex Oxenford Invest USD3.5m in Brazilian Data Privacy and Storage Platform DRIC (em português)". LAVCA. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
  11. ↑ "Startup brasileira aposta na inclusão digital e está avaliada em U$ 20 MI – Startup" (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2021-05-20. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
  12. ↑ Glauce, Cavalcanti (May 18, 2021). "Dric Code develops software to transmit and store data and wants to boost education". Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. O Globo Newspaper.
  13. ↑ Mander, Benedict (2016-09-19). "Argentina: home to the majority of Latin America's tech unicorns". Financial Times. ISSN   0307-1766 . Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  14. ↑ Lourie, Gugu (2017-07-23). "Meet OLX, the Biggest Classified Company that is growing Fast". TechFinancials. Retrieved 2017-09-30.
  15. ↑ Perez, Sarah (2015-09-03). "Mobile App Letgo Raises $100 Million From Naspers To Take Over Classifieds In The U.S." TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  16. 1 2 "Billion-dollar startup Letgo is becoming the go-to app for selling your stuff — here's how it works". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-09-30.
  17. ↑ de la Merced, Michael J. (2015-09-03). "South Africa's Naspers Backs Smartphone Start-Up Letgo". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  18. ↑ Geron, Tomio (2016-05-10). "Letgo buys fellow mobile classifieds startup Wallapop". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  19. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (10 May 2016). "Wallapop and LetGo, two Craigslist rivals, merge to take on the U.S. market, raise $100M more". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  20. ↑ Mac, Ryan. "Letgo Lands $175M As It Ups Mobile Marketplace Challenge To Craigslist And OfferUp". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  21. ↑ "Online marketplace OfferUp raises $120M, acquires top competitor letgo". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  22. ↑ Sakate, Marcelo (24 February 2021). "Alpha Capital's $ 230 million SPAC seeks next Brazilian tech". Exame. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  23. ↑ Hall, Christina (25 August 2021). "Myelin launches second venture fund to target North America, Europe, Latin America". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  24. ↑ "Alejandro Oxenford fue designado como nuevo embajador en los Estados Unidos". infobae (in European Spanish). 12 November 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  25. ↑ "Milei appoints Alejandro Oxenford as Argentina's ambassador to the US". Buenos Aires Herald. 12 November 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  26. ↑ "Oficializaron la designación de Alejandro Oxenford como nuevo embajador argentino en Estados Unidos". infobae (in European Spanish). 26 February 2025. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  27. ↑ "El Senado aprobó los pliegos de los embajadores argentinos en Estados Unidos y España". elDiarioAR.com (in Spanish). 7 May 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  28. ↑ "BOLETIN OFICIAL REPUBLICA ARGENTINA - SERVICIO EXTERIOR - Decreto 402/2025". www.boletinoficial.gob.ar (in Spanish). 18 June 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
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