A solid and multidisciplinary team spanning five pillars of expertise

Francis Bento founded Divergent Investments in 2021 and serves as the firm’s CEO. Mr. Bento brings extensive financial markets experience to Divergent which is the culmination of his vision to achieve superior returns through data-driven, operational value creation in combination with responsible investing.

From 2005-2021, Mr. Bento constructed and led the global private equity program at Inter Fund Management (part of Interogo Holding Group/Inter-Ikea) one of Europe’s largest and most prestigious private investment offices. As Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Bento led strategy, investing and built a sizeable team of seasoned professionals. Mr. Bento invested in funds, directs and secondaries across multiple strategies, including buyouts, growth, venture, and distressed, and across multiple regions, including North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. He sat on the private equity Investment Committee of the investment office and also served as an Executive Advisor. He served on the boards of numerous companies and funds, and currently still maintains multiple board positions.

Prior to leading this effort, Mr. Bento was a multi-product derivatives head-trader for several international financial institutions and funds, including in Tokyo and in Luxembourg. He is a professor of Finance for several Master and MBA programs in both France and Portugal. With a passion for philanthropic work, Mr. Bento created a charitable foundation in 2010 called ‘‘B for Africa Foundation’’ (bforafricafoundation.org), which seeks to help underprivileged children in Africa.

Francis graduated with a Master of Science degree in Financial and Commodity Markets from Paris Dauphine University followed by an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology. He has also completed executive programs at Harvard and the University of Chicago.

Sabrina Colin joined Divergent Investments in October, 2022 as Chief Investment Officer. Sabrina is a seasoned private equity professional with comprehensive experience in deal sourcing, structuring, investing, and post-investment value creation.

For the 14 years prior to Divergent, Sabrina worked on the private equity team at the same European private investment office as Francis Bento. During her last few years there, she was Co-Head of the Investment Team where she was responsible for setting and overseeing the execution of the investment strategy.

At Divergent, Sabrina oversees all aspects of the investment cycle from sourcing to value creation to exit. Sabrina began her career as an equity analyst at BGC Partners in Paris after earning a Master’s Degree from France’s NEOMA Business School.

Jean-Nicolas Pagnoux joined Divergent Investments in October 2021 as part of the Investment Team and Head of Market Intelligence. He has been analysing and investing in public and private markets for over 20 years. In addition, he brings eight years of experience in private equity advisory for family offices and companies. He also held business development executive roles at different companies.

As the Head of Market Intelligence, Jean-Nicolas monitors and assesses Divergent Investments' sector trends, business models and oversees listed companies that relate to the Fund’s investee companies.

He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in Corporate Finance and Capital Markets from the University of Strasbourg.

Juan Pablo Trujillo has 27 years of private equity experience in funding, scaling, and exiting companies in industries ranging from food and energy to software and machinery.

His expertise spans financial structuring, M&A, operational engineering, and technology integration, supported by a broad global network. As a co-founder and managing partner of Pampa Capital and Xperiment Ventures, Mr. Trujillo invested in companies that harness innovation to address pressing efficiency, sustainability, and security challenges within legacy industries.

He has led fundraising, team building, and strategy, securing substantial funding from top-tier global investors and divesting portfolio companies to global strategics investors. He has served on the boards of various companies and funds.

Prior to leading these efforts, Mr. Trujillo was an investment banker in the technology group at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. Mr. Trujillo holds an MPA from Harvard University, and a B.A. in Economics and a J.D. from Los Andes University.

Marc Le Corre joined Divergent Investments in September 2022 as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. He has been in the financial industry for the last 27 years, having worked for major banks in five different countries in APAC and EMEA. In recent years, he has specialised in risk management, including the risk analysis of private equity funds.

As COO of Divergent, Marc oversees all internal operations for the firm. As CFO, Marc ensures that best practices in cash management and financial planning are in place at the Fund and the GP level as well as in Divergent investee companies.
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Marc graduated with a Master of Science in Financial and Commodity Markets from Paris Dauphine University.

João Lobato joined Divergent Investments in March 2022 as a Data Scientist and Machine Learning Engineer. He is a serial entrepreneur with 5+ years of R&D experience in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Machine Learning and Signal Processing, and 11+ years of experience in Tech Product Design, Engineering and Management.

As a member of Divergent’s Data & AI team, João is deeply involved in the deal sourcing, due diligence, and value creation processes for Divergent portfolio companies.

He is co-responsible for devising and supporting data and tech strategies at portfolio companies, for providing data-driven insights for all business decisions, and for defining the Big Data and AI strategy of Divergent’s tech platform.

João obtained a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Porto and a Postdoc in Robotics with Honda Research Institute, Japan.

Luis Certo joined Divergent Investments in March 2022. He brings 16+ years of technology experience working in a variety of sectors, including IoT, Biometric Authentication, Mobile and Web Development, API Design and Systems Architecture, and Data Mining.

At Divergent, he works as a Data and Software Engineer, where he provides technological insights and builds algorithms and system integrations to extract and analyse big-data to support business decisions.

He worked as a Researcher and Database and Information Systems Teacher at the University of Porto's Faculty of Engineering. Luis was the Founder and CTO of an IoT Startup, which he sold after 5 years, Team Leader of multiple development teams, and most recently worked as a Product Manager at BMW.

He obtained his Masters in Computer Science from the University of Porto.

Sara Rijo joined the Divergent Investments team in January 2022 as a Data & Machine Learning Engineer. She has over nine years of experience in machine learning, natural language processing, data pipelines and software development.

As a member of Divergent’s Data & AI team, she is involved with the definition and implementation of internal data intelligence strategy, data extraction and monitoring systems.

Her role at Divergent is to provide insight from Big Data analysis for both sourcing and value creation in Divergent investee companies.

During her career, she was responsible for designing and implementing intelligent systems for several European and American start-ups.

She earned a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from Evora University.

Janet Larsen is the Head of the Behavioural Science practice at Divergent Investments. She is a trained psychologist who, after years of clinical work, applied her psychologist’s experience to the financial services industry.

Janet spent 16 years working at an investment consultancy and fund of funds on the selection and monitoring of investment management teams. She then established her own coaching and advisory business.

At Divergent, Janet not only participates in the investment selection process but also works with portfolio companies to improve investment processes, interpersonal effectiveness and organisational dynamics.

Janet earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Stanford University and went on to do post-graduate research at the University of Oxford.

Natalie Bogdanov joined Divergent Investments in October 2021 as General Counsel. She brings 25 years of experience as legal counsel for a variety of complex financial transactions.

As General Counsel of Divergent, Natalie ensures that best legal practices are in place at the Fund and the GP level as well as during the investment process.

Natalie applies the strictest international legal standards to the Fund’s portfolio companies throughout the life of an investment.

Natalie earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from New York University Stern School of Business and a J.D. from New York University Law School.

Beatrice Klein joined Divergent Investments in February, 2024 as an Investment Analyst.

She previously worked at Rothschild & Co in Frankfurt as part of the Investment Banking division, where she collaborated closely with the M&A team.

At Divergent, she works in the private equity team, where she supports team members across the entirety of the investment lifecycle.

She holds a Dual Degree from Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris.

Maria Verdasca joined Divergent Investments in October 2022 as an administrative assistant.

She initiated her academic journey in the Netherlands, where her passion for creating international connections began.

She holds a degree in Political Science and International Relations from Universidade Católica Portuguesa, complemented by a year in Italy that expanded her global perspectives.

Within Divergent, Maria provides administrative support to the team.