ASAX

Definitive Agreement

Astrea, HotelPlanner.com, and Reservations.com

Astrea Acquisition Corp.

Raised
$150M
CIK
1824211
SPAC Ticker
ASAXU
Merger
Astrea, HotelPlanner.com, and Reservations.com
Focus
Food, Beverage, Hospitality, Financial Services, Technology, Consumer, Real Estate, Transportation, Telecommunications, Media, Industrial
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Felipe Gonzalez has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors since our inception. Since June 2014, Mr. Gonzalez has served as the portfolio manager of Strongrock Capital, a London-based investment office, where he manages a multi-asset portfolio invested across two main strategies: (i) long/short equity mostly in the U.S. public equity markets and (ii) private equity across developed and developing markets. Mr. Gonzalez is focused on the origination, underwriting and management of the investments across all investment strategies. These investments include a wide variety of industries primarily headquartered in the U.S. and also in Europe and Latin America. Additionally, Mr. Gonzalez sits on the board of several of the portfolio companies purchased through the direct private equity strategy. Before joining Strongrock Capital, Mr. Gonzalez was a senior vice-president at Imperial Gestao de Recursos in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 2010 to 2013, where he managed a Brazilian fund of funds and co-directed two projects in the private equity space. Prior to that, Mr. Gonzalez was a research analyst at Sciens Capital Management in New York from 2009 to 2010, where he was one of the analysts responsible for covering several hedge fund strategies including equity long/short, global macro, multi-strategy and credit. Mr. Gonzalez received a bachelor’s degree in Business from Universidad de los Andes in Bogota Colombia and a Master of Science in Finance from Boston College. We believe Mr. Gonzalez is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his experience, relationships and contacts.

Jose Luis Cordova has served as our Chief Financial Officer and a member of our board of directors since our inception. From November 2019 to December 2020, Mr. Cordova served as Chief Financial Officer of Opes Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq:OPES), a SPAC that consummated its initial business combination with BurgerFi International Inc. in December 2020. Burgerfi is a fast-growing better-burger concept restaurant with nearly 125 stores in the United States. Since September 2017, Mr. Cordova has been working as a senior portfolio manager at Axis Capital Management, a Mexican private investment firm with over $14 billion in transactions across private equity, private lending, greenfield investments and advisory practices. Before joining Axis Capital Management, Mr. Cordova worked for Deloitte from 2012 to 2015 as vice-president of Corporate Finance managing a team of four associates and four analysts in engagements across different industries such as financial institutions, consumer goods and oil & gas. He has also held roles in investment risk management of equities, fixed income and derivative instruments for large financial institutions. Mr. Cordova is an Industrial Engineer from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, received an M.B.A. from Cornell University, and is a CFA and CAIA Charterholder. We believe Mr. Cordova is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his experience, relationships and contacts.

Mohsen Moazami has served as our Non-Executive Chairman of the Board since January 2021. Mr. Moazami has had a distinguished career in the technology industry spanning various roles from, founder/CEO leading his company to a strong exit, Fortune 100 executive and venture capital investing. He is a 2010 recipient of Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Since March 2019, Mr. Moazami has served as the Managing Partner of Seif Capital, a venture capital firm he founded. Since July 2020, he has also served as Chairman of the Board of Vcinity, a technology company serving the commercial and government markets. From April 2013 to December 2018, Mr. Moazami served as Managing Director of Columbus Nova Technology Partners, a novel global tech investment firm he founded to combine the best attributes of the venture capital and private equity business models. Prior to this, he spent 11 years as a member of the Cisco executive staff where he most recently was on the senior leadership team of the Emerging Markets & Globalization Centre in Bangalore, India and before that seven years at Stanford Business Systems. He has served on a variety of boards including Zoomdata, Aerospike, vArmour, Frame, Deep Instinct and Kaazing. Mr. Moazami received a Bachelors of Science from University of California, San Diego and a Masters in Engineering from Stanford University. We believe Mr. Moazami is well-qualified to serve on our board of directors based on his business experience and relationships and contacts.

Hector F. Sepúlveda Reyes Retana has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2021. Mr. Sepulveda’s experience in the entrepreneurial field dates from 2001. In that time, he has founded six enterprises with two successful exits. Since March 2013, Mr. Sepulveda has served as Managing Partner of Intangible, a Mexican “company builder” and “innovation hub” he co-founded which is focused on fostering technological entrepreneurship in Mexico. Since January 2014, Mr. Sepulveda has served as Managing Partner of Mountain Nazca, a venture capital fund focused on Latin America which he co-founded. Since October 2017, he has also served as a Partner of Joystick Ventures, an IP-based venture capital firm he co-founded which is focused in the global video gaming industry. From 2009 to 2012, he served as Chief Executive Officer of LITEBUILT, a company he founded that provides tech-enabled construction solutions to low income housing in Mexico. Mr. Sepulveda currently serves on the board of directors of a number of companies including Miroculus, a biotechnology company, Luuna, an e-commerce company, Albo, a fintech company, Crehana, an edtech company, Ben & Frank, an e-commerce company, Truehome, a property technology company, and Kavak, an e-commerce company. He received an industrial engineering degree from Universidad Iberoamericana, he is a Global Endeavor Entrepreneur, and an OPM candidate from Harvard Business School. We believe Mr. Sepulveda is well-qualified to serve on our board of directors based on his business experience and relationships and contacts.

Boris Salas von Weltzien has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2021. Since December 2017, Mr. von Weltzien has served as Managing Partner of Soterios Capital Partners, a private equity platform he founded that is dedicated to generating, designing and executing private equity investments. From September 2012 to November 2017, he served as Group Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Committee of AJE Group, a multinational producer and distributor of soft-drink products. From January 2009 to August 2012, Mr. von Weltzien served as a Partner and Head of Infrastructure Investments of Plenium Partners (later Taiga Mistral), an independent Spanish merchant bank and private equity company. Prior to this, he served as a Director of Investment Banking at N+1 (Alantra) and spent 10 years as Director of European Investment Banking at Citigroup. Mr. von Weltzien received a BA (with honors) in European Business Administration from the European Business Programme. We believe Mr. von Weltzien is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his experience, relationships and contacts.

Special Advisor

Miguel Angel Villegas Vargas has served as our special advisor since September 2020. Mr. Villegas has been working as a Director at Axis Capital since June 2019. Mr. Villegas served as Chief Financial Officer of Opes Acquisition Corp. from December 2017 to October 2019. He also served as Chief Financial Officer and member of the board at Integradora de Servicios Petroleros Oro Negro, SAPI de C.V. (“ISPON”), an entity affiliated with Axis Capital Management, from 2014 until May 2019, and served as its Vice President of Investments from 2013 to 2014. ISPON filed a voluntary petition for restructuring in Mexico on September 11, 2017 and initiated a parallel restructuring proceeding in the United States in April 2018. Mr. Villegas served as a member of the board of Navigatis Radiance Pte Ltd, a company that owns, operates and manages offshore support vessels, from January 2017 until June 2019. Since September 2017, Mr. Villegas has served as a member of the board of Navix de Mexico, a private specialty finance company, where he also was a Senior Originator Associate from 2009 to 2011. He also has served as a member of the board or Realix Invesco I (“Realix”), a real estate platform, since April 2018. Navigatis, Navix and Realix are companies affiliated with Axis Capital Management. Prior to that, Mr. Villegas worked for Citigroup as Relationship Manager and Credit Analyst from 2005 to 2009. Mr. Villegas received a Bachelor of Arts in Financial Management, summa cum laude, from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and an M.B.A. from Wharton Business School.