Why We Invested in Fillip — Betting on the Future of Latin American Sports and Entertainment

At DILA Capital, we invest in bold visions backed by exceptional execution. We look for founders who aren’t just building companies — they’re creating categories. At DILA Capital, we believe the greatest companies don’t just ride waves — they create them. In Fillip, we saw exactly that.

That belief has guided our approach for over a decade: back extraordinary teams building the infrastructure for what’s next. And sometimes, the biggest opportunities aren’t in creating the next piece of technology — but in unlocking the full value of what’s already there.

That’s why we invested in Fillip, a platform that is quietly reshaping the future of sports and entertainment in Latin America.

From the moment we met the founding team — Alberto Fasja, Hugo López-Velarde, and later Bárbara González Briseño — we recognized a rare opportunity: a chance to pioneer an entirely new asset class in Latin America by acquiring and scaling culturally powerful intellectual property (IP), mainly in sports and entertainment.

What Is Fillip?

Fillip’s founding insight was simple, but powerful: Latin America is full of iconic cultural assets with global potential, but lacking the structure to commercialize at scale. From sports to music to entertainment, beloved brands with massive audiences remain largely underexploited — often family-run, disorganized, or local in scope.

What Fillip saw was a white space. What they built is a model to fill it.

Fillip is an aggregator and operator that acquires legacy brands and develops them into scalable global platforms. Think of it as a combination of Authentic Brands Group, Endeavor, and a private equity fund — but designed specifically for the cultural DNA of Latin America. Through strategic acquisitions, exclusive licensing partnerships, and a strong operator network, Fillip is reviving, scaling, and monetizing cultural brands in ways that hadn’t been done before.

We first invested in 2023, joining a world-class investor group including Nazca, Femsa Ventures, and the founders of Grupo Axo. Since then, Fillip has exceeded every expectation — and last week, with the announcement of the AAA acquisition in partnership with WWE, we’re more confident than ever that this team is building something historic.

Lucha Libre Goes Global — And Why it matters now

Last week, Fillip and WWE announced a historic partnership to acquire Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, Mexico’s most iconic wrestling franchise. This isn’t just a business transaction — it’s a cultural milestone. The news was unveiled during WrestleMania 41 weekend, flanked by legends like Triple H, Rey Mysterio, El Hijo del Vikingo, and other WWE executives. Starting with the When Worlds Collide mega event in Los Angeles this June, Fillip and WWE will export Mexican lucha libre to a global stage.

What many didn’t see behind the scenes was the work that led to this deal — and how Fillip made it possible. For over two years, Fillip cultivated a relationship with the Peña family, who have owned and operated AAA for more than three decades. Negotiating with family-owned IP is complex, emotional, and rarely straightforward. But Fillip approached it with professionalism, empathy, and a vision for the future of AAA that preserved its heritage while unlocking its growth potential.

The result is a joint venture where WWE and Fillip will co-own and operate AAA — including live events, sponsorships, merchandising, and brand strategy.

This isn’t just a sports deal — it’s a blueprint for exporting culture at scale.

It’s a landmark moment not just for AAA, but for Latin American sports and entertainment. And it’s exactly the kind of bold, legacy-expanding move we invested in.

Why We Invested — Our Thesis

When we first invested in Fillip in 2023, we underwrote the company around two central pillars:

1. Systematic Access to High-Quality IPs

The founding team has consistently sourced and secured world-class assets — often under the radar — including AAA, Kings League, Kiss, and even conversations with FC Barcelona and FIFA. Their proprietary network is unmatched in the region.

2. A Scalable Value Creation Playbook

Beyond acquisitions, Fillip is building the infrastructure to unlock value at scale. Their ecosystem includes exclusive operating partners across key levers: live events, licensing & merchandising, sponsorships, and content & media rights. The acquisition of Tycoon Enterprises, Latin America’s largest brand licensing agency, gave them immediate distribution, operational muscle, and credibility.

Why It’s Working

Category-Defining Leadership: The founders combine global experience (Amazon, Bitso, Grupo Axo) with local insight. Bárbara González Briseño’s operational rigor and Hugo López-Velarde’s dealmaking acumen make Fillip uniquely execution-focused.

First Mover Advantage: There’s no comparable player in Latin America building an IP aggregator at this scale or speed. Fillip is setting the standard — and capturing the flywheel effects of early success.

Global Opportunity, Local Execution: The IP market is a $495B global opportunity. Fillip is bridging emotional resonance with commercial scale — expanding “love brands” from Latin America to the world. Only a few months after launching, Fillip had already closed or held advanced conversations with over 25 properties from all over Latin America and around the world, which were estimated to be jointly valued at $4.5B.

Strong Governance and Alignment: From day one, Fillip’s team has welcomed institutional discipline. Each round has brought in professional investors and high-profile angels, and every acquisition has been followed by value creation milestones — not hype.

This Is Just the Beginning

With the AAA partnership, Fillip isn’t just monetizing nostalgia — they’re modernizing it, exporting it, and scaling it with precision. They’re building a new path for IP from emerging markets — not just to survive, but to thrive globally.

At DILA, we believe in the power of Latin American stories. Fillip is proving they belong on the world stage. This is why we invested — and why we’re proud to double down.