Fernando Wagner da Silva

Fernando Wagner da Silva (Rio de Janeiro, November 1, 1972) is a Brazilian venture capital investor who has a Masters degree in Computer Science by UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) with a co-supervision of IMPA (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics). Fernando also holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics by the same school. His research projects developed at COPPE/UFRJ and IMPA were awarded by the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC) and UNESCO.
Career
Fernando entered Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1991, when he was 18 years old. He was one of the only three students to graduate in the Class of 91 of the Math bachelor program at UFRJ. After graduating, Fernando was selected by COPPE/UFRJ to it's Master Program in Computer Science. During his Master's research, Fernando was invited by the Institute of Pure and Applied Math (IMPA) to finish his thesis and to work as as researcher at the Visgraf Lab. Fernando's obtained his Masters degree in 1997 and his research involved the development of several Motion Capture techniques which led to special effects that are now used by the movie industry. His research was awarded by the Brazilian Computer Society and UNESCO. In early 2000's, Fernando was invited by Sony Imageworks to work as a motion capture coordinator for the upcoming movie Beowulf. Fernando dropped the invitation due to professional agenda conflicts.
In 1998, Fernando started his Ph.D. at COPPE and IMPA. His research during this period included the combination of Motion Capture, physical simulation and artificial intelligence. During his work as a computer graphics researcher, Fernando published over 50 scientific papers on journals, magazines and conferences in Brazil, USA and Europe. In late 1999, Fernando was invited by Opportunity, one of the most prestigious investment banks in Brazil, to join the investment board of Opportunity's venture capital fund Innovate.
From 2002 to 2008, Fernando acted as an executive in two Opportunity invested companies (w-Aura and APPI), where he performed turn around and business development. In 2009, Fernando was invited by Rio Bravo Investimentos to perform a turn around in one of its portfolio company named WNet.
In 2013, Fernando was invited by Bozano Investimentos to be the head of investiments of the Criatec 2 fund, the largest venture capital fund in Brazil. Fernando has been travelling all over Brazil giving lectures and talks about venture capital and entrepreneurship.
Personal Interests
Fernando is an enthusiast on emerging technologies and innovation and frequently transformed his personal interests and hobbies into business ventures. Due to his knowledge in different science topics, Fernando was invited to be an advisor for aerospace, biotech and communications at Axia Ventures, an Argentine investment firm. Fernando was also invited to be a board member at ABRAGAMES (Brazilian Game Companies Association) and executive manager at TecGames (game companies incubator at Genesis/PUC-Rio). Fernando was also invited by Finep to participate in the selection process of companies for the Brazilian Government Subvenção Econômica funding programs.
Entrepreneurship
Fernando had several entrepreneurship experiences, including the deployment of the Rio 2004 internet website, the first website of an olympic bid candidate city in the history of internet. Fernando was also the founder of BaseOi, a major gaming portal in Brazil.

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