Andrea Cabanillas
Associate
Venture capital is fundamentally a people business; without the human side, you never access the best deals. Ultimately, your reputation isn’t what you put on a website, it’s exactly what people say about you when you leave the room.
Backstory
On the lookout for
I'm from Madrid, with family roots in northern Spain. I studied Business Administration and International Relations at IE University, where a friend later introduced me to Adara. As a kid I wanted to be a vet or a marine biologist; that dream shifted, but my connection to nature never did.
That pull toward the natural world and social impact took me to Kenya, collaborating with an NGO on a research project studying the impact of globalisation on Maasai communities. A thesis on digital transformation at IE pointed the same way, and a friend's suggestion to look at venture capital clicked immediately. Before Adara, I interned at a social fintech connecting women entrepreneurs in Latin America with impact-driven investors.
I joined Adara as a Visiting Analyst on a six-month programme that turned into nearly four years, co-founding Baby VC in Spain and Portugal as Community Lead. What kept me at Adara was never just the work - it was the people, and never having to shrink my personality to fit in.
Outside of work, I'm almost always outside: freeride skiing across the globe, horse riding since childhood, and diving from Asia to Latin America.
I'm drawn to go-to-market strategy and international expansion, and I genuinely enjoy helping founders adapt their GTM motion across geographies.
Beyond deal-making, I see venture as fundamentally a people business, and I've made Adara's platform, brand and relationships a personal mission. I'm relentlessly extroverted, and I believe showing up and staying visible in the right rooms is its own form of brand-building. My clearest mission is making sure people know Adara as one of Spain's leading funds, with twenty years in the sector behind it.
Backstory
I'm from Madrid, with family roots in northern Spain. I studied Business Administration and International Relations at IE University, where a friend later introduced me to Adara. As a kid I wanted to be a vet or a marine biologist; that dream shifted, but my connection to nature never did.
That pull toward the natural world and social impact took me to Kenya, collaborating with an NGO on a research project studying the impact of globalisation on Maasai communities. A thesis on digital transformation at IE pointed the same way, and a friend's suggestion to look at venture capital clicked immediately. Before Adara, I interned at a social fintech connecting women entrepreneurs in Latin America with impact-driven investors.
I joined Adara as a Visiting Analyst on a six-month programme that turned into nearly four years, co-founding Baby VC in Spain and Portugal as Community Lead. What kept me at Adara was never just the work - it was the people, and never having to shrink my personality to fit in.
Outside of work, I'm almost always outside: freeride skiing across the globe, horse riding since childhood, and diving from Asia to Latin America.
On the lookout for
I'm drawn to go-to-market strategy and international expansion, and I genuinely enjoy helping founders adapt their GTM motion across geographies.
Beyond deal-making, I see venture as fundamentally a people business, and I've made Adara's platform, brand and relationships a personal mission. I'm relentlessly extroverted, and I believe showing up and staying visible in the right rooms is its own form of brand-building. My clearest mission is making sure people know Adara as one of Spain's leading funds, with twenty years in the sector behind it.
Personal Side
Skiing / Horse Riding / Diving
Stories
