Latin America is a land of great opportunities. At least for investments in ‘startups’, which have increased strongly in recent years. The great attraction of a population increasingly connected to the internet adds to the potential for economic growth in the region and is enhanced by the rise of a large number of entrepreneurs, hungry for resources to make their ideas flourish. In 2017, more than 1.1 billion dollars of venture capital landed in the area, more than double the amount accumulated a year earlier, according to figures from the Latin American Private Equity and Private Equity Association (LAVCA). And this year it looks like it will be equally promising.
Start-ups Unicorn startups that succeed in Latin America The region already has 13 technology companies that have acquired the most sought-after financial denomination: companies valued at at least 1,000 million dollars.
Several Latin American countries received 600 million dollars during the first four months of the year, and it is expected that by the end of 2018 the sum will reach 2.5 billion dollars, according to the estimates of Nxtp.Labs, which takes as reference the information of LAVCA. “The venture capital industry has continued to mature, with the emergence of unicorns [with a valuation of over $ 1 billion] and some interesting firms in the information technology sector,” says Cate Ambrose, president and chief executive officer. of LAVCA.
This growing arrival of resources, says an analysis by TechCrunch, can be explained in some way by the appearance of mega rounds of funding in the area. Added to this, according to the information, a large number of companies have agreed to financing for more than 100 million dollars, something that was unimaginable a few years ago. The focus, for the moment, is on the big economies: Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Colombia, but it is expected that in the next venture capital will flood the whole area. “The ‘startups’ in Latin America and the Caribbean are deploying creative solutions to face challenges not only local, but regional and global,” says Marisol Argueta, senior director of the World Economic Forum for the region.
Also published on Medium.