Blended from Argentina, QuePlan from Chile, Doctor Online from Guatemala and RebajaTusCuentas.com from Peru reached the final of the Seedstars world competition.
Who says that in Latin America there is no talent? Four teams from the region were among the 12 finalist startups of the sixth edition of Seedstars Summit 2019, the contest that seeks young entrepreneurs in emerging markets around the world to give the best idea 500 thousand dollars to help them climb your business model
“We consider ourselves a team of athletes in the elite part of the world and we come to win. We are not just an accelerator, we do not want to give a new face to emerging markets”, said Alise de Tonnac, founder of this initiative.
Organized by Seedstars World, it is a conference on entrepreneurship focused on emerging markets, which takes place from April 1 to 5 at the Swiss Tech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In the sixth edition of the summit, more than 60 new companies from emerging business markets around the world such as Asia, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. In this event, the entrepreneurs received workshops and one-on-one meetings with investors from all over the world willing to give them a minority and forge 50 million dollars in participation agreements called “soft agreements”.
The Seedstars initiative spent the last eight months searching in 88 countries through 100 events and reviewing 800 applications from entrepreneurs around the world to the best entrepreneurial idea to grant 500 thousand dollars in investment through equity.
In addition to the award, the summit includes workshops, round tables and talks focused on four specific verticals that seek to provide permanent solutions for billions of people in precarious situations around the world.
“They wanted to bury us, but they forgot that we are seeds”.
With this Mexican phrase, the judges chose 12 startups from more than 60 participating companies to reach the final and access the half million dollars in investment to scale up.
Among those finalist companies stand out five startups in Latin America:
Argentina: Blended
A platform that helps families to be in communication with their children’s schools and to improve cooperation between schools.
Chile: QuePlan.cl
This company helps patients compare health insurance plans and health services offered by insurance companies.
Guatemala: Doctor Online
The number one telemedicine solution in the region through videoconferences.
Peru: RebajaTusCuentas.com
This startup is a financial advisor that helps people manage the interests of their loans and mortgages.
With whom they compete
These five Latin startups will present their pitch to the audience present at the summit and will have to convince the judges why their idea is the most necessary to help the world. In addition to competing with each other, they must surpass other finalists from Asia and Africa. They are:
Saudi Arabia: YNMO
This firm helps individual-to-person service providers such as clinics to monitor their individual treatment plans.
Cambodia: Joonak
A logistics company that offers delivery and storage services with technological tools for SMEs around the world.
United Arab Emirates: SmartCrowd
Real estate initiative that helps people generate a portfolio of properties by allowing them to buy small shares in buildings.
Ghana: Cowtribe
African SME that helps to take cattle vaccines to remote parts of the continent.
India: Wobot
A startup that uses artificial intelligence to take advantage of the information generated by surveillance images in cameras around the world (CCTV).
Kenya: BlueWave Insurance Agency
This startup produces microinsurance for the base of the pyramid and unbanked markets through mobile devices.
Qatar: Urban Point
Platform that helps medium-sized companies generate loyalty programs for their consumers through incentives based on mobile technologies.
Rwanda: Benefactors
This firm offers factoring services and work resources for SMEs.
Also published on Medium.