VentureBeat

Chile’s Austral Capital to help Latin American startups reach the US — and vice versa

Santiago, Chile-based Austral Capital is one of a growing number of Latin American VC firms making names for themselves. Thanks to aggressive support from the Chilean government, the less than two-year old company has funded several Chilean start-ups, including Atakama Labs, which I wrote about earlier today. And it’s also moved quickly to set up an office in Silicon Valley and hired Hiroshi Wald to run the show. Wald (pictured) said Austral’s Silicon Valley mission… Continue Reading

Chilean startup focuses on games for social good

The latest game company to raise a round of funding reflects the global reach of the industry. Chile’s Atakama Labs has raised $4 million from two Chilean venture capital funds, Austral Capital and COPEC-UC.

The company hasn’t announced its games, but its co-founders say they’re working on “meaningful games” that “help you feel better as a human being.” The first game is expected to debut in January.

Atakama Labs was founded by Esteban Sosnik (right) and Tiburcio… Continue Reading

Uruguay’s tech sector could prove promising for VCs

Silicon Valley investors are accustomed to searching for the next great start-up to nurture. In Uruguay, the country’s only venture capital fund is itself a start-up.

Prosperitas Capital Partners’ co-founder Pablo Brenner told me last week on a visit to Montevideo that when he launched the company in 2005, “nobody was ready, not even the lawyers.” He said he had to write the first term sheets himself.

But earlier this year, the fund pulled off its first… Continue Reading

Endeavor brings Silicon Valley to South America’s Southern Cone

Venture capitalists may soon be asked to go way outside their comfort zone.

Endeavor, the New York-based non-profit that seeks to promote entrepreneurship in the developing world, launched the Mentor Capital Program (MCP) last week here in Montevideo, the capitol of Uruguay.

The initiative, to be piloted in the Southern Cone nations of Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, seeks to better prepare innovators here to pitch venture capital firms in Silicon Valley and beyond, and to undergo the… Continue Reading

Report scores PE/VC environment in Latin America: Chile still leads while Colombia makes gains

Colombia is the surprise winner in the Latin American venture capital landscape, according to a new report from the Latin American Venture Capital Association. VentureBeat was able to secure an advanced copy to bring you a sneak peak. See a PDF of the report after the jump.

The primary story is this: After more than four decades of civil war, Colombia improved its private equity and venture capital score the most compared to last year —… Continue Reading

Argentine president gambles on tech taxes, faces tough crowd

A new proposal from Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has the country’s tech community scratching their heads. Her pitch: to effectively double taxes on technology products that are not manufactured or assembled in the province of Tierra del Fuego, including notebooks, cell phones and digital cameras.

Oddly, few of these devices are actually made there. In fact, Argentina imports the vast majority of them. So the tax would affect a majority of Argentines, not to… Continue Reading

Google’s Latin America chief jumps to Argentine IT firm Globant

Google’s Latin America director has defected to Argentine IT services company Globant. Gonzalo Alonso will fill the newly created position of vice president of operations.

Globant, which specializes in software development and maintenance outsourcing services, was founded in 2003 and initially funded by local angel investors managed by FS Partners. It has since closed two rounds of financing with Riverwood Capital. And last December, it secured $13 million from Riverwood and FTV Capital combined.

Google is a… Continue Reading