LatAm tech ecosystem has been on a tear recently. I wrote about it earlier in the year.
There were a number of pre-revenue and large seed rounds announced recently with Minu (similar to earnin), Justo (similar to MissFresh) and Flat (similar to opendoor). They tend to follow a similar pattern of second time / seasoned entrepreneurs, attacking large addressable markets with proven business models from outside (oh no, copycats). I really like all three companies + their entrepreneurs. We need more of these funding stories… and I´m sure they will come!
Personally, I am a big fan of getting inspiration from new business models that seem to be working in other markets and can be implemented to address a clear local need, that is how Reservamos got started. Some of the largest internet companies in the world start out as copycats (think Alibaba, Meituan, Baidu, etc) but are now much more. They can evolve and become global players!
Talking about copycats, this tweet from Marcos Galperin from Mercado Libre, made the point clear. Ebay held 18% of Mercado Libre and was a strategic partner to the company until 2016. Now the two companies are almost the same market cap.
We keep getting larger rounds in the ecosystem with Credijusto, Konfio and Quinto Andar. More of these will continue to roll in as investors realize there are big opportunities and ambitious teams on a path to win them.
LatAm is a highly volatile region and those of us who operate here, know that there will be ups and downs (+ failures). For now, let´s take advantage of the momentum and make this era the breeding ground for the next generation of leading technology companies of the region.
Oh, and LatAm desperately needs to see some exits. We will start to get them with stronger companies… nevertheless, they still need to happen for it to be a full circle party.
On a final note, Fabrice Grinda has a great presentation at Noah talking about the future of marketplaces. It´s called – the party is not over ;)
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