Peru’s young people took to the streets last week and made their voices heard. Peaceful protests were met with police aggression and two people, Inti Sotelo Camargo and Jack Brian Pintado Sánchez, were killed. By Monday of this week, a new President, Francisco Sagasti, was chosen by congress to lead the country. President Sagasti has held many roles in his career, including leading FINCyT, a government fund to support initiatives in science and innovation.
Women in Peru have been breaking paradigms for thousands of years. Literally.
This week, archaeologists concluded that 9,000 year-old skeleton of a woman found in the Andean highlands in Peru indicated that she was a hunter, rather than a gatherer. She was buried with a “big-game hunting kit,” according to the New York Times. While this finding was surprising to some scientists, it won’t be to the many female startup founders currently living in Peru today.
In fact, also this week, three Peruvian women were selected as finalists for the WeXchange Pitch Competition as part of the WeXchange forum, the largest forum for female technology entrepreneurs in Latin America.
Continue reading “From hunters to startup entrepreneurs”Most conferences in Peru have themes that are variations of “How can we build a better future?” Well, next week’s Innovate Peru Summit shows that the future is here and is being built by tech entrepreneurs.
With speakers like David Velez, CEO of Nubank, Mariana Costa, CEO of Laboratoria, and Simon Borreo, CEO of Rappi, it isn’t exaggeration to say this is the most significant conference of the year in Peru.
Continue reading “Innovate Summit brings together the region’s top entrepreneurs”We are experiencing accelerating changes in food consumption in Latin America, and it is essential to tackle the sustainability issue now. Peru startup Sinba does just that, and investors have taken notice.
While well-known tech startups aim to get food to the end consumer, Sinba ensures the food waste is dealt with properly. Founders Pipo Reiser and Andrea Rivera recently raised an investment round that included participation from local individual investors and IDB Lab.
This week I’m sharing an article I recently wrote for Crunchbase. Many startups have found innovative ways to adapt and thrive through the current crisis. There are great examples from across Latin America, including a few startups with presence in Peru: Fitco, Poliglota and Joinnus.
You can find the article here: Pivots And Persistence: How Startups In Latin America Are Finding Ways To Survive The Current Crisis.
I hope you enjoy it and are as impressed as I am by startup founders’ capacity to adapt and persist over the last seven months.
Luis Narro es Director Ejecutivo de la Asociación Peruana de Capital Semilla y Emprendedor (PECAP). Previamente trabajó en Swiss EP y COFIDE. Más de 5 años de experiencia trabajando con organizaciones de soporte del ecosistema de emprendimiento en Perú, en especial, con los inversionistas de capital emprendedor.
Continue reading “Entrevista con Luis Narro, Director Ejecutivo de PECAP”Recently, ALLVP Research launched in twitter a Beta Version of a Latin America TechXplorers – Desitation Map. It shows in a graphic way the startups that have raised Series A rounds and have “boots on the ground” in different countries.
First, let’s give credit where credit is due. The work is being done by Peruvian Alexandra Jenkins, Senior Analyst at ALLVP. You can write her with ideas and updates at ajenkins@allvp.vc.
Last year, I wrote about investment professionals from Peru taking on regional roles in the venture capital industry in Latin America. Well, the talent pool of Peruvians working in the startup community in Latin America continues to grow.
By some measures, this has been a down year for Peru startups seeking to enter acceleration programs. For example, no Peru startups were selected for the latest batches of Y Combinator or 500 Startups Latam.
However, in many ways, founders in Peru or local acceleration programs are moving forward. Only in the last month, over 20 up-and-coming Peru startups were selected to particiate in acceleration programs. Many are relative newcomers to the startup community.
The Peruvian Association of Seed and Venture Capital (PECAP) has published its first half report for 2020.
The key highlights are:
Continue reading “PECAP First Half Report”Don’t worry, Ruta Startup is not launching a podcast.
Fortunately, there is no need. A great library of podcast content already exists for the regional tech scene, and the top podcasts in Latin America are interviewing members of the Peru startup community.
Here are a few podcasts featuring startup founders and investors in Peru.
On Wednesday August 19th, Roberte Arbe and I had the opportunity to share with startup founders during the Peru Venture Capital Series. We discussed considerations for raising funds from professional investors.
The session is in Spanish and titled: Preparando mi primera ronda de capital con inversionistas profesionales.
You can watch it on Youtube here.
There are two more days of the Peru Venture Capital Series next week, Wednesday the 26th and Thursday the 27th.
The event is free and you can register here.
Many dominant corporations in Peru are currently in the midst of digital transformation. These initiatives to incorporate new technology help companies to maintain market share and add value to society by offering digital solutions to customers.
But, haven’t corporations had enough time to figure this out? Isn’t something still missing? Isn’t time for a new status quo?
I think so.
Continue reading “Towards a digital transformation of Peru”I am a big believer in the capacity of the founders currently leading Peru’s startup community. I also am optimistic about the future due to the emergence of Peruvians who have earned leadership positions in top tech companies.
Over the past few years, Peruvians working in Silicon Valley have been a steady presence in Peru’s startup community. PeruSV is a group of Peruvians in Silicon Valley that organizes the annual Techosuyo conference. The Peru chapter of Swiss EP has done significant work to help connect Peruvians abroad with the local ecosystem.
Now, the number of tech professionals is getting larger and they are taking on leadership roles.
Daniel Barreto, may be a lesser known actor in the Lima startup community, but his impact is huge.
Daniel is CEO and co-founder of Haystack News, a U.S.-based startup that offers a better way to consume digital news content. Daniel is also a mentor at StartX, a top accelerator program in the U.S. where Haytack News is a portfolio company. Haystack is described in the App Store as “your go-to for hyper-relevant news, from local coverage to global current events. It’s the best way to watch a variety of coverage, all in one place, and absolutely free.”
