Community – Ruta Startup

Pivots and Persistence

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.

Entrevista con Luis Narro, Director Ejecutivo de PECAP

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.

Peru’s startup opportunity (gap)

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.

Source: ALLVP Research – Write ajenkins@allvp.vc to help keep it updated.

New entrants

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.

20+ Startups accelerating through 2020

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.

PECAP First Half Report

The Peruvian Association of Seed and Venture Capital (PECAP) has published its first half report for 2020.

The key highlights are:

9 interviews with founders and investors in Peru

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.

¿Quieres ser parte del equipo Swiss EP?

El programa de emprendimiento Swiss EP tiene abierta la posición de Program Officer, una oportunidad muy importante para interactuar con el ecosistema de startups e innovación en el Perú y a nivel internacional.

Swiss EP ha venido apoyando al ecosistema de startups e innovación en el Perú desde el 2015. Durante este tiempo hemos trabajando con mas de 19 organizaciones en el Perú a las cuales hemos apoyado a través del conocimiento y experiencia de 50 expertos internacionales quienes han colaborado en desarrollar programas y/o proyectos de estas organizaciones y sus startups.

PVCS Masterclass: Preparando mi primera ronda de capital con inversionistas profesionales

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.

Towards a digital transformation of Peru

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.

Preparing for a new wave of startup founders in 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.

Haystack News fosters Peru’s tech talent

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.”

Impressive lineup for Peru Venture Capital Series

This year’s Peru Venture Capital Series highlights the breadth and depth of the venture capital industry in Peru.

The most important event for venture capital in Peru has teamed up with PECAP to put on the 2020 edition. The series will occur over a five day period in August and a diverse list of speakers has already been announced.

Startup founders are always the highlight of the event and this year Diego Olcese, Gonzalo Begazo, and Tatiana Guichard are already confirmed as speakers. More great founders are sure to particpate as well.

Logo of Perú Venture Capital Series (https://www.pecap.pe/pvcs2020)

The organizing commitee, led by Jaime Sotomayor, has done an impressive job of organizing a full agenda that includes keynotes, panels, and workshops on a wide variety of issues.

Check out the website to learn more and register!

6 recomendaciones para un ecosistema más diverso e inclusivo

Durante las últimas semanas, la muerte de George Floyd a manos de un policía en EE.UU ha devuelto a la actualidad el movimiento de la búsqueda por la igualdad de la población afroamericana, conocido como “Black Lives Matter” (BLM). A pesar de su origen en el activismo político, el colectivo que comenzó como un hashtag utilizado en redes sociales, hoy está consiguiendo cambios que van más allá y están permeando distintas industrias, entre ellas la de venture capital.

Ilustración de: Meg Robichaud – @megdraws

Fondos como SoftBank y Andreessen Horowitz han creado vehículos con la finalidad exclusiva de invertir en startups fundadas por afroamericanos y otras minorías. Hay firmas que han ido aún más lejos, publicando el make-up étnico de los founders en sus portafolios: por ejemplo, Initialized Capital reveló que el 7% de sus founders son afroamericanos, y un 9% son latinos. Sin embargo, estas minorías siguen subrepresentadas, ya que componen el 14% y el 20% de la población estadounidense, respectivamente, según la proyección al 2019 del US Census Bureau. Con el objetivo de resolver esta brecha, BLCK.VC, un grupo de inversionistas y emprendedores afroamericanos, lanzaron la campaña: “We won’t wait” .

Emerging tech hubs in LatAm

The startup ecosystem in Peru and other smaller markets in LatAm have come a long way over the last five years. We still have a long way to go. Maintaining support of entrepreneurs in Peru and other emerging tech hubs is vital to Latin America’s future.

Here is an article I published on the topic: Why support for Latin America’s early tech hubs is vital for the region.