> #IPO La Nación: El "unicornio" Despegar cotiza en Bolsa bajo la mirada de sus fundadores:
"El IPO es un medio para otras cosas. Pero cada uno tiene su sueño y para muchos ese es su momento de gloria. Para mí ese momento sería ver a la compañía grande y desde afuera, independiente de los fundadores. Es como un hijo: los padres están contentos cuando tomás las decisiones correctas."
— Roby Souvirón, Despegar co-founder
> #FINTECH TechCrunch looks at how Konfio, Kueski and Kubo.financiero are taking on “Mexico’s lending problem,” where 75 million people lack access to the kind of financial services and lending support that they would need to start a small business.
> Apertura interviews Auth0 founders Eugenio Pace and Matías Woloski on their trajectory from launching in 2013 to their US$30m round this year with Meritech Capital Partners. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Trinity Ventures, and K9 Ventures also participated.
> BusinessInsider: Chilean Based Crowdfunding Platform RedCapital Successfully Closes First Campaign.
> Tus viajes en Uber serán asegurados por Axa y Sura: Uber partnered with Axa and Sura to offer Uber drivers and riders in Mexico accident and theft insurance (at no cost to Uber drivers).
> Reuters: Mexico tech industry benefits from US anti-immigration stance:
Amazon, Facebook, Cisco and other US tech companies are expanding operations south of the border as Mexico works to capitalize on the Trump administration’s anti-immigration stance.
> Read why Amazon Web Services (AWS) opened offices in Bogotá and Santiago.
> Crunchbase News editor Alex Wilhelm says The US share of global early-stage capital dropped again:
Historically, Silicon Valley has served as the de facto hub for tech. But that is under assault from markets both domestic and abroad. Hotspots in China, India, Latin America, and Europe are showing increasing maturity and growth.
> The Guardian: Black and Latino representation in Silicon Valley has declined, study shows.
> Harvard Business Review: Startup Accelerators Have Become More Popular in Emerging Markets — and They’re Working:
We were surprised to find that emerging market ventures are typically older than startups applying to accelerator programs in high-income countries, are earning more revenue, and have hired more employees. Despite this, ventures in high-income countries attract roughly twice as much early stage investment as these promising emerging market ventures.
> Check out the 2016 LAVCA Accelerator Directory for a list of verified accelerators based in Latin America, and accelerators with specific programs dedicated to the region.
> CBInsights has some interesting data points comparing VC in global markets (LatAm was not included):
- Germany was the top region outside the US for raising a second round of funding. It also saw highest overall exit rate of all non-US regions.
- Chinese companies raised follow-on funding faster than all other regions. Chinese companies also raised significantly larger rounds.
- India saw the lowest rate of companies funded between the seed and Series A rounds. It was also the only region to see a decrease in median round size — median investment dropped from US$32m in round 4 to US$15.2m in round 5.
CHINA
> WSJ: Beijing Pushes for a Direct Hand in China’s Big Tech Firms, including Tencent, Weibo, and an Alibaba subsidiary. INTERESTING
> NYTimes: As US Confronts Internet’s Disruptions, China Feels Vindicated
> NYTimes: Facebook Faces a New World as Officials Rein In a Wild Web:
More than 50 countries have passed laws over the last five years to gain greater control over how their people use the web. China has blocked Facebook and Twitter since mid-2009, after an outbreak of ethnic rioting in the western part of the country. In recent years, similar barriers have gone up for Google services and other apps, like Line and Instagram….
Today, the overwhelming majority of Chinese citizens use local online services like Qihoo 360 and Sina Weibo. No American-made apps rank among China’s 50 most popular services, according to SAMPi, a market research firm.