> Brazil’s Senate approved US$750m in financing for renewable energy, provided by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
> Bluesmart crowdfunded a second successful Indiegogo campaign, raising over US$1.6m for its second edition smart luggage. Bluesmart investors include monashees+, Tsing Capital, and Endeavor Catalyst. READ LAVCA’s interview with co-founder and CEO Diego Saez Gil.
> CBInsights named Ipsum, a startup accelerated by Wayra Chile, the accelerator of Telefonica Open Future_, as one of 100+ startups transforming the global construction industry. Ipsum is founded by Franco Giaquinto
and provides project management software to clients in Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and Paraguay.
> Entrepreneur.com features Buenos Aires, Shanghai, and Tel Aviv, in: Silicon Valley? Try Silicon Worldwide.
> Motherboard looks at Quinto Andar and GetNinjas in: Local Apps Are Letting People Automate Brazil’s Notorious Bureaucracy.
> Gateway House: What do India and Argentina have in common? The parallels are becoming more apparent as both countries' ecosystems gain momentum.
> Bloomberg looks at the rise of surveillance tech in Brazil in: Ankle Bracelets Are Brazil's Newest Must-Have.
> NYTimes: As Others Pack, Some Millennials Commit to Puerto Rico
> Americas Quarterly: What's It Like to Be 18 in Latin America?
They are the first raised in a Latin America where the middle class outnumbers the poor. They are far more connected to the world via those ubiquitous smartphones – and have higher aspirations to match. About 84 percent of them believe they’ll reach their professional goals more easily than their parents did, according to a global survey by the Citi Foundation. No other region was more optimistic, the poll showed – not even Asia.
> The Atlantic: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?
I call them iGen. Born between 1995 and 2012, members of this generation are growing up with smartphones, have an Instagram account before they start high school, and do not remember a time before the internet.
> NYTimes: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business
While entrepreneurs and executives in the United States are fretting, other countries — including Mexico, Canada and China — are salivating over the Trump administration’s rumblings. Silicon Valley’s loss, they say, could be their gain.
> TechCrunch: The Chinese government’s crackdown on the internet continues with the news that Apple has removed all major VPN apps, which help internet users overcome the country’s censorship system, from the App Store in China.