The eMerge Americas 2019 forum began today in Miami with the official announcement of a $5b venture capital fund focused on technology projects in Latin America. Investors commented on this news in recent months.
Gorordo emphasized that this investment is achieved thanks to a Latino, the Bolivian-American Marcelo Claure, chief operating officer of SoftBank, which “recognizes the tremendous opportunity it means for the entire Latin American world.”
This injection of capital will increase investment in Latin America, which was between $1,5b and $2b in 2018.
The required investment for a developing area
“Latin America has been hungry for capital,” said Paulo Passoni, an investment partner of Softbank Group International, who praised the “super high quality.”
Passoni was convinced that the region represents a “great opportunity to help companies develop.”
The “big cities” will be the priority of the investment because they are “prosperous, giant economies, where you can scale very quickly to help companies.”
As for the sectors to which this multimillion-dollar fund is directed, he pointed out that they will be those “that solve the problems for the average citizen: mobility, education, health, things in which the State often fails.”
Passoni mentioned as attractive countries for investment Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and especially Brazil.
The Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, also spoke at the opening of the forum. He spoke to the audience at the conference through a video from the Chinese wall.
Piñera, the first president to address this conference in its six editions, urged the region to “make a difference” and entrepreneurs pursue their “dreams.”