While many Latin American startups point to Silicon Valley when scaling their businesses globally, Miami is slowly emerging as the ideal destination for Latin American companies. This city on the Florida peninsula has claimed in recent years its right to be considered an international tech hub with events that bring together Latin American entrepreneurs with venture capital. And this year, Miami has sponsored some of the great technology players.
To begin with, Softbank chose Miami as the headquarters of its Latin American Fund earlier this year. Now, Google chose the metropolis as the venue for the end of its startup acceleration program, Launchpad. This acceleration program of Google’s mission is to boost the startup ecosystem by supporting specialists, research, and the most advanced technology.
TheVentureCity was the endpoint of an immersion trip for startups chosen by Google, which began in Mexico, continued in Argentina, and now ended in South Florida. TheVentureCity is a new acceleration model that helps entrepreneurs achieve a global impact, intending to make the entrepreneurial ecosystem more diverse, international, and accessible to fair capital.
In this last week of the Google acceleration program, the nine startups participating in the program met with the startups of TheVentureCity’s growth program. This occasion served as an opportunity to share experiences, get closer to each other, and grow. As part of an extra benefit for the startups of both programs, TheVentureCity invited venture capitalists from the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
The manager of Google Developers Paco Solsona said that it was a dream come true to make this program in Miami possible for startups throughout Latin America. “It is an unparalleled occasion to show the amazing work that developers and entrepreneurs carry out in the region,” said the executive.
For its part, the CEO and founder of TheVentureCity Laura González-Estéfani said that the initiative consolidates Miami as an epicenter of innovation and entrepreneurship by bringing together companies that think beyond borders. “We believe that talent is equitably distributed around the world, but the opportunities are not equitable,” González-Estéfani mentions in the event.
Launchpad Accelerator startups come from a wide variety of Latin American countries, including Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and El Salvador. The companies that graduated this week were: 123Seguro, Al Turing, Apli, DevF, Hugo, Jetty, Jüsto, Odd Industries, and TransparentBusiness. The participating companies in TheVentureCity are Qempo, Cashier, ComigoSaude, Digital Innovation One, TheFastMind, eMasters, Alba, 1Doc3, Stayfilm, and Erudit. For the organizers’ consideration, “this international group of startups represents the talent, diversity, and richness of the continent.”
The main benefit of choosing Miami to host this program is to diversify thinking in the American technological ecosystem and keep the most relevant stakeholders informed about the challenges facing startups in the region. This event is the second time that Google and TheVentureCity partner to support startups. Last March, they also held the first Google Developers Launchpad Start event, a one-week version of the acceleration program in Miami.