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LATIN AMERICA • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER & INVESTMENT
Juliane Butty
JUNE 6, 2019
The 7th edition of the Seedstars World Tour , the largest early-stage startup competition for emerging markets, will be launched on the 27th of June in Lima, Peru.
Over the next six months, hundreds of the brightest seed-stage startups will have an opportunity to participate in local bootcamps and pitch competitions; with the chance to represent their country at the regional final that will take place during the Latam Summit on November 2019. The most promising ventures will then be selected to participate in the Seedstars Summit 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland and compete for the title of the Seedstars Global Winner. The participating teams will get a chance to pitch their idea on the main stage along with 60+ startups from all over the world and win up to USD 500 000 in equity investments.
This year, Seedstars is looking for technology-based startups with an MVP and a resilient and determined funding team that, to date, has raised less than USD 500 000 in investments.
In 2019, Seedstars will be traveling to more than 15 cities all over Latin America. Startups that meet the criteria mentioned above can apply for the competition in their city. The schedule of upcoming events:
According to a study from Singularity Hub, in emerging markets, the chance for the startups that have gone through a quality acceleration program (quality is defined by a program giving them access to an international network, funding, expert mentoring and proven methodology) could have 2-3 times higher chance of raising money than the ones that don’t take part in such programs (see the graph below).
After 6 years of operation, Seedstars has witnessed that talent is everywhere, but access to resources like funding, infrastructure and above all, entrepreneurial education and the relevant network is not. Seedstars believes that by working on developing quality deal flow in emerging markets, the funding will follow. Investors need more opportunities to invest, which will only result with a cultural shift in the ecosystem.
To increase its impact and democratise access to entrepreneurial education, Seedstars will accelerate the 3-8 most promising startups in each city with the aim to help founders reduce the time and energy required to fundraise. The major goal of the program is to get the startups investment ready.
The Seedstars team has created a framework to obtain quick and relevant scoring on more than 22 key points that the startups need to work on when scaling or preparing for fundraising. It will include subjects within the topics of team & culture, product & tech, revenue & tractions, financials for startups & fundraising. In the past 3 years, Seedstars has accelerated over 100 startups worldwide through methodologies focusing on product/market fit or growth. From all of the startups that have been through the Growth Program, 87% managed to raise a follow up round after their acceleration. The Investment Readiness Program has been tested with 4 batches in over 5 countries. It was launched for the first time in March, in Tanzania.
With the vision to give a voice to entrepreneurs in emerging markets and show the rising tech ecosystems in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Seedstars is launching, this year, a web series that will follow our traveling teams in selected countries to showcase the lives of entrepreneurs. Around 60 episodes will be filmed. A community mainly driven by millennials that connect offline but also online represents the target audience of this program.
What matters NOW: Startup referrals from investors, accelerators and serial entrepreneurs
As you might have noticed, a lot of new things will happen with Seedstars this year, globally and in the region, but as always, at the core of the initiative is the entrepreneur. That’s why we are calling the community to help us identify the brightest early-stage startups in Latin America.
“The last Seedstars World 2018 edition was won by the Argentinian startup Blended. We have the ambition to keep the world title in Latam and will work hard to source the most promising ventures! We hope that you share our ambitions and we would be happy to benefit from your help and valuable recommendations!”
Accelerator managers, investors, serial entrepreneurs, and any tech startup fans are welcome to share their recommendation with the Seedstars Latam team or email our Regional Manager for Latin America and the Carribean Juliane Butty at [email protected].
Note that the initiative is supported by a wide range of corporations, government, and investors. You can find more info here. If you are interested to discuss a sponsorship opportunity to source startups within your a given topic, connect with the relevant network or position your brand within the startup community, reach out to our Regional Manager Juliane Butty at [email protected]
