Category: Latin America Startups and Investing

Working for Tech Companies In Santiago, Chile

I get multiple emails per month from US and European tech workers who are interested in moving to Chile and want to know what the tech job market looks like. These emails have picked up in frequency both as the Chilean tech ecosystem has grown and as many tech workers explore more options for working abroad after 2016.

Chile’s tech ecosystem has grown by leaps and bounds since 2010, when startup Chile began seeding the Chilean tech ecosystem. Since then over 1700 companies have come to Chile, many of which have stayed and created a presence in Santiago. Additionally, more Chileans have started companies both for the local market and to attack the US market.

The most in demand workers are Ruby on Rails developers, UI/UX designers and online marketers, but there’s also significant demand for native english speaking sales people and customer success roles.

No matter where you work in Chile, you’ll almost for sure make less money than you would in the US. Tech salaries are lower, but so is cost of living. Getting a work visa is very easy; all you need is a job offer and you can get a one year temporary visa, a RUT government id number and everything you need to get started.

There are five options for expat tech workers who are looking for opportunities in Chile: (more…)

Mexico Venture Capital Overview

This post is the fourth in a series about Latin American venture capital ecosystems. Read the post on the Chilean Venture CapitalPeru Venture Capital, Colombia Venture CapitalHighlighting Latin American Startups. Hopefully it’s helpful. Let me know what I missed and got wrong!

Mexico is the most interesting startup ecosystem in Latin America. It’s interesting because:

  • Population (125m, Mexico City has more people than Chile)
  • Biggest Latin American economy leads to startups servicing local market
  • Proximity to the US leads to more global vision from entrepreneurs
  • US companies with their tech back offices in Mexico
  • US funds with presence in Mexico

There are three important cities for tech in Mexico, although there is activity in many other cities, too.

(more…)

Colombia Venture Capital Overview

This post is the third in a series about Latin American venture capital ecosystems. Read the post on the Chilean Venture Capital, Peru Venture CapitalHighlighting Latin American Startups. Hopefully it’s helpful. Thanks to Monica Avila from Magma and Andres Barreto from Social Atom for reviewing drafts of this post and improving it.

Private Investors

Social Atom Ventures – A $30m investment fund with offices in Medellin and Bogota. They invest into early stage companies that have their technology team in Latin America, but whose target market is the US. We’ve done two co-investments with them.

Torrenegra Labs – Accelerator and early stage investor based in Bogota. 20 investments. 5 exits.

Magma Partners – Monica Avila is our lead in Colombia. We plan to invest in 1-2 companies per year. Additional presence in Chile, Mexico, USA.

Axon – Late stage capital. Six investments.

(more…)

The Perfect Pullover: Empowering Bolivian Workers

If you’re looking for an off the beaten path gift this holiday season, check out these pullovers from the team at Virtu. Guillaume and Jason have been working out of our office in Santiago for the past few months while frequently traveling to Bolivia to get their project off the ground and launched a Kickstarter to get the first batch into production.

Not only are they making a great product, they’re also creating jobs that pay at least 30% more than average wages in Bolivia, a place that I’ve really enjoyed every time I’ve visited. I just backed them and can’t wait for my pullover!

Check out their video here, and then click through to Kickstarter to watch interviews with their Bolivian partners.

(more…)