Regions

Regions
Colombia Fintech News

Colombian emeralds to make the case for receiving coveted ‘appellation of origin’ status

Colombia is seeking to bring the country’s emeralds within the coveted status of appellation of origin, a status conferred to products associated with unique territories like Italy’s parma ham and Grana Padano parmesan cheese. Cognac, champagne and darjeeling all belong to this exclusive club of products that are afforded a certain “heritage status” if accepted.

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Brazil News

Brazil is home to 33% of Latin America’s fintech companies

In the last 12 months, the number of fintech startups in Latin America has grown from 703 to 1,166, according to the Inter-American Bank of Development (BID) study “Fintech in Latin America: Growth and Consolidation.” Just five years ago, however, fintech was a relatively unknown concept in the region. But, thanks to rapid advances in technology

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Colombia Startups

#KnittingACountry: The startup selling knitted boots whilst making a social impact

At the age of 24, Linda Castro was diagnosed with an autoimmune genetic disorder called Graves’ disease whilst studying gastronomy at university. Aside from physically preventing her from ever being able to work another full-time job again, the disease also meant that she systematically lost her memory from time to time, sometimes a few days

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South America

Latin America could be “closing its veins” with a digital tax

Mexico and Chile are among a host of countries that may follow the European Union’s lead in playing hardball on taxes with big tech companies like Facebook, Alphabet, AirBnB, and Uber. In March, the EU proposed a “digital tax” that would affect the revenue of major digital companies like Facebook and Google. Inc, but the

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Brazil Mexico Startups

Amidst controversy, Bird electric scooters break into Latin America

Electric scooter startup Bird has announced its expansion to the continent of Latin America. Launched in the US in 2017, the company has raised a total of US $415M in funding over five rounds and, in September 2018, reached its 10 millionth ride. With scooters already available across the US and in several European cities,

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Brazil Startups

Could Bolsonaro’s victory inadvertently benefit the startup environment across Latin America?

Bolsonaro’s recent victory in the 2018 Brazil election is still on everyone’s mind. It has created an environment of uncertainty for companies of all sizes across the country, and while the country’s elite and companies like Banco de Santander have benefited from the buzz around the controversial elections, others are a bit skeptical of what

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Colombia Fintech Startups

Quickfire profiles: Agrapp’s plans to support small farmers amidst potential IVA increases for basic produce in Colombia

In this series we look to the graduates of Founder Institute’s Bogotá program. Among the many accelerator programs in Colombia, Founder Institute Bogotá was originally brought to the country by Alan Colmenares in 2009. The program is back after a five year hiatus, under a new director Mads Schmidt Peterson. As recent news rolls in

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Peru Startups

Reach is crowdsourcing street criminal incidents to reduce crime in Lima

Unfortunately, in Latin America and many other places around the world, robberies are a part of urban life. Moisés Salazar of Lima has been a victim of petty crime in the streets, which is what led him to create Reach. The application that markets itself as a kind of Waze for street crime alerts users through a

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Puerto Rico Startups

Parallel 18 startup Abartys Health on being the technology layer between provider and patient

Abartys Health was a part of Parallel 18’s class of 2016 in Puerto Rico and is now carving out a space in the American health insurance market. Lauren Cascio spoke to LATAM.tech about the startup’s goals of stemming losses within the system. “Giving patients access to their own healthcare is what we want to do.”

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Colombia Ecosystem Events

Colombian entrepreneurs set to meet their match at this year’s Unbound Miami Innovation Festival

Colombia’s most successful tech entrepreneurs will meet next week in Miami for the fifth annual Business Matchmaking Forum, taking place from 30-31 October. The event, called ‘Colombia: Bring it On’, hopes to connect over 120 entrepreneurs with buyers and investors and is organised by government trade bureau ProColombia alongside Unbound Miami Innovation Festival, a celebration

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