By Narayan Ammachchi

Start-up accelerator Wayra and MercadoLibre have joined forces to fund and train early-stage technology entrepreneurs in Argentina. The e-commerce portal MercadoLibre said it would ‘co-invest in certain ventures’ selected by Wayra, a start-up accelerator from Spanish telecom giant Telefonica.

The agreement comes weeks after Wayra issued a call for young entrepreneurs to send in their applications for venture capital by May 26.  The e-commerce portal is likely to invest in companies capable of creating new applications and services to its community of buyers and sellers. MercadoLibre recently announced the launch of an investment fund of $ 10 million that will be entirely focused on new ventures that use their platforms.

According to analysts, MercadoLibre’s aim is to strengthen the e-commerce ecosystem in the region it operates. MercadoLibre is “an ideal partner for acceleration and internationalization of our companies,” said Andrew Sabol, Country …

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By Michael Puscar

Medellin – blessed with a beautiful natural landscape, friendly people and green parks – has seen incredible growth over the past two years. This city in Colombia is today one of the most innovative cities in the world. With abundant human talent and conducive business climate, Medellin is fast becoming a perfect destination for enterprises seeking to establish high-tech operations. The city has, over the years, transformed from the center of Latin American drug trade to a growing high-tech hub.

My firm, Yuxi Pacific Group, set up a satellite office in Medellin in early 2011. Over the past two years, we have recruited more than 80 employees and more than doubled our revenue.

Despite recent success, Medellin does have some problems. Country’s growing economy has benefitted the educated middle-class community, but people residing in hillside neighborhoods (called comunas) have …

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By Narayan Ammachchi

The Brazilian Ministry of Science & Technology is offering funding to overseas technology companies interested in developing innovative software and IT services inside Brazil – a move reminiscent of CORFO’s (Chile) creation of StartUp Chile launch several years ago.

The government has allocated 25 slots for foreign tech start-ups in its “Start-Up Brasil” accelerator program designed to foster innovation in Brazil’s software and information technology services industry.

“Shortlisted enterprises will be eligible for up to US$ 596,000 in funds,” said the Ministry in a statement.

‘Start-Up Brasil’ has a budget of US$ 19.8 million and aims to support 75 domestic companies besides their foreign counterparts.

“We want to encourage entrepreneurs in the area of information technology. This area is strategically important for us to develop new business for Brazil,” said Brazil’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Marco Antonio Raupp.

Participating companies are required to have been operational since the past three years and to develop …

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By Narayan Ammachchi

Chile received more than US$ 9 billion in foreign direct investment in the first quarter of this year, according to official figures released this week.

The FDI inflow increased 87 percent compared to $4.87 billion received in the previous three months. More than five billions dollars flowed into the country in March, the highest monthly foreign investment in the past 16 months, according to the Central Bank.

According to ECLAC, Chile received more than 30 billion USD in foreign direct investment in 2012, making it the second largest FDI recipient in the region after Brazil.

Last year, Latin America and the Caribbean set a record in foreign direct investment (FDI) (6.7% more than in 2011), despite  international conditions characterized by shrinking FDI flows worldwide.

Chile has also stepped up its investment elsewhere in the region. “Outward direct investment by LAC countries came …

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By James Bargent

For high street bookstores, squeezed by the explosion in e-books from one side and the dominance of online retailers like Amazon on the other, the death rattle has been sounding. However, for an enterprising pair of literature lovers backed by a nearshore software development team, the new digital age has instead been marked by the sound of opportunity.

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Capturing the systemic and noteworthy advancements in Mexico economics, IT and political leadership over recent months, Nearshore Americas today announces a special series of white papers that will be published in our pages over the next several months reporting on these newly arising market conditions.  

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By Ann All

For many residents of Mexico, it rankled when Latin America got only a passing mention in a debate on foreign policy held shortly before the 2012 U.S. presidential race. It was Republican candidate Mitt Romney, not eventual winner President Barack Obama, who brought up Latin America, saying the region offered a “huge opportunity” for the U.S.

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By Narayan Ammachchi

Launching a business in Chile is far easier today than it was a few days ago. The Southern Cone has inaugurated an online platform that allows anyone to start a business in a matter of hours and at zero cost.

If you are planning to start a business, all you need to do is: Fill up a form specifying the characteristics of your company, such as the names of partners, the line of business and the capital investment.

The platform will absorb the information and create a document that will then be sent to the Internal Revenue Service, which will issue a taxpayer ID number.

Once you have got hold of the ID number, you can set your business in motion.

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera inaugurated the platform last week. This system has in fact become popular in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada …

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Some of the best moments of Nearshore Nexus ’13 happened on the fly – during networking breaks, on the way to sessions, in hallways, at lunch or during our closing “Nexus After Dark” reception. Our team has gathered the best photos from those moments here in one album on our Facebook page – take a look and recall the great memories!

View Slideshow: Business Networking at Nearshore Nexus

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By Narayan Ammachchi

Analyst firm Fast Market Research has predicted that Brazil’s domestic IT spending will increase by 10 percent to reach US$ 11.80 billion by the end of 2013.

The key drivers of this growth are the international sporting events, FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, which the Latin American country is hosting in 2014 and 2016 respectively.

The sporting events will ‘drive billions of dollars of IT spending’, noted the research firm.

“Despite a slowdown in PC sales in 2012 and forecasts of a deceleration of economic growth in 2013, we believe a number of factors will converge to stimulate faster growth in the IT market in 2013,” said the analyst firm in a press release.

In the hardware market, the launch of Windows 8 and the arrival of higher performance price competitive tablets are expected to boost sales.

Interestingly, the analyst …

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