Contxto – Like an asteroid looming ominously in the distance, it is weird to think that a regional economic slowdown is a boon to anyone. And yet once you consider that a startup’s modus operandi is swift and disruptive, it all starts to make sense.
Take the behemoths of global construction, lumbering and enormous like dinosaurs. They might be impressive to look at, but they are the first to take a hit when the economic asteroid falls.
Meanwhile, the tech-savvy construction startups and scaleups that looked like mere rodents a little while ago now set forth into uncharted territory.
This was what Calidad Cloud—a Chilean construction cloud-computing company—seems to be up to, as it emerges from its native land and ventures north.
But first, one must look back even further into prehistory to truly grasp what is going on here. The year was 2019, and the heads of Calidad Cloud arrived in Mexico City to arrange their arrival. Their alliance with Tierra y Armonia—a local construction firm—resulted in their first incursion abroad.
Now, the company has plans to expand to Colombia and beyond. And, moreover, it has just sealed a deal with another Mexican company Arq&Rest, thus consolidating its hold in the country.
Becoming impact proof
Historically, the construction industry has been so linked to economic cycles that a fall in this sector is often seen as a red flag for economists. However, the ace that cloud-computing outfit like Calidad Cloud holds up its sleeve is that they have moved beyond bricks and mortar.
Rather, what this company provides is a cloud-computing software that helps manage, administer, and control the productivity of construction sites at every phase of a project. It then goes on to analyze the data it compiles so as to focus in and repeat best practices and avoid mistakes, all in real-time.
Then, there is another key factor that founders and startup-friendly countries must take into account. Government intervention, oft so frowned upon in Latin America and beyond, was key to Calidad Cloud’s expansion.
ProChile and CORFO (yes, I know, again with CORFO) were behind the construction company during its initial approaches into the Mexican economy.
Please take note, the rest of Latam.
-AG
