Contxto – Chile may make headlines because of its wave of socio-political unrest. But there’s more going on than your run-of-the-mill news sources will tell you. Four Chilean partners have come together to launch a new venture capital (VC) firm called WeBoost and startups, listen up, it’s got US$20 million under management.
WeBoost targets startups that want to scale at a regional level.
This VC aims to be in full funding operation by mid-2020.
Funding for startups looking to scale
Founders Marcelo Díaz Bowen, Cristián Velasco, Naim Jadué, and Christian Caffati have spotted startups in Chile and Latin America that show high growth potential.
And through WeBoost they want to provide these youngbloods the chance to accelerate and expand beyond the countries that witnessed their birth. In other words, scale regionally. As these startups become more attractive, they can eventually draw in more global investors.
To achieve this, they’ve developed a network and the WeBoost Expansion Process to help startups soft land into new markets.
Through this procedure, the VC wants to carry the burden of providing the contacts and network infrastructure of a target market to a scalable startup.
That way, entrepreneurs can solely focus on developing their business, and not invest precious resources into coming and going from one country to another.
Related article: Chile’s CORFO and ERA Global to launch soft landing for ambitious startups
Expansion process
WeBoost’s modus operandi basically consists of four steps. In the first, a startup preps for expansion by considering their process, financial, and legal structure. An international market analysis is also carried out. Potential markets are explored in the second phase.
By the third stage, a startup begins to set up its operations by deploying a local team in the new market. Relevant partnerships are also closed. And the process ends with the launch of operations in the new country.
Recent accelerator behavior
It’s interesting to see how emerging accelerator programs are adopting different approaches. For example, we saw the rise of Rampa Venture’s digital accelerator in December. Now there’s WeBoost that wants to soft land Latam startups by covering network infrastructure.
Related article: Rampa Ventures launches virtual accelerator to remotely ramp up your startup
The bottom line is these venture capital funds understand that launching into a new market costs a lot (finding cheap plane tickets is an art form) and entrepreneurs already have a lot on their plate.
-ML
