Contxto – The government of Peru has an initial PEN$63 million (nearly US$19 million) set to stimulate its startup scene. Specifically, Lima will use these funds to invest in innovative startups, as well as strengthen relevant institutions for its ecosystem, such as accelerators.
Rosmary Cornejo, Executive Coordinator for the government-funded program, Innóvate Perú, made the announcement this week.
A recap of government funding
As part of this announcement, Cornejo also disclosed the total amount of funding Lima channeled to its Innóvate Perú program in 2019. According to the government rep, a total of PEN$67 million (US$20.2 million) were directed towards 463 projects. All of which are related to innovation, tech entrepreneurship, and productive development.
She also emphasized that 12-year old Innóvate Perú throughout its existence has procured PEN$642,463,163 (over US$193 million) to entrepreneurial projects.
And upon closer inspection…
One can dissect multiple things from Cornejo’s 2020 announcement.
For starters, it was said that Innóvate Perú’s budget this year is for “the first phase.” Does that mean there are additional stages with more money to come?
Second, 2020’s initial budget is almost equal to what was used in total during 2019.
And third, governments being governments, I’m guessing it will increase its startup budget as the year progresses.
Following up to ensure survival
Now, some may argue that Peru is just throwing money at startups, but I’d disagree.
This is because Lima has steadily been building a funding program that covers every phase of a startup’s development.
On one hand, there’s Innóvate Perú which holds a yearly competition to provide seed funding for innovative project ideas as well as additional funding for startups that have already hit the market. Not to mention the country’s upcoming fund of funds plan to encourage private venture capital (VC) investments.
This is all for the sake of a more robust ecosystem.
And I say that so long as there’s follow-up with government programs, there’s hope these startups will prosper and scale. And, so long as resources aren’t wasted on bloated government bureaucracy.
-ML
