BIG 8 of Start-Up Chile: They already have their 50 startups from the Build, Ignite and Growth programs
Start-Up Chile announced its selections for the acceleration program, where 44% are foreign, while those led by women are increasing.
50 startups were selected by Start-Up Chile, the public accelerator of Corfo, for their new BIG 8 generation. These were chosen from a total of 868 applications - open to everyone and all industries - to enter the acceleration program in its Build, Ignite, and Growth versions.
Of these, 44% correspond to foreign ventures, in line with the program's purpose of attracting projects from other countries that consider Chile as a development point for their businesses.
The countries of origin of the startups are Argentina, United States, Peru, Spain, India, France, Venezuela, Portugal, Mexico, Ghana, and Brazil, among which are: ComexSoft; NanoInGreen; VitaVox; Ecofrit; Matutto.com; Moffin; NoArk; Rippledesk.
Moreover, 14% corresponds to Chilean entrepreneurs living in regions outside the Metropolitan area, specifically, Valparaíso, O'Higgins, Ñuble, and La Araucanía, according to Start-Up Chile.
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FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE BIG 8.
In terms of female participation, 30% corresponds to projects led by women, which signifies a 4 percentage point increase compared to the previous generation. Among them are pinUp (marketing), Sotira (logistics), Spherebio (pharmaceutical), ELSA (Human Resources) and Speaknosis (health).
In addition, for the third consecutive time, gender parity was achieved in the Build program, focused on early-stage startups. This is one of the commitments of Start-Up Chile through its initiative Female Founder Factor, which seeks to provide special support for women in the innovation ecosystem. It also considers providing a higher percentage of co-financing for female entrepreneurs (90% in Ignite and 60% in Growth).
"After a long evaluation process, we are happy to have the 50 selected startups for our BIG 8 generation. As always, we are looking for projects that generate a positive impact in Chile and that can find in our country -and our acceleration program- a key point in the development of their businesses. In addition, we are very excited because among the chosen projects there are 14 Alumni, who have already gone through our program and who continue to trust us to support them in their growth," comments Javiera Araneda, acting manager of Start-Up Chile.
The total budget allocated for generation is $1.92 billion to be distributed among the startups entering the acceleration program in September. The funds provided are equity-free, that is, free of shareholding.
Projects and Industries: Build & Ignite.
There are 15 startups selected for the Build program, through which co-financing of $15 million is given to develop a functional product. In this group, are ComexSoft (retail), NanoInGreen (biotechnology), Kuido (health), MentorU and Entiendo (education).
is aimed at projects that already have a functional product and are seeking to achieve product-market fit, which are awarded a fund of $30 million. There are 22 selected this time, among which are Bulk (collection), Andesite (mining), Medplace (health), Ecofrit (consumer goods) and Duvify (real estate).
The most developed startups enter Growth, which seeks to support them in their expansion stage, capital raising, and team growth, and they are granted co-financing of $75 million. In this generation, 13 companies have been selected, which include Cheetrack (retail), Done Properly (biotechnology), Levannta (fintech), Lara AI (Human Resources), and EmbedX (IT tools).
Regarding the industries targeted by the projects, Health and Biotechnology, Human Resources and Productivity, Financial Services and Agriculture predominate.
