The World Business Angel Investment Forum (WBAF) announced the establishment of the Latin America and Caribbean Trade Association for Business Angels (LACBAN), which will seek to facilitate access to financing for new companies.
The new trade association, which will be based in Mexico City, will be chaired by Marcus Dantus, a well-known Mexican angel investor, who will be supported by the leadership of Baybars Altunas, Executive Chairman of the WBAF.
Dantus, said in a statement that among his key challenges are closing capital gaps, encouraging stock exchanges to create more liquidity, engaging chambers of commerce to increase the number of angel investors, encouraging corporations to establish their own corporate companies.
All this to encourage cross-border investments and support business ecosystems, Dantus said.
LACBAN’s first objective is to obtain data to understand the full picture of early-stage venture capital markets, Altunas explained in an interview with Bloomberg Línea.
In addition, they seek to create an event on the importance of angel investors at the level of policy makers, businessmen and make the data more flexible to propose better policies to the governments of the region.
ANGEL INVESTORS FILL GAPS LEFT BY FUNDS
In moments of crisis in venture capital, angel investors are filling the space left by the investment of venture capital funds, these investors are willing to contribute time for mentoring and share their network with entrepreneurs, explained Altunas.
The formation of this association becomes more relevant now, in post-pandemic times, where especially small businesses are suffering financially.
“Now digital transformation and business transformation are very important not only for large companies, but also for small ones and digital transformation is not cheap,” Altunas said.
Altunas explained that in the Latin American region there is no association that serves as a network for angel investors, as is the case in Europe, the United States and Canada.
He added that under the umbrella of the WBAF, they have 1,400 members in 132 countries.
Statistics show that in recent years, 340,000 angel investors invested €9.6 billion in Europe, and 320,000 angel investors invested US$26 billion in the US and Canada.
LABCAN estimates that 400,000 angel investors in Latin America and the Caribbean invested more than US$10 million in start-ups last year.
This new association will be the global voice of early-stage equity and capital markets in the region.
The founders of this association believe that startups, together with angel investors, play a key role in facilitating the approval of the region, as well as contributing to the development and prosperity of the region.
These come from various countries in the region such as Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
The establishment of the association was agreed on October 25, 2022 at the World Congress of Angel Investors 2022 in Turkey, with the participation of founding members of the WBAF, Mexico, Chile, Guyana, Spain.
With information from Bloomberg