Bolivia is putting its still nascent startup ecosystem on the map

Bolivian startups have already gained access to international programs and competitions such as Start-up Chile, WeXchange, Cliq Nexus, Xcala, GEN, and the Incae Entrepreneur Award, and one of them has even been recognized by the IDB.

Receiving a deck from a startup in her country changed the vision and life of Bolivian Viviana Angulo. Four years ago, she managed investments in Latin America for the Canadian financier dedicated to startups and venture capital, Valhalla Private Capital, in Peru.

But when she read the deck of UltraCasas, a Bolivian real estate marketplace, she reflected on the need for Bolivia to position itself on the investors’ map and strengthen its entrepreneurial ecosystem.

After some thought, Viviana decided to return to Bolivia and help strengthen its entrepreneurial ecosystem. In 2019 she started building Bolivia’s first accelerator based on an international and entrepreneurial collaborative model. Today, Pista 8 is the country’s benchmark accelerator at the international level.

“I called other international accelerators, my friends in other countries, and proposed to them to put something together in Bolivia. But no one was going to put money into a startup fund when there are no startups,” recalls Angulo.

After knocking on several doors, Angulo managed to make some synergies. The company La Papelera was one of the first to bet on the country’s first accelerator. Oliver von Bergen, its CEO, recalls that at the beginning, there were eight founders from different companies and, coincidentally, eight startups, hence the name Pista 8.

Pista 8 also had the support of Marta Cruz, managing partner of NXTP Ventures. “Developing an ecosystem through adding value to hundreds and hundreds of new entrepreneurs can only be achieved with conviction and pursuing a clear purpose. I am sure that this virtuous circle initiated by Pista 8 with Viviana’s leadership has no end,” she says.

Together they have managed to reduce the gaps in knowledge transmission and have helped generate better conditions for Bolivian entrepreneurs, whose work has proven to be at the height of the international market, allowing startups such as tuGerente, EnviosPet, and Minkedu, to mention a few, to enter international programs and raise funding.

Startups in Bolivia had no support, even though it is the birthplace of Marcelo Claure, former COO of SoftBank, the Japanese bank that has catapulted several Latin startups to unicorn status with valuations over US$1 billion.

But the story has changed. According to the Mapping of the Digital Technology Ecosystem in Bolivia, 2021, there are currently 155 startups and eight technology-based accelerators, such as Pista 8. And along the way, “the international community has embraced us with its know-how,” says Angulo.

Today Bolivian startups have already gained access to international programs and competitions such as Start-up Chile, WeXchange, Cliq Nexus, Xcala, GEN, and the Incae Entrepreneur Award, and the IDB has even recognized one.

And UltraCasas, the deck that changed the course of other startups, is now the Bolivian startup with the highest valuation: US$21 million. And it obtained an investment from IDB Lab, which allowed it to partner with at least 18 financial institutions in Bolivia and Brazil for its lending arm.

PUTTING BOLIVIA ON THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MAP

Unlike other countries in the region, Bolivia has just embarked on scalable entrepreneurship as a sector that can boost the economy. The most relevant efforts to identify the most mature talent and empower it come from accelerators that seek to connect Bolivia with the world of international knowledge.

Angulo observed that there were many more opportunities in other countries than in Bolivia and reflected on the opportunity to activate the entrepreneurial ecosystem. “I connected with my purpose and wanted to help the talent in my country that didn’t have the spaces in other places.”

While there were a lot of grants and funding for the base of the pyramid in Bolivia, there was an absence of attention and understanding of who the Bolivian entrepreneurial profile is.

Angulo wondered, “what happens to this entrepreneur who burns their heart out studying, who risks their own capital to develop a venture? What happens to this talent capable of developing innovation and new work formats?”

Today Pista 8 receives startups that solve diverse problems in their country. The verticals that are applied in its most current acceleration process are new ways of working (20%), health (15%), solutions for women (14%), mobility (11%), education (11%), food and agriculture (10%), green projects (10%), and finance (9%).

What Pista 8 does is “give a boost to businesses, you basically give them education, contacts and you order their business well, also the name Pista 8, comes from the fact that it is a runway,” explains von Bergen. And being involved in this nascent ecosystem has helped Bolivian entrepreneurs to get angel investors.

Although Bolivia is just beginning to roll out specialized venture capital investments, 43% of startups have secured some funding, either from programs and awards or individual investors.

Today in the country, there is a sustained activity of hub managers such as accelerators, angel investor networks, and business synergies that promote cross innovation; in turn, Bolivian startups such as Ultra, Yaigo, Koban (which received the largest seed stage investment in the history of Bolivia), among others, make visible this ecosystemic maturity by attracting funding from international funds.

The representation of Bolivian startups in pitch sessions, the participation of funds that already invest in Bolivia, and the inclusion of BOCAP as the country’s Venture Capital Association during the LatAm VC Summit 2022, demonstrated that Bolivia is already on the regional map of entrepreneurship and venture capital.

Pista 8 was also created to give back to society and the country. Von Bergen assures that “it is not the States that are responsible for moving countries forward, but private initiative, so that is where this mantra of entrepreneurship and giving back to society comes from. And this vision of generating a platform where we try to make our economies more complex and generate new companies that generate employment”.

According to Pista 8’s evaluation, conducted in May 2022, the 23 startups who graduated in 3 years created 422 jobs, 221 direct and 201 indirect.

The results have become tangible at the international level, where in 3 years, Bolivia has climbed 13 positions in the Global Innovation Index, moving from 117th place in 2018 to 104th place in 2021.

In addition, the first Bolivian startup accelerator was started by a woman, which is why the gender focus in Pista 8 was implemented by requiring at least one woman to be part of the applicant teams.

While in 2019, only 20% of the applicant teams had a woman in their team, in 2022, 87% of the applicants integrated at least one woman. So far, 125 women have been integrated into the startup workspace in Bolivia.

PISTA 8 AND THE TAKE-OFF OF BOLIVIAN STARTUPS

The startup ecosystem in Bolivia is still in a nascent phase. However, there are already several startups in the country that are beginning their international expansion, the first investment funds are emerging, and there are more and more people applying to work in startups, Francisco Javier Roman Roig, co-founder of the finance and inventory startup, tuGerente, tells Bloomberg Línea.

The startup tuGerente was created for small and medium-sized companies in Latin America to manage their cash flows and inventory in a simplified and efficient way.

It started four years ago after the founders had experienced the problem firsthand, working in companies that were acquiring customized software that did not work as a standardized and simple-to-use solution and had very high costs and no updates.

They saw the problem even bigger, as many companies still managed their finances in spreadsheets.

TuGerente was part of the Pista 8 acceleration process. Roman shares that the program structure and the different modules’ mentors helped them reinforce several aspects concerning our user and customer journey understanding.

“We really liked being able to share with startups from other cities in Bolivia, getting to know them on other levels, something that at that time was not so common,” acknowledged the entrepreneur.

Andres Quisbert, the founder of the online learning platform, Minkedu, agrees that the Pista 8 process helped them to validate the product market fit and to prepare for raising capital, and now we are looking to grow at an international level”. So far, it has raised US$45,500 from Startup Chile.

Among tuGerente’s achievements is that it was chosen as the best startup in Bolivia. So far, it has participated in various prestigious acceleration programs and raised two rounds of capital, one of them being one of Bolivia’s first rounds of financing.

Quisbert says that Pista 8 connected them with the Latin American ecosystem. “As founders, we know that we compete at a regional level, and with Pista 8, we achieved that exposure from Bolivia.”

“The present is very encouraging; there is greater sophistication from local investors and better-prepared teams to grow faster,” adds Roman, whose startup was recently recognized by the IDB for winning WeXchange from the IDB Lab.

After four years of work, Angulo is sure of one thing: “Bolivia is already on the map of Latin American entrepreneurship”.

With information from Bloomberg

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error

LatAm Markets: Live Signals → — real-time movers, turnover leaders and FX across Latin America.