Here's a good sign:-)!
(COMTEX) B: Venture Capitalists Bullish On Latin America
B: Venture Capitalists Bullish On Latin America
Sep 13, 1999 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- NEW YORK -- The road map
for Internet investing in Latin America is following what has been done
in the Unites States, said two financiers with large stakes in nascent
Internet companies in the region.
Individually, the economies of the countries of Latin America may be
flat, but the region as a whole is attractive for investing in Internet
companies, said Susan Segal, general partner for Chase Capital Partners
Latin America group, a venture capital unit of the country's
second-largest bank.
"There is a whole revolution that StarMedia going public has created."
-- Susan Segal Chase Capital Partners The proof is in the success of
the Latin American portal StarMedia Network, said Segal. The New
York-based company, started in 1996, was nurtured on venture capital
from Chase and New York City-based Flatiron Partners. Starmedia went
public in May and is now worth over $2.5 billion. Chase's investment of
$29.5 million on StarMedia Network is now worth about $750 million.
"There is a whole revolution that StarMedia going public has created,"
said Segal. "All of the hopes and dreams of every little entrepreneur
(COMTEX) B: Venture Capitalists Bullish On Latin America
B: Venture Capitalists Bullish On Latin America
Sep 13, 1999 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- NEW YORK -- The road map
for Internet investing in Latin America is following what has been done
in the Unites States, said two financiers with large stakes in nascent
Internet companies in the region.
Individually, the economies of the countries of Latin America may be
flat, but the region as a whole is attractive for investing in Internet
companies, said Susan Segal, general partner for Chase Capital Partners
Latin America group, a venture capital unit of the country's
second-largest bank.
"There is a whole revolution that StarMedia going public has created."
-- Susan Segal Chase Capital Partners The proof is in the success of
the Latin American portal StarMedia Network, said Segal. The New
York-based company, started in 1996, was nurtured on venture capital
from Chase and New York City-based Flatiron Partners. Starmedia went
public in May and is now worth over $2.5 billion. Chase's investment of
$29.5 million on StarMedia Network is now worth about $750 million.
"There is a whole revolution that StarMedia going public has created,"
said Segal. "All of the hopes and dreams of every little entrepreneur
(COMTEX) B: Venture Capitalists Bullish On Latin America
B: Venture Capitalists Bullish On Latin America
Sep 13, 1999 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- NEW YORK -- The road map
for Internet investing in Latin America is following what has been done
in the Unites States, said two financiers with large stakes in nascent
Internet companies in the region.
Individually, the economies of the countries of Latin America may be
flat, but the region as a whole is attractive for investing in Internet
companies, said Susan Segal, general partner for Chase Capital Partners
Latin America group, a venture capital unit of the country's
second-largest bank.
"There is a whole revolution that StarMedia going public has created."
-- Susan Segal Chase Capital Partners The proof is in the success of
the Latin American portal StarMedia Network, said Segal. The New
York-based company, started in 1996, was nurtured on venture capital
from Chase and New York City-based Flatiron Partners. Starmedia went
public in May and is now worth over $2.5 billion. Chase's investment of
$29.5 million on StarMedia Network is now worth about $750 million.
"There is a whole revolution that StarMedia going public has created,"
said Segal. "All of the hopes and dreams of every little entrepreneur
in Latin America, who never believed they could build anything that had
any real value and any liquidity, all of a sudden, every single one of
these little entrepreneurs says: 'I want to be like them.' "
Many of these entrepreneurs are writing business plans and sending them
to Flatiron or Chase Capital Partners. Fred Wilson, managing partner of
Flatiron, said he has seen at least 70 to 100 plans himself while Segal
said new plans are pouring into her e-mail.
The appeal of Internet entrepreneurship fits well with Latin America's
business culture, said Wilson.
"It's a society full of entrepreneurs and people who believe in
capitalism and the idea that if you work hard, you make money," Wilson
said. "Making money is not a crime in Latin America. In fact, it's a
passion."
Flatiron and Chase are following a pattern set in the development of
the Internet in the United States. After the build out of a portal
site, StarMedia, the two companies' venture capital is going into
content to fill out the online offerings.
On Friday, the two companies announced a $5.4 million investment in
Miami-based SportsYa, a Spanish-language online sports channel. The two
have also invested $7.4 million into Patagon.com, a financial
information channel also located in Miami. Chase also has an investment
in Viajo.com, a travel start-up.
"We are investing in places where people can buy things," said Wilson.
"It mirrors the successes in the U.S. What happened in the U.S. between
1995 and 1998, we are replicating in Latin America in 1998 to 2001."
Telephone lines and PCs are thinly distributed across Latin American
society, concentrated in the hands of the wealthy, but the financiers
are optimistic about the growth of the Internet, especially if pricing
models for computers and Internet access follows recent examples in the
United Kingdom and the United States.
"If the free access model comes to Latin America, all statistics are
blown to hell," said Segal.
Given broader access to the Internet, e-commerce becomes a very
attractive investment opportunity, said Segal. Suddenly, the Internet
brings Latin Americans commerce choices and information.
"It may be bigger opportunity than maybe even in the U.S.," she said.
The barriers to the growth of e-commerce would be in logistics,
payments, and customer service, she said.
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Copyright (C) 1999 CMP Media Inc.
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