Opportunity for Startups
Alan Leite, CEO of Brazil-based StartupFarm, came to Seoul, Korea on March 24 to find innovative startups who want to enter the Latin American market. He is going to have business meetings with Korean startups and visit some business accelerators during his stay here.
Founded in 2010, StartupFarm, one of the leading private accelerators in Latin America, has the only accelerator partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs in Latin America. It is also one of the major partners with IBM and Visa. On top of that, StartupFarm is the only accelerator that runs Microsoft BizSpark Plus Program in Latin America.
The startup accelerator has so far accelerated 249 startups, which are worth US$1billion. It has been selected as one of the top 10 accelerators across the Latin America.
CEO Alan Leite has been interested in fast-growing innovative Korean startups and its ecosystem, particularly integrated with IT. He will try to find some Korean startups that would like to enter the Latin American market.
The company has a broad business network including many connections with distributors and retailers along with venture capitalists (VCs) in the network, which enables Korean startups, who are ready to sell their products or offer their services in the market right away, to benefit most. Emphasizing the importance of the Lain American market, Leite wants to connect Korean startups to their practical business partners in Latin America.
David Sehyeon Baek, Director of Global Cooperation at GCCEI, who invited the CEO of StartupFarm to Korea, said, “Last year, President of CCCA(Consider Canada CITY Alliance Inc.) introduced Alan to me in Quebec City, Canada during the International Conference. Since then, Alan and I have tried to find some ways for collaboration to help each other’s startups to enter their respective market. Since there are some Korean startups who really want to enter the Latin American market, Alan decided to come to Korea without any hesitation. For two days, the strictly-selected 11 Korean startups will have one-on-one business meetings with Alan and try to find some ways to make their strategies for entering the market. I’m sure we will be able to establish practical plans for Korean startups.”