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Building the venture capital and private equity
industry in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Tags: outlooks, Public Offerings
In October, a special task force comprised of VCs, CEOs, investors and investment bankers issued a report citing a crisis in the US IPO market, particularly for new listings under $50m. I heard Kate Mitchell of Scale Ventures talk about the report at a meeting in Israel, and it got me thinking about the IPO market in Latin America. Read more
Tags: Deals, Exits, Fundraising, LAVCA, outlooks, Venture Capital
Next week in New York we will be hosting a record number of investors at the 2010 LAVCA Summit, just days after The Economist declared on its cover that Latin America is “Nobody’s Backyard”. Expectations for Latin America have perhaps never been more bullish, and managers with established track records are well positioned to market new funds to an expanding pool of global and regional LPs. Read more
Tags: Argentina, IT/Software, outlooks
A decade ago Argentina was at the forefront of Latin America’s internet bubble, and its entrepreneurs and start-up companies were making inroads into international markets with high-profile IPOs on the Nasdaq exchange. Today the country is successfully positioning itself as a global player in IT-related industries including software development, business process outsourcing, internet businesses (social networks, semantics web, marketplaces, etc.) and video games and online social gaming. Read more
The circuit of industry conferences geared up in April – LAVCA partnered in the annual meetings of the PE/VC associations in Brazil (ABVCAP) and Mexico (AMEXCAP), as well as at events in Costa Rica and Abu Dhabi and the IFC/EMPEA conference in Washington DC. Each venue presented an opportunity to highlight LAVCA’s 2009 industry data and the results of the 2010 Scorecard on the PE/VC Environment to a different audience of fund managers, investors and public officials, and to take the pulse of the industry. Read more
On December 16, 2009, the Americas Society/Council of the Americas hosted a panel covering the future of Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity (PE) in Latin America. Panelists discussed the outlook of the private equity and venture capital markets in Latin America through a comparative approach with other regions of the world, highlighting energy, infrastructure, agribusiness, and Brazil’s potential. The event was carried out in partnership with the Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA).
You can access LAVCA’s presentation here and the audio of the webinar here.
Tags: outlooks
In January and February over 120 PE and VC firms reported 2009 deal and fundraising activity to LAVCA for publication in our annual Yearbook (survey results will be made public in April).
Conversations with those fund managers have also pointed up fresh momentum on fundraising for Latin America in 2010 – one leading regional firm that has been in the market for six months describes a dramatic uptick in commitments from global LPs in the first eight weeks of the year. They have had to increase their original target for the fund and are set to close in late March.
Tags: outlooks, Venture Capital
Private equity and venture capital funds targeting young and high growth potential companies in Latin America are generating new opportunities for people between the ages of 18 and 30.
Tags: Institutional Investors, Member firms, Mexico, outlooks, Regulatory
One of the primary complaints within the private equity industry in Mexico in recent times has been the lack of participation of local sources of capital in institutional funds. The players you would typically see as limited partners in funds have either been legally restricted from investing or uninterested. In addition, the lack of local participants makes it harder for fund managers to raise capital from outside of Mexico since international investors wonder why local investors aren’t participating.
Tags: Brazil, IT/Software, outlooks
On an island off the coast of Southern Brazil is the resort town of Florianópolis. “Floropolis,” as it is nicknamed, has been called the Silicon Valley of Brazil—with beaches—and is one of the rising centers of technology innovation in Latin America.
Tags: Events, GPs, LAVCA, LPs, outlooks
Over 200 participants crowded into the ballroom at the University Club on September 21-22 for LAVCA’s 2009 Summit and Investor Roundtable – and a surprisingly large number of those in attendance were institutional investors sizing up the Latin America PE market with an eye to 2010 and beyond. U.S. and Canadian investors were represented by a cross section of endowments, foundations and public and private pension funds, while the appearance of the first Japanese LPs to attend a LAVCA gathering captured attention.
(c) 2010 Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA).