FinTech -companies that combine finance and technology- are leading a global financial revolution. Product innovation, new distribution channels, greater speed and lower costs are improving financial services and making them available to the entire population.
Today, thanks to technology and FinTech, you can get funding in minutes, invest in real estate assets, access automated investment strategies, to name a few examples. In Uruguay, Millennials is an investment fund created to invest in startups in the fintech industry, which aims to add to this great movement that is growing worldwide. In this sense, Martín Larre, CEO of Sinergia Cowork and member of the Millennials investment committee, tells how this field arises, what is expected of it and in which sectors are the companies that are investing.
"At Millennials, our main objective is to invest in early stage startups in the fintech sector. We closed a first fund last month, with the first 3 startups in the investment portfolio," says Larre.
One of the fund's bets is Hipotecalo, a platform that acts as an intermediary for different strategic partners, linking those looking to invest with those who need a loan. The digital platform detects business opportunities of excellent quality and makes them available to its investors.
The second startup is Campo Mercado, which is responsible for connecting supply and demand of cattle between producers and producers with slaughterhouses. The big differentials are the lowest commission in the market - only 1.5% - the certification of the lots traded and the possibility of financing in the operation.
The last one is Descuenta Cheque, which is a technological platform that connects investors who have funds and wish to obtain a return, with people or companies that require liquidity through the backing of deferred checks.
"Our main challenge is to try to generate other investment opportunities for Uruguayans, who are culturally more traditional investors. That is why we have a group of advisors for these startups that provide support in the areas of accounting, legal, tax and business advice, as a way to mitigate risk," adds the CEO of Sinergia.
Incubadora Sinergia has participation in Millennials by providing its incubation methodology to the portfolio of companies that make up the fund.
Desde la Incubadora, enfatizan la importancia de desarrollar y educar al sector privado para que invierta en startups y conozca el sector. “El ecosistema emprendedor no solo está integrado por emprendedores, sino que tienen que convivir junto con inversores y gobierno para enriquecer todo el ecosistema”, destaca Paola Rapetti Directora Ejecutiva de Incubadora Sinergia.
The financial sector?
Specifically in the Fintech sector, the Sinergia Incubator tries to nucleate the four pillars in which the Fintech industry can have greater development: entrepreneurs, government (through the ANII), financial sector (alliance with Banco Itaú) and investors (through Millennials).
During 2016 Banco Itaú together with Incubadora Sinergia organized a Fintech hackathon, where more than 40 participants competed for a weekend with different business ideas under the premise of digitizing banking to improve customer service. The winner in that edition was "Banking-Bot", a virtual account executive created by the Kona team.
“Desde la Incubadora Sinergia llevamos 2 años y medio en el mercado desarrollando y articulando el ecosistema emprendedor en Uruguay. Hemos recibido postulaciones de 450 proyectos en 5 llamados, de los cuales seleccionamos 31 startups que fueron incubadas. En total hemos apoyado con más de 1.000.000 USD de inversión y se han generado más de 90 puestos de trabajo.” concluye la Directora Ejecutiva.
Call for start ups with innovative projects
Following the growth of the Fintech sector, the Incubadora Sinergia recently opened a call for startups in the field. The call is open until May 23rd, and those interested can apply at www.incubadorasinergia.com. In this program, those selected will have the option to receive a seed capital of $725,000 (Uruguayan pesos) provided by ANII, in addition to being part of the incubation program that includes mentoring, workshops, workshops and workspace at Sinergia WTC. The call is aimed at entrepreneurs with innovative projects, which have been validated and have a differential value, capacity for growth and impact generation in any Fintech category.
Source: El País
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