The raising of capital by Bogota’s startups continues to rise and equaled the levels recorded prior to the beginning of the pandemic. This is shown by figures analyzed by the investment promotion agency Invest in Bogota, according to which, in the first half of 2022, startups based in the country’s capital raised USD 1,087 million.
This figure is due to 70 investment operations, which corresponds to 80% of the transactions made by the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem of the country in the first half of the year and becomes the highest recorded compared to any other semester in the last 7 years. With this result, Bogota continues to ratify its position as Colombia’s leading capital of entrepreneurship and innovation.
“The talent and innovation of Bogota’s entrepreneurs have been some of the keys to the fact that, in the midst of a global scenario in which there are high degrees of uncertainty, Bogota’s startups have registered historic figures in capital raising”, assured the Executive Director of Invest in Bogota, Isabella Muñoz, who highlighted that the United States, with a 25% participation in the financing rounds, is the country with the highest number of operations in the period analyzed.
Proptech, the star sector
The figures analyzed by Invest in Bogota also show that the Proptech sector was the best performer in terms of capital raised in the first half of the year. The most outstanding venture was Habi, followed by La Haus and Acasa. Together, these three companies carried out 4 of the 10 highest value transactions during the semester.
According to the most recent edition of The Global Startup Ecosystem Report by Startup Genome, the strongest subsectors in the Colombian entrepreneurship ecosystem are Fintech, E-Commerce and Proptech.
New players in the ecosystem
As part of its action plan in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, Invest in Bogota is working on structuring and accompanying the services and financing route for local entrepreneurs. It is expected to have in the coming months a platform that consolidates the range of services offered by the various actors in the city, both public and private, available to entrepreneurship in its different stages of development. In addition, it is working to make the ventures visible to potential international investment vehicles, including accelerators, private equity funds and corporate funds.
As a result of this task, so far in 2022, the agency has accompanied the search for investment opportunities and has established relationships with international partners such as Oiko Credit, Newtopia VC, Redwood Ventures, K50, among others.
“Colombia has developed a very consolidated and consistent ecosystem that accompanies entrepreneurs and attracts investors. Acceptable costs, lower than in Brazil or Mexico for hiring talent, are added to a favorable policy and environment for entrepreneurship,” says Diego Noriega, Managing Partner of Newtopia VC, a fund that in less than a year has already invested in eight Colombian ventures.
The Colombian Private Equity Association -ColCapital- affirms that venture capital funds represent an essential part of the ecosystem, since they serve a business segment with great financing needs, such as entrepreneurship. 42 venture capital funds have made more than 138 investments in the country as of 2021, of which more than 40% were for projects developed in Bogota.
