According to serial entrepreneur Brian Requarth, despite all the uncertainties in the current venture capital market, the opportunities for early-stage startups are vast. The executive is the founder of real estate platform VivaReal, acquired by OLX Brasil, and his latest venture is Latitud, a company that helps build the next generation of startups in Latin America.
“There’s a lot of new entrepreneurs around, despite the crisis. The downturn in the market, especially with companies at a more advanced stage, is already forcing executives to launch new businesses,” said Requarth, in an interview with Startups.
According to the entrepreneur and investor, although Brazil is more advanced in terms of ecosystem maturity, a great opportunity lies in Mexico. This is where Requarth decided to relocate with his family after living in Colombia and Brazil and having spent the last five years in his homeland in California.
He believes the country where he is now based represents what Brazil used to be a few years ago regarding the startup ecosystem: a place with a lot of business potential. Around 25% of Latitud’s portfolio, including Castor, Clivi, and Kontempo, is based in Mexico.
Speaking of Latitud, the business seems to be doing very well. According to Requarth, the fund made over 90 investments in the last 18 months, practically a deal every week. “We want to be a reference to startup founders in their initial phase in Latin America. We will continue to scale our community and help remove barriers to creating tech companies in the region,” he said.
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The company’s most recent moves in this direction were a $1 million fundraising to founders and investors in the region. A few months earlier, the company launched Latitud Go, a division dedicated to helping Brazilian startup founders reduce bureaucracy in their relationship with international investment funds.
It’s all about business
Latitud’s initiatives to support startup development in the region include the first edition of the Vamos Latam Summit (VLS), an event that will take place in São Paulo on September 21. According to Requarth, the goal is to bring at least 1,100 people together, including founders, investors, and startup operators.
The event is being organized based on the experience that Requarth and Diego Simon, co-founder of VivaReal that also works at Latitud, had in organizing an event for the real estate market. The goal is to create opportunities for early-stage startups to build a business network, close deals and partnerships, and learn from other entrepreneurs. The list of speakers includes Mike Krieger (Instagram), Sergio Furio (Creditas), and Ingrid Barth (Linker).
“The event will be a must-go for international funds to expand connections,” emphasizes Requarth. One of the highlights will be SPOTLIGHT, where seven startups backed by Latitud will pitch their businesses to investors from all over the world, who can watch a live broadcast through this link.
According to Requarth, the idea is to take Vamos Latam Summit to other Latin American countries. The next edition lands in Mexico in March 2023 and then in Colombia.
(translation by Gabriela Del Carmen)
Photo credit: Latitud
