Wayra Hispam, the initiative of open innovation and corporate investment fund of Telefónica Movistar, made public the inclusion in its portfolio of the Colombian startup Celes, which is a platform that uses artificial intelligence and data analysis, utilizing information from businesses to improve their cash flow.
“Throughout the 12 years of Wayra in the region, we have made investments of around USD$20 million. Currently, our portfolio consists of more than 100 active startups, which have received investment from third parties totaling USD$620 million,” said Agustín Rotondo, managing director of Wayra Hispam.
The executive anticipated an investment of about USD$1.4 million in startups from Hispanic America during 2023, showing confidence in growth and increasing disbursements in the region.
This announcement was made in the context of the presentation of the results for 2022, where the success of a Chilean startup that has closely collaborated with the local subsidiary of the Spanish company was also highlighted.
This is Webdox, a startup focused on contract management and signing, which joined Wayra’s portfolio in 2018. José Manuel Jiménez, CEO and founder of the company, explained that thanks to the collaboration with the operator, they have managed more than 350,000 contracts in Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia, and will soon start operations in Brazil.
Webdox is one of the 49 startups that have received support since their inception in 2011, accumulating historical investments close to USD$4 million by the end of 2022.
Half of these supported digital initiatives (23) are still active in the portfolio, such as wherEX, Comunidad Feliz, Simpliroute, or Políglota.
During 2022, seven Chilean startups from the portfolio managed to raise investment rounds, totaling third-party financing above USD$15.5 million. Similarly, 15 startups actively collaborate with Movistar Chile, and, on the other hand, six Chilean startups collaborate with Movistar’s operations in the Hispanic America region.
“Chile is a very relevant country for Wayra, in fact, our hub in the country has been selected as the Corporate Venture Capital number one in the telecommunications industry, and one of the top 10 in the whole country (according to the CVC Chile 2023 ranking),” explained Agustín Rotondo.
