Parallel18-Puerto Rico-Startups-VC
Parallel18, the entrepreneurship pillar of the Trust for Science, Technology, and Research of Puerto Rico (FCTIPR), announced yesterday the results of its 2022 Impact Report on its new podcast.
The report highlights the successes of pre-acceleration programs for local companies (pre18) and acceleration for international companies (P18), involving 35 companies in 2022. In that period, USD $1.5M was distributed in grants, increasing the money awarded to each startup by 275% compared to previous years.
The companies’ total valuation in both programs reached USD $68.9M. Additionally, the eight companies of Generation X of P18 raised USD $961,000, while the 27 companies of Generation 4 of pre18 obtained $2.3M in capital.
The podcast, moderated by Lissa Barreras and featuring organization leaders, also highlighted the success stories of graduate companies, such as The Live Green Co., RainCoat, and Red Atlas.
Parallel18 Ventures, a subprogram that assists startups in creating investment strategies, has 34 companies in its portfolio, raising USD $49M in capital. Similarly, the corporate innovation program, Parallel18 Connect, reported 30 business connections and six corporate events to benefit the companies.
Ing. Lucy Crespo of the FCTIPR expressed her pride in the results and stressed the importance of these achievements for the economic development of Puerto Rico. Plans were also announced for an innovation center, the Forward Center, with a unique virtual reality lab in Puerto Rico.
Parallel18 has graduated 161 companies in pre18 and 256 ventures in P18, thus supporting Puerto Rico’s potential as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. The organization continues to work on Gen. 11 of P18.
The news comes with a touch of hope at a time when investment funds have decreased their deals around the world and when Latin America is becoming a significant global player. However, raising capital in the face of recent inflation is challenging startups. After 2021, a record year for venture capital investment in Latin America, where USD$15.9 billion was raised, according to data from the Latin American Private Equity Association (LAVCA) – there have been some adjustments in valuations, and there is more caution on the part of venture capital investors. In 2022, only USD$7.8 billion was raised, which is 50.9% less than the previous year.
