We dive into the escalating innovation wave in Latin America’s tech ecosystem. Argentine real estate developer IRSA unveils SHEFA, its venture capital firm financing promising startups in RetailTech, PropTech, and beyond. Meanwhile, El Salvador receives significant investment from the StartupBootcamp, targeting Bitcoin and tourism startups, while the DFINITY Foundation kickstarts AI development with a US$5 million bounty. We also touch upon the possibility of Bitcoin transactions being taxed in Colombia, and the impressive growth of Jeeves as it expands its corporate credit card service across borders.
- Argentina IRSA launches Corporate Venture Capital SHEFA. IRSA, the Argentine real estate developer, launched SHEFA, Corporate Venture Capital, which will finance startups focused on RetailTech and PropTech ideas, and other verticals such as Insurtech, Fintech, etc. In this way, startups are sought to promote the ecosystem of the IRSA brand, through improvements in their experiences, management efficiency and costs, as well as increased business. (El Ecosistema Startup)
- Accelerator came to El Salvador to invest millions in Bitcoin startups. The StartupBootcamp (SBC) funding program arrived in El Salvador with the idea of selecting 30 startups in the bitcoin and tourism industries, among others, to accelerate their growth. Joey Moreau, investment director of SBC, informed that the European firm, founded in Denmark in 2010, is now a global network of mentors, partners and investors that offers support to scale startups from different industries. (Criptonoticias)
- The DFINITY Foundation allocates $5 million dollars to Artificial Intelligence projects. The nonprofit DFINITY Foundation launches a $5 million bounty program to boost the development of Artificial Intelligence applications in blockchain. The program will fund the development of decentralized Artificial Intelligence (DeAI) that seeks to drive ICP Hub LATAM in Latin America. (Business Insider Mexico)
- Colombia may eventually levy new taxes on Bitcoin transactions. Since bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies are beginning to emerge as wealth generation mechanisms, it is foreseeable that, in the long term, Colombia will begin to charge new taxes on these digital assets. This was suggested by lawyer Jaime Enrique Gómez, member of the law firm Posse Herrera Ruiz, who participated this Tuesday, July 25, in a virtual panel of experts organized by the firm Valora Analitik. (Criptonoticias)
- Jeeves hits over $40M in annualized revenue as it expands beyond corporate credit cards. In September of 2021, Jeeves began offering corporate credit cards as its primary product — with a primary focus on Latin America — after participating in Y Combinator’s summer 2020 batch. By that 2021 launch, Jeeves was describing itself as the first “cross country, cross currency” expense management platform — serving businesses in North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. It had raised a total of $265 million in equity funding at a valuation of $2.1 billion. (TechCrunch)
