1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Cristobal Perdomo of Jaguar Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What are some of the highlights of recent companies that have crossed $5 million in revenues?

Cristobal Perdomo: It’s hard to know the revenues unless you’re actually working with them. We’re starting to see more Series C investments that are over $10 million.

Sramana Mitra: How many Series C’s have happened in the last 12 months?

Cristobal Perdomo: I would say probably 25. 

Sramana Mitra: Great. Is there anything else that I should have asked you about to get a sense of Latin America right now? 

Cristobal Perdomo: People are starting to invest more money but they’re thinking about exits. That has always been a question you get from investors. I see more and more large funds investing across Latin America. You see a lot of secondary deals that are creating some liquidity in the market. You see that it’s a real investment and not just money on a paper. They’re moving at a higher velocity. 

Sramana Mitra: That’s very typical of emerging markets. I was quite closely involved in the beginning of the Indian market evolution since 2005. That market has accelerated greatly. The number of startups are definitely over 10,000.

There are a lot of investments flowing into the local markets. The local numbers of micro-VCs have improved. In general, it’s a much higher velocity market today. Latin America is not as far along but in the next five years, it’s going to move very well.

Cristobal Perdomo: In India, about $39 billion was invested last year. When you look at the number in Latin America, it’s $2 billion.

Sramana Mitra: India had a very large IT services industry. The population of people who are tech savvy, have grown up in the technology industry, and have great technical skills is very high. That’s the bulk of where technology entrepreneurship comes from. Latin America doesn’t have that, so it can’t move as fast.

Cristobal Perdomo: The other thing that I think is super important is that when you look at the large unicorns in India, there were some Indian investors related to those companies, and they made a lot of money. When you look at Latin America, all are funded by US or foreign investors.

When you speak with local investors, they still think about technology as very important to them and something they’d have to send to someone else. They don’t see that wealth creation.

Sramana Mitra: The founders made a lot of money in MercadoLibre.

Cristobal Perdomo: Yes, for the founders, but you don’t see any local investors.

Sramana Mitra: That’s a fair point. That’s partly true. There is a tremendous bridge between India and Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is very deeply connected to India. There are lots of Indians who have done very well in Silicon Valley.

They invest in India. They go back and forth all the time. Latin America just doesn’t have that kind of presence in the higher echelons of Silicon Valley.

Cristobal Perdomo: Definitely.

Sramana Mitra: The general momentum is building up. It’s just going to take a little longer. It was a pleasure talking with you. I’m very happy to hear more about what’s happening in Latin America.

I’ve always had a deep interest in Latin America. The first time I went to Argentina was in 1998. I spent an extensive amount of time in Argentina over the years. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 4 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Cristobal Perdomo of Jaguar Ventures
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