In the first half of 2022, Bogotá recorded a record $1.087 billion in capital raised by ventures based in the city, according to a recent analysis by the investment promotion agency Invest in Bogota.
According to the analysis, this would be the highest capital recorded compared to any other semester in the last seven years.
According to the agency, this US$1.087 billion corresponds to 70 investment operations equivalent to 80% of the transactions carried out by the country's entire entrepreneurship ecosystem in the first half of the year.
Contenidos relacionados
In addition, 25% of participation in the financing rounds during the period analyzed came from the United States, making it the country with the highest number of operations in the period analyzed, as mentioned by the executive director of Invest in Bogota, Isabella Muñoz.
"The talent and innovation of Bogotá's entrepreneurs have been some of the keys to the fact that, in the midst of a global panorama in which there are high levels of uncertainty, Bogotá's entrepreneurs have registered historic figures in capital raised," Muñoz pointed out.
With respect to the various sectors of entrepreneurship, the one that showed the best performance during the period analyzed was Proptech, which consists of the application of new technologies in the real estate and real estate market.
In this area, the most outstanding ventures were Habi, followed by La Haus, and Acasa, as these three companies carried out 4 of the 10 highest-value transactions during the six-month period on record.
In addition to Proptech, the most prominent subsectors in the Colombian entrepreneurship ecosystem in recent times have been Fintech and E-Commerce, as was revealed in the most recent edition of The Global Startup Ecosystem Report by Startup Genome.
In relation to the possibility of attracting new actors to this entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Colombian capital, Invest in Bogota is working on a platform that consolidates the services offered by the various actors in the city, both public and private.
Some of the international partners already participating in this investment opportunities initiative are the Oiko Credit fund, Newtopia VC, and Redwood Ventures, among others.
Regarding the investment offer in the country, Diego Noriega, managing partner of Newtopia VC, said that it is a very consolidated and attractive ecosystem for investors. "Bogotá has acceptable costs, lower than those in Brazil or Mexico for hiring talent. This is in addition a favorable policy and environment for entrepreneurship," he said.
For its part, the Colombian Private Equity Association (ColCapital) asserts that venture capital funds (also known as venture capital) are an essential part of the ecosystem, because they serve a business segment with great financing needs, such as entrepreneurship.
As a sample of the current scenario, 42 venture capital funds have made more than 138 investments in the country as of 2021, of which more than 40% were for projects developed in Bogotá.
