For the purpose of creating sustainable business models and turning ideas into viable startups to launch on the market, a Business Incubator focused 100% on blockchain and crypto assets was born in Chile. Initiative by the Colledge Academy and Fundación Celo. This was reported to Cointelegraph en Español in a statement.
Colledge is a Hispanic initiative whose purpose is “Build an Internet of value and the development of the blockchain and cryptoactive industry in the world through the training of new talents in these technologies and web3”.
After 18 weeks marked by mentorships, pitches and presentations, the cryptotechnology business acceleration program culminated its first business batch with 6 finalist ideas with projections of going out to the regional market. Cross-Border Payment Apps, Real Estate Investing, DeFi Platforms, Content Management with NFTs, and a Metaverse Game Become the Accelerated Startups.
The project has the support of leading global companies such as Amazon Web Services, among others.
In the statement they shared that: “The project is carried out in order to contribute and promote an entrepreneurial ecosystem around blockchain and cryptocurrencies, under a process that allows startups to develop business models that allow them to have medium-term economic viability and the development of a fast and highly scalable minimum viable product (MVP)”.
They made their opinion known by saying, “In recent times, Latin America has been the protagonist of important investments by venture capital funds, with 2021 being a record year in terms of investment, with around 20 billion dollars in technology-based companies, both in the initial phase as in advanced stage, representing an increase of 320% compared to previous years. If we add to this the disruption of the digital economy and cryptocurrencies, where the region has a very strong potential market with more than 35 million users who use the technology, with a growth projection of 100 million in the next 3 years, Latin America can become a global innovation hub around blockchain and cryptocurrencies”.
In your first batch, the program pre-selected 12 projects, among more than 70 proposals that came to evaluation, in order to define six finalists. They participated in instances of mentoring, training and consulting by a team of international mentors, since they have experience in the development of blockchain startups in the region. All this with the aim of accelerating its development process and taking an important part of this growing market. Among the team of mentors are professionals from different technology companiessuch as Platzi, Bloinx, Mastercard, Ucamp, Valora, among others, who worked together with blockchain advisors and Solidity Developer.
On September 30, the six finalist initiatives had the opportunity to present their projects in a Demoday before global investors, venture capital and business accelerators for their commercial implementation. The CEO of Colledge, Cristóbal Pereira, explains that the Latin American market has significant growth and development potential for technology companies, where many of these good ideas die at the beginning due to lack of support, advice and lack of knowledge on how to kick start .
Pereira shared: “We know the talent that exists in Chile and in the region, and we see in these types of instances important opportunities for economic growth for the continent. In this Demoday, 6 projects were presented with real opportunities to become regional startups, including being the next leaders in the development of this nascent regional ecosystem, but for this, we must not only believe in these talents, but also provide them with support, knowledge technician and guide them on how to develop a business plan, legal product design and web3 development”.
Regarding the finalist initiatives, Pereira pointed out that the program contemplated a selection process based on the value proposition, originality of the project, feasibility and identification of the problem. He stated that: “Throughout these 18 weeks, each of the participants worked with mentors to validate the project through sessions, specialized workshops and personalized consultations to promote and make their business idea a reality.”.
For her part, Alejandra Pacheco, Community & Acceleration Lead at Colledge, highlighted that: “We are sure that this initiative contributes to shaping and promoting the web3 startup ecosystem in Latin America, improving the fundraising capacity of participating startups and connecting entrepreneurs, mentors and investors to create new market opportunities.”.
The 6 startups that were presented seek to raise 2,171,000 dollars in total. For this, there are already investors interested in subscribing part of these capital raisings, which is expected to take place within the next few weeks.
ABOUT THE FINALISTS
B2B cross-border payment platform with low commissions and instant settlement times. “Our target market is small companies that pay suppliers or employees abroad, such as: agencies (design, development, call centers), freelancers, consultants or other professional services”.
A DeFi platform with a vesting agreement that ensures greater stability in the price of the token encouraging committed users who support financial decentralization.
project that seeks the union of two very important sectors such as real estate and web 3.0 technologyoffering alternatives for investment or purchase of real estate, through its platform.
An evolutionary space adventure MMO game, inspired by the great icons of science fiction and pop culture of the 80s and 90s. “Although cross-platform, it is heavily mobile-oriented, with a rich backstory and a sustainable game monetization system through raw materials.”.
DApp based on smart contracts, which manages DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) to support public goods projects. “Investors will use DAO-related membership tokens and activate services in DeFi, thus facilitating Financial Inclusion as these tokens will provide reputation-based collateral”.
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