According to the latest report from Sling Hub, a data intelligence platform for these types of companies, fundraising fell 81% at an annual rate during May, and decreased 42% compared to the previous month. It is the worst volume of capital raising, by regional startups, since July 2020.
This “is a time when raising capital is not necessarily as easy as in 2021.” Investors are leaving aside the explosive model of startups and are now concentrating on companies that are going step by step, with a slower, but solid and sustainable growth, with an expansion of the client portfolio and generating more income, says Damaris Mendoza, partner of 500 Global Latam.
“We do not have infinite money (in the region) to continue investing all the time in companies with explosive models that consume a lot of capital, it abounds.” But, he points out that, despite the fact that Latin America has never been characterized as a pioneer in great technological advances, it is experiencing a key moment to make the most of the rise of Artificial Intelligence.
Superpowers for LA startups?
Ali is a Mexican startup that is part of the 18th generation of 500 Global Latam. Its CEO and co-founder, Andrés Girault, explained how this legaltech endowed lawyers in the region with “superpowers”, thanks to Artificial Intelligence.
In 2021, months after the explosion of fame of ChatGPT, Andrés and his partner, Diego Molina, tested version 3.0 of the chatbot and were left “stunned” by the potential it had to change the way he worked. , their bosses and colleagues.
This is how Ali was born, the platform that is responsible for the massive processing of documents, saving thousands of hours a year in searching, collecting and filing legal documents for lawyers and entire firms.
“There was a lot of talk about replacing lawyers”, but Ali “what he is passionate about is being able to assist” these professionals with the help of AI, so that they save time and can have dinner with their children, disconnect for a weekend , lower the incidence of burnout.
According to the 500 Global specialist, the idea is that the AI is applied in the correct way to “put steroids on what was already being built.”