For Christine Kenna, partner of Ignia, this does not mean that Mexican capital has not participated in the funding of the great unicorns. In fact, he assures, they were the first to bet on these companies a few years ago; However, many of these firms do not have the resources and depth that international funds do, but their role has been key in the development of the unicorns and in putting the region on the map of large capitals.
“Certain international players came in and set the bar very high, they recognized talent and business models that are at the level of any similar type in the world, they put in high valuations and huge capital rounds, which allowed this expansion (of companies with potential to become a unicorn) ”, said Jerónimo Peralta, managing partner of Maquia Capital México, during his participation in the Expansión Summit 2021.
In the last five years, the venture capital industry, of venture capitalists in Latin America, grew 10 times, according to André Barrence, head of Google for Startups for Latin America, which means that at the same time the ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurs is also developing the ecosystem of investors.
Of course, this event was not something spontaneous or overnight, it was a process that is consolidating after 10 years of hard work by all the members of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, says Kenna, who points out that it has also been seen driven by a change in the mindset of the entrepreneur, changes in business models and a greater commitment to the digital world in the region, the latter point intensified by the pandemic. “What we thought was going to happen in 5 years, happened in 5 to 10 months, much of it was due to the pandemic but it was also because the ecosystem was ready,” said Kenna.