Jaime Cater: The importance of the entrepreneur,
Venture Capital Conference | Monterrey, Mexico
The conference was splendidly organized by Paul Ahlstrom and Rogelio de los Santos, from Alta Growth together with the Tecnológico de Monterrey and the US Department of State.
The theme of the conference was The Awakening of the Venture Capital Industry in Mexico. The title is appropriate because after many years in which funds, investors and pioneering entrepreneurs have been investing money and making transactions and throughout which the government has promoted legislation and initiatives that have been improving the legal and regulatory environment, the experts Those who spoke at the conference agree that in Mexico an enabling ecosystem is beginning to be created for the venture capital or entrepreneurial capital industry to really take off.
Among other panels, one was dedicated to presentations by entrepreneurs. Below is a brief and incomplete summary of some presenters.
ENTREPRENEURS EXPOSE
• Christian Cota, a Mexican design company – has been very successful in the highly competitive world of the New York catwalks and has managed to dress celebrities on the red carpet. He is looking for $3 million in exchange for 15% of the company. So far it has been financed with friends, family & fools.
• Javier Acuña, from Conexifarma – develops technology for the pharmaceutical industry, and is seeking 1.5 million dollars in exchange for 25% of his company. Conexifarma aims to bring doctors, laboratories, pharmacies and the end customer closer through an electronic discount coupon.
• Mauricio Lozano, from Dimtec – develops solutions for audio and video transmission over the Internet, taking advantage of the extremely expensive and inefficient broadband service in Mexico, courtesy of the Telmex monopoly. Dimtec has obtained financing from Conacyt and Nafinsa and is seeking 20 million pesos. He did not reveal the company's valuation or to the express question of KapitalPrivado.
• Jorge Soto, from Eflyer – develops mobile applications for advertising and communication. He has an application for citizens to report minor crimes and damage to the local government via his cell phone. During a test period in Guerrero, more than 60,000 messages were sent. He is seeking $750,000 and also did not disclose the valuation of his company.
• Juan Carlos Ramírez chairs the company Futuro e Innovación Tecnológica – which is in the market for providing technological infrastructure and software as a service. Through cloud computing and other technologies he carries out a virtualization of the technological infrastructure. He is seeking $2.5 million for 50% of his company.
• Jaime Cater Gutiérrez, from Health Digital Systems (HDS) – has developed and implemented an electronic clinical record in various states of the republic. He sold $11 million in 2009 and has a backlog that will allow him to far exceed that number in 2010. He is seeking $10 million for 30% of the company's shares.
EXPORTS AND THEIR ROLE
Ro Khanna of the US Department of Commerce, who was introduced by Bruce Williamson, the US consul general in Monterey, said Monterey reminded him of Silicon Valley.
He then explained President Obama's vision of foreign trade: his goal is to double US exports in five years and thereby create two million jobs. He gave an interesting fact that contrasts with the great foreign trade activity that Mexico has: in the US only 5% of companies export and foreign sales only represent around 12% of GDP. In this matter, Mexico and Canada play a fundamental role since they are the main markets for US exports.