Bring IT on: 120 Colombian technology companies came to Miami, Florida,
to meet with potential clients and partners during the third edition of
the Colombian IT Business Matchmaking Forum.
Last month, Florida became Colombia’s new technology business hub, as 120 Colombian tech companies met with potential North American clients and partners during the third edition of the Colombian IT Business Matchmaking Forum.
“Colombia is the third largest provider of IT services in Latin America with more than 5,400 companies and record sales in 2015 close to $2.5 billion,” explained Luis German Restrepo, the director for ProColombia Miami. “The tech industry has established itself as an engine of economic development, with software and IT related services representing 1.19% of Colombia’s GDP.”
“Colombia is the third largest provider of IT services in Latin America with more than 5,400 companies and record sales in 2015 close to $2.5 billion,” explained Luis German Restrepo, the director for ProColombia Miami. “The tech industry has established itself as an engine of economic development, with software and IT related services representing 1.19% of Colombia’s GDP.”
At the Colombian IT Business Matchmaking Forum in Miami, 1,100 business meetings generated over $20 million in direct sales.
The event was held in Miami and organized by ProColombia, the country’s promotion government entity, attracted 48 buyers from the U.S., 18 from Canada, 15 from Mexico and one from Puerto Rico, as well as venture capital investors from New York, Texas, and South Florida. At the end of the 2-day marathon event, Colombian tech companies expect these 1,100 business meetings will result in over $20 million in direct sales.
Here are the 6 tech companies from that matchmaking event that caught the attention of Atherton Research analysts:
1. Brash 3D specializes in building augmented reality (AR) and virtuality reality applications and content. At the show, they’ve demonstrated how they could transform a standard piece paper or business card into a rich document with photos, video and links, using AR.
Here are the 6 tech companies from that matchmaking event that caught the attention of Atherton Research analysts:
1. Brash 3D specializes in building augmented reality (AR) and virtuality reality applications and content. At the show, they’ve demonstrated how they could transform a standard piece paper or business card into a rich document with photos, video and links, using AR.
2. PSL is a 530-engineer software outsourcing organization located in Colombia and Mexico, with over 30 years of experience and already generating 60% of its revenues in the U.S. PSL specializes in the deployment of agile-based, tailored IT services (software development, software team augmentation, QA services, software maintenance and DevOps deployments).
3. GreenSQA is a 13-year old software testing and quality assurance company (functional testing, app testing, test automation, agile testing, mobile testing, cloud testing, analytics), with 150 employees. They showed a cloud-based automatic software testing platform that uses idle-computers and/or smartphones to do the actual software testing.
4. Dexon Software is a profitable 70-person Colombian software developer, incorporated in Delaware in 2002, and currently operating in Miami, Mexico, Santiago and Bogota, competing with Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and SAP in the enterprise software market (Business Process Management and Business Intelligence). Dexon is looking to raise a $2 million seed round to accelerate global growth.
5. Visionar developed its own augmented reality (AR) platform to build quite amazing AR mobile applications for Volvo, Audi or Coca-Cola.
6. Panter is a 23-people creative agency that does custom developments of mobile apps (Bratz, Lalaloop…), websites and animations (2D, motion graphics) and is part of Codiscos, the largest record label in Colombia.
At the close of the event, I sat down with ProColombia’s president Felipe Jaramillo, for a quick overview of the South American country ambitions to become one of the main tech hub in Latin America.
Felipe Jaramillo is the newest president of ProColombia, the local government entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in Colombia
Entrepreneur Felipe Jaramillo is the newest president of ProColombia, the local government entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in Colombia
Atherton Research: What is ProColombia?
Felipe Jaramillo: ProColombia is the entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in Colombia. Through its national and international network of offices, it offers support and integral consultancy to clients through services or instruments aimed at facilitating design and execution of its globalization strategy, which seeks to generate, develop and close business opportunities.
3. GreenSQA is a 13-year old software testing and quality assurance company (functional testing, app testing, test automation, agile testing, mobile testing, cloud testing, analytics), with 150 employees. They showed a cloud-based automatic software testing platform that uses idle-computers and/or smartphones to do the actual software testing.
4. Dexon Software is a profitable 70-person Colombian software developer, incorporated in Delaware in 2002, and currently operating in Miami, Mexico, Santiago and Bogota, competing with Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and SAP in the enterprise software market (Business Process Management and Business Intelligence). Dexon is looking to raise a $2 million seed round to accelerate global growth.
5. Visionar developed its own augmented reality (AR) platform to build quite amazing AR mobile applications for Volvo, Audi or Coca-Cola.
6. Panter is a 23-people creative agency that does custom developments of mobile apps (Bratz, Lalaloop…), websites and animations (2D, motion graphics) and is part of Codiscos, the largest record label in Colombia.
At the close of the event, I sat down with ProColombia’s president Felipe Jaramillo, for a quick overview of the South American country ambitions to become one of the main tech hub in Latin America.
Felipe Jaramillo is the newest president of ProColombia, the local government entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in Colombia
Entrepreneur Felipe Jaramillo is the newest president of ProColombia, the local government entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in Colombia
Atherton Research: What is ProColombia?
Felipe Jaramillo: ProColombia is the entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in Colombia. Through its national and international network of offices, it offers support and integral consultancy to clients through services or instruments aimed at facilitating design and execution of its globalization strategy, which seeks to generate, develop and close business opportunities.
Atherton Research: What is ProColombia?
Felipe Jaramillo: ProColombia is the entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in Colombia. Through its national and international network of offices, it offers support and integral consultancy to clients through services or instruments aimed at facilitating design and execution of its globalization strategy, which seeks to generate, develop and close business opportunities.
AR: What was the key objectives of this matchmaking event?
FJ: The event aims to showcase Colombian suppliers on behalf of the “Colombia Bring IT on” campaign that began in 2014. This two-day event offers a matchmaking forum to gather more than 100 Colombian IT and digital content companies looking to expand and grow their international presence and over 80 buyers from Mexico, Canada and the U.S., including academic sessions with top industry leaders and more than 1,000 business meetings. The event is expected to reach sales of more than $20 million.
AR: What are the key things to know about the technology market in Colombia, and its growth?
FJ: Colombia is the third largest provider of technology services (IT) in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico with $2.5 billion in revenue. Today, more investors and companies – especially from the U.S. -are looking at Colombia as a technological hub for Latin America and a strategic partner for IT development. From 2009 to 2016, ProColombia supported 58 foreign investment projects in the Colombian tech sector, for a total of $680 million, mostly from the U.S. and Spain, and generating more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. With over 5,000 vibrant tech companies, a skilled workforce of more than 1.2 million professionals in the financial and services industry, proximity with the U.S. (Bogota is in the Central time zone and less than 4 hours from Miami), Colombia is clearly becoming the natural smart destination for U.S. tech companies to expand their development capabilities as well as their business in the region.
Author: Jean Baptiste is a Principal Analyst at Atherton Technology Research Group which provides research and strategic advice to FORBES Global 2000 companies.
Felipe Jaramillo: ProColombia is the entity that promotes international tourism, foreign investment and non-traditional exports in Colombia. Through its national and international network of offices, it offers support and integral consultancy to clients through services or instruments aimed at facilitating design and execution of its globalization strategy, which seeks to generate, develop and close business opportunities.
AR: What was the key objectives of this matchmaking event?
FJ: The event aims to showcase Colombian suppliers on behalf of the “Colombia Bring IT on” campaign that began in 2014. This two-day event offers a matchmaking forum to gather more than 100 Colombian IT and digital content companies looking to expand and grow their international presence and over 80 buyers from Mexico, Canada and the U.S., including academic sessions with top industry leaders and more than 1,000 business meetings. The event is expected to reach sales of more than $20 million.
AR: What are the key things to know about the technology market in Colombia, and its growth?
FJ: Colombia is the third largest provider of technology services (IT) in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico with $2.5 billion in revenue. Today, more investors and companies – especially from the U.S. -are looking at Colombia as a technological hub for Latin America and a strategic partner for IT development. From 2009 to 2016, ProColombia supported 58 foreign investment projects in the Colombian tech sector, for a total of $680 million, mostly from the U.S. and Spain, and generating more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. With over 5,000 vibrant tech companies, a skilled workforce of more than 1.2 million professionals in the financial and services industry, proximity with the U.S. (Bogota is in the Central time zone and less than 4 hours from Miami), Colombia is clearly becoming the natural smart destination for U.S. tech companies to expand their development capabilities as well as their business in the region.
Author: Jean Baptiste is a Principal Analyst at Atherton Technology Research Group which provides research and strategic advice to FORBES Global 2000 companies.
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