Colombia, from Juan Valdés to the great technological unicorns

Colombia is famous for its tropical forests, the Andes and the coffee plantations that the legendary Juan Valdés rides on his donkey. Even by drug traffickers and guerrillas. But something has been changing in recent times and it is not only thanks to Gustavo Petro, who comes from the center-left to the Presidency.

The country is chosen as home base of multiple Latin American unicorns. And this means high value-added exports that will add to those of crude oil, coffee, coal briquettes, gold and flowers.

Opening an operation in Colombia seems easy because of the foreign investment structures. Of course, one of the characteristics of unicorns, companies that exceed $ 1,000 million in market capitalization, is knowing how to manage these expectations. And two of those born in Argentina, such as Mercado Libre and Globant, which became decacorn to be valued at over 10,000 million dollars, are already there together with the nascent fintech Ualá, which has just bought the digital bank of the Eurnekian group.

In all cases they say that in Argentina they have waited one, ten years and still perceive that the macro stability is slow in coming. The result: to grow more outside.

In the Democracy and Development cycle organized by Clarione, Juan Martín de la Serna, CEO of Mercado Libre, said that the talent is concentrated in Argentina, that his main activity is Brazil but that in Colombia 1,200 jobs were opened.

His case is illustrative. Due to trucker blockades in the central market, they canceled the construction of a new warehouse. And until paralyzed an investment in their aircraft to guarantee deliveries in 24 hours such as those made in Brazil and Mexico.

Martín Migoya, founder of Globant, who solicited him “do not run the bow” He also pointed out that while Argentina had concentrated 70% of its talent on a global scale in previous years, today it has dropped to 20%.

Your brain hub moved to Colombia. Migoya attributed this to the fact that it is a country with 20 years followed by macroeconomic stability, something that does not seem threatened by Petro, who has appointed José Antonio Ocampo as Minister of the Economy, who will continue with the policy of Colombia a Silicon Valley.

According to a report by Endeavor and Glicso, “80% of Latin American unicorns have expanded to Mexico, Brazil and Colombia,” says Julia Bearzi, CEO of Endeavor Argentina.

In 2021 Colombia it had $ 1.6 billion in venture capital investments and, together with Brazil, it leads the highest rate of investment in start-ups in relation to GDP, with 0.52%. “In addition, it is geographically in the center of the continent, which makes it a strategic point for scale companies. According to the Institute of International Finance, Colombia’s real GDP has grown by 36% since 2012. In 2021 it grew by 10.6% and this year another 5.8% is estimated, “says Bearzi.

Obviously not all of them are roses. Inflation will reach 9.67% this year, the highest rate since 2000 and far from the 3% target.

Rappi, the application that connects users with drivers that can deliver almost anything, is its most dazzling unicorn along with Habi, which bases its operation on data and its own algorithm to speed up the buying and selling of homes.

The country starts from a good foundation. Between 2006 and 2019, Colombia climbed from 76th to 65th on the World Bank list for ease of doing business. It is only surpassed in Latin America by Mexico and Chile. Since the 1990s they have improved the legal framework for foreign investment and counted ten Free Trade Agreements. All a sign for technology companies, which without submerged capital, they are companies with wings and take flight to the best opportunity.