Category Archives: Featured Start-ups

Prezi Surpasses 30 Million Customers, Bolsters Business Capabilities

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Company Achieves 50% Growth in Last Six Months and Expands Executive Team

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Prezi, the zooming presentation software, announced today record growth and new capabilities to help business professionals land new clients, sell products and share ideas in a more memorable and engaging way. More than 30 million people across the globe are using Prezi. This growth represents a 50 percent increase over the last six months with more than 1.5 million new people joining the Prezi community every month. In Chile, the company has achieved 70% growth in the last six months.

“We are no longer in an era where one company controls the productivity market. People now have more tools than ever before to make them more effective at work,” said Peter Arvai, CEO and co-founder of Prezi. “Prezi adds value by helping people express their ideas in a more creative and strategic way.”
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Uber Santiago Launch Party at Osadia, January 2014

Uber Launches in Santiago!

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Sometimes, when I daydream about the future, I imagine escaping the public transportation madness of my city by making a private chauffeur in a shiny black car appear with the press of a button.

…And then I realize the future has already arrived.

This January 2014, Uber landed in Santiago! Uber is a mobile app-based platform that seamlessly eliminates the inefficiencies of taxicab services of which many of us are far too familiar. Instead of waiting by the side of the road for 20 minutes with your hand raised every time a car that appears to be a taxi passes (if it’s been an indulgent night out, this could include soliciting everything from horse-and-carriage to police vehicle), finally waving down a cab with a less-than-transparent pricing scheme, being dropped off at home while fumbling with your cash (why do NO taxis take credit cards?! We’re in the 21st century!), and finally exiting the vehicle after engaging in a 5-minute heated discussion with your driver about the appropriate tip amount, Uber has invented a better way. Thank God.

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Establishing Health 2.0 in Chile – Tech, Innovation, and the Doctors that Provide the Care

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Editors Note: This guest post comes courtesy of Michael Granados, one of the co-founders and Head of Product Design at Medko. Feel free to send your guest posts to [email protected].

As Santiago’s entrepreneurial hub continues to grow, thanks in large part to the efforts of Start-up Chile, more and more young companies in Latin America are revolutionizing one of society’s most import needs — healthcare. Continue reading →

OMG! launches first ever organic quinoa based protein

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Organic Meets Good (OMG!) was founded by Roni Gloger, a native Chilean who is passionate about travel, healthy living and superfoods. He relocated from Chile to Los Angeles, California, USA to launch OMG! in the $143 billion health food market. U.S. Organic food industry is expected to grow over 12% by 2014 (Source: Sustainable.org)

The company has been working on launching its new 100% organic and vegan protein powder with quinoa and hemp as its main ingredients. Made with all natural products, the combination of these core ingredients makes it easy to digest. It is the ideal complement to a vegan or vegetarian diet or people with intolerance to other sources of protein. It boasts natural sweeteners and is non-GMO, vegan, 100% organic, gluten free and allergen free.

Currently based in Culver City, California, USA, the OMG product line has negotiated distribution deals in retail health food stores and online at Amazon.com among others. Continue reading →

Classroom.tv educational platform gaining popularity in Latin America

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Classroom.tv, which was founded based on the idea to become a platform for self-learning, and to bring the best courses to students everywhere, takes big steps in Latin America.

“We have been able to engage with the best professors in this region. This has reinforced our belief that the future of education is online”, Eduardo Abeliuk, founder of Classroom.tv says.

Thousands of students have been actively using Classroom.tv’s platform.

The company has been quietly partnering and establishing pilot programs with different institutions in the continent, experiencing a 1000% increase in monthly traction, compared to last year.

The platform has already aggregated and indexed more than 1000 hours of exclusive content in Spanish, around topics such as math, physics, biology, economics, engineering, computer science, history, innovation and entrepreneurship, among others. And it has also expanded the communication systems among the community by offering school consultations, forums and internal messaging between users.

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Chile’s Innovation in the health startup space, No better place to be

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Editors’ Note: This guest post comes courtesy of Nick Kwan, Co-Founder of Medko. Feel free to send your guest posts to [email protected].

Chileans, Startup Chile entrepreneurs, Medko, and I, myself, have chosen a great time to be living in Santiago.

Motivated by President Piñera’s words, I feel like it is our duty as innovators to focus on fields that we are passionate about that can affect millions of people in a positive way. For us at Medko, it’s health.

Good news: Innovation knows no bounds.  Bad News: Innovation has enemies within the culture, especially the fear of failure. Chile must continue maintaining, and growing, innovation leadership in Latin America.  Time is our judge. – Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, at the LatAm Innovation Summit July 30, 2013

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Arriendas peer-to-peer car rental helps launch 230 entrepreneurs in Chile

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In 2012 Arriendas launched the first peer to peer car rental website in Latin America. The site generates an insurance policy and essentially allows an individual car owner to lease their car to Chilean residents and tourists. Over 200 car owners have registered their car for private rental and the company continues to show steady growth each week.

They are serving a huge need in Chile’s car rental market which is serving the ‘under banked’ (those unable to obtain credit through traditional financial sources). An individual in Chile can rent a car through Arriendas without a credit card whereas traditional car rental companies in Chile require both a credit card and a guarantee deposit.

Effective since June 7, 2013, as part of their continued efforts to support entrepreneurs throughout the country, the local Chilean government (City of Santiago) is allowing the general public to rent their car through the Arriendas.cl website and receive full coverage via BCI Insurance. The car owner must register and travel to the Arriendas office to survey and photograph any damage on the vehicle. They also need to show proof of ownership. Continue reading →

Samba Tech (Brazil) approaches 1 billion videos delivered online

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Brazil’s Samba Tech, a division of the Samba Group is quickly approaching 1 billion videos delivered online. Samba Tech’s platform focuses on 3 primary solutions: Live Streaming, Distance Learning and Web TV.

Originally founded in 2004 as a mobile games reseller, Samba Tech decided to shift their company focus to ‘digital communication’. Today they are Latin America’s largest online video platform in content management and distribution. They serve clients and major brands worldwide including MGM, Samsung, Playboy and eBay. Continue reading →

Dream Theater keyboardist unveils EarWizard and a chilean startup partnership

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The musician partnered with Felipe Peña (founder of Mindscore) to develop EarWizard, a mobile game available in 8 languages that aims to improve your auditory memory skills (which seems to be a must install app not only for musicians, but for anyone).

 

The game has different levels and is a free download available for both the iPhone and the iPad. Continue reading →

Luqit offers big advertising choices for small businesses

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Luqit is a newly launched site that offers advertising space for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s). Advertising is currently available through the top media companies in Chile, including newspapers, TV hows, radio, outdoor ads and digital.

The main goal of Luqit is to increase opportunities for the hundreds of thousands of small and medium size companies that have never had access to the traditional advertising market space. Continue reading →