[Session will be presented in ENGLISH. Sesión será presentada en INGLÉS - Redes Angeles en Latino America: Evolucion y Oportunidades Futuras. SXSW Latin America programming hashtag: #sxswLatAm] Latin America has never been considered a “hotbed” for venture capital. Yet as the technology entrepreneurial world continues to assess and recognize that Angels are really the investors responsible for the vast majority of Tech Startup successes, then the Latin American story becomes more relevant. Ever since “Angel networks” began to formalize themselves as such across the region only a decade ago, their growth and popularity has shot exponentially. Suddenly, Latin Americans involved in Technology and Entrepreneurship have realized that the funding mechanism for startups has actually been the “Angel model” in the vast majority of enterprises throughout its history. These transactions just happened to take place within closer circles of trust and the investors just weren’t called Angels. This panel briefly explains the historical perspective that led to this late recognition of the term “Angel Investor” and then dives deeply into the tremendous growth, resources and future opportunities that lie in the majority of the 20+ markets that make up “Latin” America. Panelists will be comprised of current leaders and members from Latin American Angel Networks, and will be moderated by a High Tech Entrepreneur who has been funded by Angels in both Latin America and the United States.
Estuardo Robles is specialized in helping companies enter into international markets. Over the past five years he has helped several dozen companies, including Fortune 500 clients, enter the Latin American market. He is currently leading the international expansion of SMSRGENCY, a Mobile Technology startup that has earned recognition by the United Nations GAID for its role in helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
He is on the board of the IHCA, which hosts an average of 125 different countries that visit Austin each year. He was instrumental in the founding of the Central American chapter of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), the deployment and growth of BANAC, Guatemala’s first angel investor network, and the founding of Outsource Honduras.
Robles has been an invited speaker on topics of economic development in Guatemala, Panama, Mexico, the United States, Canada and China. He earned his BBA in Marketing and International Business at the University of Texas at Austin, his MBA at the Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile, completed coursework at Fundação Getulio Vargas in São Paulo, and is a former professor at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
