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2 Table of Contents GENERAL ASPECTS... 2 ICT SECTOR... 3 ENERGY... 7 STARTUPS IN THEIR OWN WORDS... 8 INFOGRAPHIC: Mexican Startup Ecosystem... 9 ABOUT GO SOUTH! ABOUT LATAM STARTUPS CONTACT US Page1

3 The Startup Ecosystem in Mexico GENERAL ASPECTS Mexico has a booming high-tech economy, with soaring demand for both B2C, B2B, and B2G solutions. Part of NAFTA, Mexico is the natural "first step" into Latin America for most businesses considering a move into the region. The country has its own, very particular culture and business model. Mexico is not similar to any other in the region. All LatAm countries have some slang, but Mexican vocabulary is rich with local dialect, and misunderstandings during a business negotiation are possible if you don't speak Mexican. Greater Mexico City alone has a population of 21.2 million people, around 7% of the country's total population. But Mexico City is not the only business center in Mexico. Medium-sized cities like Monterrey and Guadalajara, each with around 4 million people, are both important high-tech hubs. According to the World Economic Forum, in 2015 Mexico produced more than 110,000 engineering graduates, placing the country in the top ten worldwide, and the leader in Latin America. Page2

4 ICT SECTOR Mexico's National Institute for Entrepreneurship (INADEM) has been promoting entrepreneurship in the country since 2013, including promoting high-tech startups under their Emprende TIC program. As part of NAFTA, Mexico is the logical entry point to Latin America for many Canadian or American businesses. Many successful cross-border programs already exist between the US and Mexico, such as Nokia's mobile applications lab in Jalisco, founded in Mexico boasts a high level of internet penetration, with more than 53 million Mexicans currently online. Those numbers are expected to grow 10% a year for the near future. 81 million Mexicans have cell phones, and 62% of the population accesses the internet solely through a smartphone. This represents a huge opportunity for SaaS startups to scale rapidly in Mexico. You have to consider Mexico is the second largest economy in Latin America, we have a lot of startups developing new solutions for the market Adriana Tortajada, General Director of Entrepreneurship and Financial programs at INADEM Page3

5 Fintech is growing rapidly in Mexico, with more than 100 companies founded in this sector in the few years. Solutions such as mobile banking services, access to money transfer, and crowdfunding platforms are between those that have become popular in the country. Of the 53 million or so Mexicans with access to the internet, 82% use online banking products or services. That said, Mexico still faces challenges. While access to credit through traditional banking has risen steadily over the years, that increase has not been matched by the number of companies being created in the country. The size of the challenge is the size of the opportunity in Mexico. Consuming through internet is a challenge, access to banking is a problem as many people don t have credit cards, having an online solution with off-line payments is common, this is a gap we need to close. Gabriel Charles, Director at Wayra Mexico Page4

6 Mexico boasts what is probably the most mature angel investment and venture capital ecosystem in Latin America. What's more, many investors from traditional sectors are learning the ropes and investing in startups as well. As in much of Latin America, though, Series A financing is still often lacking. Despite these challenges, Mexican startups looking for seed funding can usually find it, and that's encouraging many more people to create new companies. This is the best time for entrepreneurs to seek investment. Mexican young population don t want to work for corporations, they want to create companies, and the macro-economy condition of the country is certainly good now Fabian Aguilar, Mentor, Archetype Incubation Program at Angel Ventures Mexico Internet of Things (IoT) startups are currently all the rage in Mexico, especially for networked home appliances. In 2015 the investment in this area reached US $75 Million; health sector (US $18Million); and wearables (US $22Million). By 2020 is estimated that 50 billion devices will be connected to the internet. Intel is one of the big corporations investing in Mexico right now. In 2014 Intel opened design centres in Guadalajara (state of Jalisco) to develop the IoT sector in the country. Mexico boasts 27 IT clusters throughout the country, comprising more than 700 companies. The clusers are distributed between universities, government, and private initiatives. According to CONACyT (The National Science & Technology Council), Mexico has a total of 95 public universities with a scientific or technologic infrastructure. Nor is this high-tech development centered just in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey are also developing the infrastructure to attract and support high-tech companies. Page5

7 In some cases, foreign startups scaling into the Mexican market may find advantages in establishing a base outside the capital. Come and see opportunities for yourself, ask for help and find a partner Luis Miguel Quiroz, Business Development Director at Deloitte Mexico Mexico has a long history of being the gateway between English-speaking North America and the rest of Latin America. Going forward, Mexico looks set to continue that role in the high-tech innovation space. We want to support entrepreneurs that are thinking they can change the world with their solutions, those solutions that can fix some of the traditional problems we have in the country and that can scale to the region Adriana Tortajada, General Director of Entrepreneurship and Financial programs at INADEM Page6

8 ENERGY Energy is a key innovation sector in Mexico. In 2014 IDB (the Inter-American Development Bank) partnered with FSE (Mexico's National Energy Fund) in order to encourage entrepreneurs to create projects for the energy sector. Picture courtesy of Geo-Mexico.com Although Mexico possesses substantial oil reserves, the government is aggressively seeking to develop alternate sources of energy. Already alternative energy solutions produce more than 25% of the country's total energy consumption. The biggest growth in this sector has been seen in solar energy, which has experience triple-digit growth rates. The development of wind farms, biomass and geothermal projects are also on the increase. The reality of the market is attractive because the costs of renewable projects have gone down significantly, and at the same time, energy costs in Mexico are still pretty high said Daniel Chavez, adviser to investors in energy project (interview with Globe and Mail) Mexico is the region's leading producer of solar panels, more so than Brazil, Chile or Argentina. Most of the manufacturing in the sector is centered around Monterrey. Wind farm equipment is being produced primarily in Oaxaca. One of the country's most well-respected universities, Tecnológico de Monterrey, has a Wind Energy Group, a group of researchers committed to developing wind energy. Both local and multinational corporations are investing in projects to develop cleantech solutions, with investment to date totally 6.2 billion dollars. Page7

9 STARTUPS IN THEIR OWN WORDS Like startups everywhere, articulating a value preposition is a problem startups face in Mexico. Finding quality mentors is also a problem. Startups are certainly satisfied with the market size, growing fast is always a problem and B2B is still the prefer method of business in the country. Interconnect with other communities in the region and globally is something startups need in order to grow their business. If you d like to know more about this chat with startups please check out our Storify here. Page8

10 INFOGRAPHIC: Mexican Startup Ecosystem Page9

11 ABOUT GO SOUTH! We are your guide to doing business in Latin America. We specialize in helping small to mediumsized hi-tech companies to develop business and marketing strategies. Doing business in Latin America is not as simple as translating your website into Spanish. Unlike North America, business in Chile, or Peru, or Colombia is done in person, face to face. Even if you speak Spanish fluently and not all companies have a Spanish-speaker on staff we can make your entry into this new market as smooth as possible. ABOUT LATAM STARTUPS LatAm Startups in an initiative founded by Go South! Consulting Inc. We help startups scale. Page10

12 CONTACT US Business Development: Miryam Lazarte Phone number: Page11