best premium wordpress themes

Silicon Vineyard: Mendoza Investing in Tech District

On October 12, 2010, In creative class, foreign investment, technology, by InvestBA
Parque Informatico La Punta

The new Mendoza Tech District will be three times larger than the PILP in San Luis.

While Mendoza will always be synonymous with the wine industry, government officials are working to diversify their local economy with a significant IT investment. Raul Mercau, Mendoza’s Minister of Production, Technology and Innovation (PT&I), says Mendoza’s first Technology Park will open next April and hopefully attract 50 software, communication and IT companies at the outset.

Initially the Province plans to invest approximately US$3 million on an 8 acre property which would make the Mendoza Tech District (MTD) the most important in Cuyo, as it would be three times the size of the existing PILP (Parque Informatico La Punta) which hosts a dozen tech companies like MercadoLibre and Indra in San Luis.

Mercau tells Cronista the MTD will attempt to lure companies with a generous combination of tax incentives (10-year exemption on all provincial taxes) and low-interest lines of credit (up to US$125,000 with rates subsidized by the government).

The Ministry of PT&I says Mendoza, which has around 375 small and middle-size tech companies with over 4,000 employees and annual billings of US$325 million, hopes the Park will improve connectivity, boost the profile of local tech companies, attract university students and increase competitiveness in the sector. (Full story in Spanish)

For more information about investment opportunities in Mendoza, download the October issue of InvestBA Privada.

1 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

Lookin4Love.com.ar: Argentines Smitten With Online Dating

On October 9, 2010, In lifestyle, technology, by InvestBA
Zonacitas Website

When Gabriela Met Diego: Zonacitas & Match are the Telecom/Telefonica duopoly of BA online dating.

Anytime the Argentine press says something “hace furor,” you know it’s all the rage. From Ben 10 in BA to malbec in the U.S. to Fake Maradona in Japan, the HaceFuror Factor knows no geographical bounds.

But as our friend Mariano Sardans of FDI Advisors recently cautioned, it can also be indicative of a fad that draws mass interest in BA and ultimately leaves small players and late movers out in the cold. (Think canchas de paddle, rapipollos, maxikioscos, apartment rental agencies, etc.)

So when La Nacion says online dating is the latest hace furor dujour in Argentina, what are we to make of it? From the sheer standpoint of subscribers and growth, it’s hard to argue with the numbers. La Nacion’s own dating site, Zonacitas, has over 300,000 registered users and projects 400,000 by the end of 2010, while Match.com reports 50,000 new subscribers per month who are exchanging over 800,000 love missives a day throughout Latin America.

These stats are impressive considering the cultural obstacles that had to be overcome for Argentines to fall for online dating, namely the initial social stigma of searching for a sweetie online and personal safety fears. The former was overcome through word-of-mouth success stories while site reporting features help weed out the locos lindos from the locos malos.

As to whether the online dating boom is a fad, Zonacitas Director Sebastian Gorin lists some valid reasons why it’s probably here to stay: “Convenience, the ease of meeting thousands of people at one place, the time shortage we all face, (and) the ability to know someone’s likes and interests before initiating contact.” So if you’re young, single and looking to mingle, give online dating in BA a try. Just don’t tell anyone about your Fake Maradona fetish. (Full Story in Spanish)

0 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

Revolucionario: The iPad Has Landed in Argentina

On September 17, 2010, In technology, us companies, by InvestBA
The iPad in Buenos Aires Argentina

Con o sin 3G? Unlike China, buyers in Argentina have the option of buying a 3G-enabled iPad.

Midnight madness swept through BA today with the long-awaited arrival of the iPad. Hundreds of shoppers packed gallerias like Alto Palermo last night for a chance to buy what one app creator described as “Harry Potter’s book. Everything in it is alive in some way.”

But if Harry wants his iPad in BA, he’ll need to bring a sack of silver Syckles to the shopping. The base model with 16GB costs US$860, the 32GB model clocks in at US$1,010, while the MacDaddy Wi-Fi + 3G will set you back a cool US$1,395.

While Apple began selling the iPad in foreign countries back in May, today’s release date marks the first time the iPad is available in China and five South American countries, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The launch appears to be going smoothly in BA with local retailers Garbarino and MacStore (Curiously no mention of the iPad on their homepage) handling the sales, while images of triumphant iPad-toting customers were streaming today in Buenos Aires, Beijing and Bogota, where Colombia Reports says the device “costs double the monthly minimum wage.” Harry better start pulling some double shifts.

For more information about investment opportunities in Buenos Aires, download IncomeBA and the new issue of InvestBA Privada.

2 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • •
 

In Buenos Aires, The Creative Class Runneth Over

On August 25, 2010, In buenos aires events, competitiveness, creative class, entrepreneurs, visionaries, by InvestBA
arteBA 2010 Sign

Annual events like arteBA and BAFWeek showcase BA's rising tide of creativity and entrepreneurial activity.

Entrepreneurship and creativity are two of our favorite topics @InvestBA. When we were choosing content category names for the site, we opted for The Creative Class as a nod to urban studies theorist Richard Florida.

In his 2002 best seller, Florida developed a Creativity Index to rank cities based on key criteria like Talent, Technology and Tolerance (aka the Three T’s). The review from Atlantic Monthly summed up the book’s thesis beautifully: Why cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race.

Most BA visitors come away with the impression the city is chock full of the first, trying hard to nurture the second and taking the regional lead with the third. (Given the recent marriage decision, “gay friendly” tourism will flourish here like no other corner of the Americas.)

Now comes the annual ranking from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) that confirms our suspicions we’re living in a magnet for creativity and entrepreneurial activity. “Buenos Aires is the Latin American city with the highest start-up rate per capita,” writes BBC Mundo’s Veronica Smink adding, “BA also fares well in comparison with some of the world’s major cities, taking seventh place in terms of entrepreneurial activity ahead of cities like New York, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona and Amsterdam.”

The majority of BA entrepreneurs are between 18-35 years old and focused on technology, design and visual arts. In closing, Smink says start-up growth should continue its upward trajectory given Argentina’s rich talent and human resource advantages. The GEM report’s only negative? The failure rate of local start-ups is fairly high after 2-3 years. But in the immortal words of Winston Churchill, Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

Or in the words of Michael Scott, If tomorrow my company goes under I will just start another paper company. And then another and another and another. I have no shortage of company names. (Full article in Spanish)

5 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

Society Without Change? Advantage Monedero.

On March 16, 2010, In entrepreneurs, technology, by InvestBA

The change shortage in Buenos Aires is good news for e-payment solution providers like Monedero.

The change shortage in Buenos Aires is good news for e-payment solution providers like Monedero.

Brother, can you spare a dime? Or a quarter? Or any coins for that matter? Increasingly in Buenos Aires, the answer is a resounding “No.”

From cab drivers to newspaper vendors to street performers, the current coin shortage has impacted all moneda-centric businesses and prompted entrepreneurial activity at multiple levels, according to the Christian Science Monitor:  ”Bus companies run side businesses selling change to companies for a fee…some performers now offer change back to passersby…one Chinese-owned supermarket chain (is) giving out vouchers whenever they run out of coins.”

But the most innovative of solutions and not-so-accidental beneficiary of emerging societal coin-hoarding and simultaneous “change-aversion” has to be Monedero. While many of the world’s largest cities embraced e-chip debit card technology fifteen years ago, the Buenos Aires experiment is relatively new.

Billing itself as “The Best Way to Move In The City,” Monedero’s network of participating retailers has grown from the public transportation network (Subte, buses, trains and tolls) to convenience stores and movie theaters. Cardholders enjoy the convenience of re-charging their cards at multiple locations and monthly discounts at retailers like Hoyt’s, Blockbuster, Hard Rock and Miami Sun.

Today, with over 2.5 million cards in circulation, 300 million transactions processed and hundreds of Twitter followers, it seems Buenos Aires has embraced one type of “change” and gradually rejected another.

0 Comments
Leave A Response

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 
Previous Entries
 

Bariloche

Mendoza

Uruguay

© 2011 InvestBA.com