José Miguel Bórquez Tapia

The future belongs to those who dare to build deep tech. And in Latin America, more of them are rising every day. According to the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, our region’s deep tech ecosystem is now valued more at $8B, with over 340 active startups as of 2023. In recent years, VC investment in the sector has grown 44x. But at Draper Cygnus, this growth is a confirmation of our thesis. We’ve spent the last decade backing founders who chose the harder path. People building from science, not hype. From conviction, not consensus. Startups like Skyloom Global, Stämm, Splight, Lemon, and Novo Space. All driven by teams that are turning deep science into real-world solutions for energy, health, space, climate and beyond. Behind every case, there were founders who chose the non-obvious path. Who decided to build deep tech in an industry where access to capital, talent and validation wasn’t easy. And yet, they moved forward. Investing is about walking alongside those who turn science into impact. This is just the beginning. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned along the way, it’s this: conviction, when sustained over time, becomes your greatest differentiator 🚀 #DeepTech #VentureCapital #DraperCygnus

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Pleased to announce that Forte Global has just launched in Peru - our sixth market. And we're also scaling up in current markets, including Colombia. As always, our goal is to be the backbone... the platform... the operating system... that enables world-class talent development. We make it super easy for any funder of education/training (whether governments, foundations, multinationals, or companies) to contract based on, track, verify and pay for outcomes - without the usual headaches and complexity. In Peru, we're working in partnership with Es Hoy to launch "ElevaTech" - a program to provide AI-focused digital training to disadvantaged Peruvians who would not otherwise have the opportunity to achieve their full potential. The focus of the AI training is on Cybersecurity, Data Science, and Data Engineering. AI will lead to massive job displacement over the next decade, but also create massive opportunities for those with the rights skills to take advantage of it. We're proud to help Peruvians thrive in this new AI era. Alejandro Jimenez T. Carolina Echeverri Hernández Ana Maria Roldan Arango Laura Torre Sergio Claux Mora

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🔵 🚀 RAPPI: The Super App is a Great Primitive Agentic Business! A fascinating reflection from my recent conversation with Federico Suarez Rendon Suarez on "𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐈 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤" (link in the comments) 𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩, 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. Think about it - users tell Rappi what they want, and it orchestrates multiple services to fulfill that request. Sound familiar? 🚀 Why This Matters - The Numbers: • $1.3B revenue in 2024 from orchestrating services • 35+ million users across 9 countries • Break-even achieved - proving this model works • TIME's 2024 Most Influential Companies - recognition of their pioneering approach 🔗 The Primitive Agentic Blueprint: Single Interface, Multiple Services: . Food delivery → Financial services (RappiPay) → Travel bookings . E-commerce → Healthcare → 10-minute delivery via Rappi Turbo .𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫: Their concierge service where users say "I need X" and Rappi figures out how to get it done "To Rappi" something has become a verb across LATAM! Perfect primitive agentic examples: • "Print these documents for me" → RappiFavor finds a print shop, prints, delivers • "I need groceries" → Rappi determines best store, shops, delivers in 10 minutes • "Get me anything" → The famous "Rappi Antojo" button lets users request literally anything 💡 The AI Agent Evolution: Imagine Rappi + LLMs: Understanding context at scale, predicting needs, and orchestrating services with genuine intelligence rather than just rule-based routing. 🎯 The Takeaway: Rappi's $5.25B valuation proves there's massive demand for agent-like experiences. They've shown the market appetite. Do super apps like Rappi have an edge in our Agentic future? #AIAgents #SuperApp #LatinAmerica #fintech #Innovation #Rappi #OpenBanking #Agentic

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Most LATAM founders believe VCs evaluate businesses purely on merit—revenue growth, profitability, team strength, market traction. While these factors matter, they're missing the fundamental driver behind every VC decision: VCs don't invest in good businesses. They invest in power law outcomes. For a $300M fund targeting a 3x return, that’s $900M+ in proceeds from just one or two deals. If they own 15% at exit, you’re looking at $6B+ valuations. This often explains why: A profitable niche business might get passed over for a scaling startup in a larger market Growth metrics sometimes weigh more heavily than current profitability Market size becomes a critical evaluation criterion The implications for LATAM founders: ✓ Frame your addressable market strategically. VCs often look for large market opportunities, though the specific size varies by fund and stage. ✓ Balance growth and unit economics. While rapid scaling matters, sustainable growth paths are increasingly valued. ✓ Understand portfolio construction. VCs typically expect a small number of investments to drive outsized returns. ✓ Evaluate funding fit. Different capital sources (angels, revenue-based financing, debt) may align better with your business model and growth trajectory. VCs aren’t being irrational—they’re doing their job. But as founders, you need to understand the game you're playing. Swipe right for more insights into our LATAM fundraising episode or comment “FUNDRAISING” and we’ll send you the full breakdown 🔗

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Crew Capital’s #FounderSpotlight: Nicolas Rojas Nino – Bringing AI-Powered Automation to Every SMB Nico Rojas, CEO and founder of Dapta, grew up in Colombia as a self-taught programmer. As a teenager, he freelanced building websites for U.S. companies, and at just 17, he founded Imagine Apps, a software development agency that scaled to 80 developers and $1.6M in revenue serving global clients. In 2023, Nico moved to the U.S. to launch Dapta, an AI agent platform that empowers non-technical teams to automate lead engagement, meeting booking, qualification, and customer interactions—seamlessly integrated with existing CRMs and workflows. What began as a developer-focused workflow automation tool quickly evolved as Nico recognized a bigger opportunity: making intelligent automation accessible to every business, not just technical teams. Today, Dapta supports more than 27,000 businesses, helping SMBs double meeting bookings, reduce manual work, and scale growth through AI voice and text agents. 👀 Learn more about Nico and Dapta here: https://dapta.ai/ #ai #agentic #startup #founder #spotlight #tech

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