Confrapar.com.br

Subscribe to Time » Give a Gift » Postcards Global Adviser Brazil's Start-Up Generation
By LORI IOANNOU / SÃO PAULO Monday, Aug. 23, 2010
SHOCKING: $100
Walmart Gift Card
for $6.39
SPECIAL REPORT:
High ticket items are being auctioned for an.
Hot Work At Home
Careers
Work At Home Jobs
Investigated. Can Anyone Really Make Innovators Walter Silva, Marcelo Marzola and Phil ip
Klein of Predicta.net
Buy a link here
Photograph by Victor Affaro for TIME MOST READ
MOST EMAILED
Marcelo Marzola, the 33-year-old co-founder of 1. After Avandia: Does the FDA Have a Drug Predicta.net, is a perfect example of how hot Brazil's 2. Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban $1.6 trillion economy has become — and why its 3. Is the U.S. Pursuing the Wrong Mideast Peace entrepreneurs are now getting their phone calls 4. The Kentucky Test: Is Rand Paul's Brew Too returned by venture capitalists after a decade of "You're 5. Tosh.0: Internet Laughs, on TV6. Study: Lucy's Relatives Used Tools to Butcher Marzola was invited to present his company's free 7. The Only Child: Debunking the Myths online behavioral-targeting tool, BTBuckets, at the 8. What's Missing in the Internet Kill-Switch Google I/O Web-developer conference in San Francisco in May.
9. The Plight of Afghan Women: A Disturbing To get ogled at the Google conference is the goal of any Web developer. Marzola earned rave reviews for creating what has 10. How to Live with Just 100 Things become a de facto standard, used on more than 2,000 websitesin 90 countries by such corporate titans as Pfizer, Motorola andUnilever. The product fills an overlooked niche in the industry More News from Our Partners by allowing websites to segment their useCNNrs according to their
online habits and then direct targeted content and advertising to them in real time. "It has turned the industry on its head, and What's behind weather disasters? it's gaining mass recognition," says Daniel Waisberg, an industry Spokesman: Iraq holds fast on U.S. pullout consultant and a former chair of marketing of the Web Analytics Report: Record joblessness among world's youth (See the 50 best websites of 2009.)
The spotlight has attracted about 10 VC firms to Marzola over Brazil UFO Sightings To Be Documented, the past six months. His track record will impress them: the company has been growing at a compound rate of 40% annuallysince 2005 and has a profit margin of more than 20% on $12 Teri Hatcher Goes Makeup Free To Prove No Botox & No Surgery (PHOTOS) million in revenue. Now he is in the midst of closing a deal withDFJ FIR Capital, a local venture firm with $160 million undermanagement, to raise $15 million to $20 million in exchange for 'America's Next Top Model' ContestantHas Tiniest Waist Ever (VIDEO) a 35% equity stake to fund his company's expansion efforts.
BTBuckets plans to open offices in major markets in LatinAmerica and the U.S.
To Marzola, who had to hustle $80,000 in start-up capital from Where Does Levi Johnston Stand family and friends, the newfound interest is indicative of a VC power shift from Silicon Valley to developing economies like Can JetBlue's Steven Slater Ever Brazil's. "Ten years ago, when I launched my business, getting Can JetBlue's Steven Slater EverGet a Job? start-up capital was impossible," he says. "At the time, I calledon 20 banks, venture-capital and private-equity firms, and Police Seek Info on Stepmom, everyone turned me down. No one wanted the risk of investing Friend in Kyron Horman Case in a fledgling. Finally, there are signs that the equity-capitalmarket for entrepreneurs is igniting." This is a breakout that thousands of Brazil's newbies have been Comic-Con Ketchup: Guillermo Del Toro to helm waiting for. Today there are only about nine players — including Haunted Mansion flick Antera, Confrapar, DFJ FIR Capital, Monashees Capital and RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Clash of the Titans and Status Capital — with an estimated $1.9 billion in assets under management, according to the Latin American Venture Capital Dude! It's the 15 Manliest Movies Ever! Association (LAVCA). These firms are run by trailblazers who
have been promoting the merits of entrepreneurship to a
Brazilian business community that has been risk-averse and to
the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which has
been leery of California capitalism.
(See pictures of São Paulo.)
Preaching the gospel of Silicon Valley has been missionary work.
"Venture capital is a concept just beginning to filter into thepublic's consciousness," explains Robert Binder, CEO of AnteraGestão de Recursos, an asset-management company establishedin 2004 that runs the $50 million Criatec Fund, an early-stageequity fund capitalized by BDNES, the Brazilian developmentbank. For a country with a huge state investment in technology,it's been a surprisingly tough sell. The 123 national institutes of science and 400 incubators scattered across the country are wellsprings of ideas. But only recently have CEOs from privatemidsize Brazilian corporations been willing to lend a hand to Is Tainted Milk to Blame for promising upstarts by offering mentoring support and angel China's Infant Puberty Cases? Can a Child be Tried for Jihadist Their timing is understandable. The IMF projects that Brazil's How to Live with Just 100 economy — now the eighth largest in the world — will grow by 7.1% this year and soar throughout the decade. A confluence offactors will contribute to growth: abundant natural resources,stable government policies, a sophisticated banking sector, arapidly growing middle class that now comprises about half thepopulation of 190 million and a surge in real estate andinfrastructure development to prepare for Brazil's hosting the2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Tech Transformation
Another catalyst has been the focus on developing world-class
high-tech industries in a variety of sectors — from aerospace,
agribusiness and energy to information technology, business-
process outsourcing, semiconductors and telecommunications.
"The goal is to push the country's exports up the value chain,"
explains Antonio Gil, president of Brasscom, an association of
Brazilian IT and communications companies. He notes that
today Brazil can claim 1.7 million IT professionals. This
brainpower has helped the country attract top-tier multinationals
like IBM, which in June announced it is opening its ninth
research center in Brazil and its first in Latin America.
As part of its grand plan, the government is investing heavily inprograms that spark homegrown innovation around these keyindustries. These initiatives — from venture forums to R&Dgrants — are led by the Financing Agency for Projects andStudies (FINEP), the innovation arm of the Ministry of Scienceand Technology. "Our country invests 1% of GDP in R&D andleads the region in entrepreneurship," explains FINEP's EduardoSette Camara. "Now 15 out of 100 residents are involved in astart-up." Tiago Lins, business-development director and co-founder ofSiliconReef, a company that has developed a microchip that harvests energy from the environment to power mobile devicesand wireless networks, has been a prime beneficiary ofgovernment support. He and his partner, CEO Marília Lima,incubated their breakthrough technology at CESAR, the country'swell-known R&D center and incubator in Recife. Sinceincorporating two years ago, the duo have raised grants fromFINEP to design and test their product, known as EHO1. Theyare looking to raise an additional $1 million to fund a productlaunch. "Right now our biggest hurdle is gaining credibility in theinternational business community," Lins says.
Read "What Downturn? Business Booms in Brazil's Shanties."
See "World Cup Boosts Brazil Consumer Spending."
SHOCKING: $100 Walmart Gift Card for $6.39
SPECIAL REPORT: High ticket items are being auctioned for an incredible
90% off!
www.ctips.net
Hot Work At Home Careers
Work At Home Jobs Investigated. Can Anyone Really Make $3,958/Month?
www.NYGazetteJournal.com
Masters Project Management
Prepare Now for Certification -100% Online Project Management Education
VillanovaU.com/ProjectManagement
Top Stories on TIME.com Quotes of the Day » Gitmo Controversy: The "Ramadan or no Queasy Case of Omar Khadr Ramadan, we arealready dying of The Steven Slater Saga: Is JetBlue's Response the Way woman in a tent outsideSukkur, Pakistan, on thedevastation of the floods; Is Tainted Milk to Blame for survivors already short on food and water began China's Infant Puberty Cases? fasting for Ramadan on Thursday
More Quotes »
Stay Connected with TIME.com Learn More » Read TIME
Subscribe to
Sign Up for
Mobile on
Become a Fan
RSS Feeds
Your Phone
2010 Time Inc. All rights reserved Privacy Policy RSS Newsletter TIME For Kids LIFE.comSubscribe Contact Us Terms of Use Media Kit Reprints & Permissions Opinion Leaders Panel Help Site Map

Source: http://confrapar.com.br/arquivos/TimeCNN,World,23ago2010.pdf