Start-Up Chile has announced that 100 startup companies have been selected to be part of its acceleration program’s third generation. Start-Up Chile is a program created by the Chilean Government, executed by Corfo via InnovaChile, that seeks to attract early stage, high-potential entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups in Chile, using it as a platform to go global.
The goal of the accelerator program is to convert Chile into the definitive innovation and entrepreneurial hub of Latin America; this is a mission shared by the Government of Chile and is a primary focus of the Ministry of Economy.
The 100 chosen startups (236 entrepreneurs) from more than 36 different countries are expected to be in Chile in either February or March of 2012 to begin their program. The chosen startups were selected from over 570 applications.
The top five most frequently represented countries are: USA, Chile, Argentina, India, and Brazil. This is the first time that Romania, Hungary, Peru, South Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden have had entrepreneurs participate in Start-Up Chile.
The goal to provide capital to 300 startups by the end of the year was exceeded– in total, 319 startups were financed during 2011.
