Colombia continues to be an attractive destination for investment; and for the sample is that startups in the region, from Chile, Uruguay, Peru, and other parts of the world have set their eyes to compete in the country.
Such is the case of Justo, Befit, Chazki, Jokr and, recently, Nubox, startups that have found opportunities to deploy their operations and could generate close to 18,000 direct and indirect jobs in the coming years.
For the Chilean Justo, the pandemic was not an impediment to continue growing. After consolidating in Chile and starting operations in Peru and Mexico, and leading an investment round for US $ 2.6 million; the digital company landed in Colombia in February.
Its business model, which is already in Bogotá, Soacha, Chía and Medellín, focuses on helping restaurants create their own web pages so that they can sell their products; in addition to offering them the service of delivery men.
According to Rodrigo Segal, co-founder and president of Justo, the company already has 300 clients in the country and 3,000 distributors. For this year, they not only hope to invest US $ 1 million, but they also seek to close it with more than 10,000 distributors and 50 direct collaborators.
Another delivery platform that also hopes to grow in the country is Jokr. His bet on hidden warehouses, under a hyperlocal structure, began operations last April in the neighborhoods of Bogotá.
By downloading this application, users will be able to make their purchases and receive their addresses thanks to the application’s fleet of delivery people. Regarding their expectations, they seek to generate more than 1,000 jobs in the country in the first year and reach more cities.
On the other hand, after closing a capital round for US $ 250,000, the Uruguayan fitness content platform, Befit, is preparing to grow in users with its arrival in Colombia.
According to Bruno Petcho, CEO of Befit, the goal in the next 12 months of the platform is to reach 10,000 unique users per month. A strategy in which the local market will represent 30% of the total.
Its business model focuses on offering its subscribers cardio, yoga, fitness, dance and functional exercise training sessions. Befit is currently available in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.
One of the most relevant moves was carried out by the Peruvian platform Chazki. After raising US $ 7 million in series A, and announcing its work with Falabella, the last mile delivery company began operations in Bogotá.
In an interview with the CEO of Chazki, Gonzalo Begazo, the executive highlighted that his two-year plan aimed to reach 200 clients in Colombia, of which half should be from large companies. Likewise, they seek to hire in the same period of time between 60 and 100 plant employees and affiliate between 2,000 and 7,000 drivers to their network.
One of the companies preparing to enter Colombia in 2022 is Nubox, the Chilean technology scaleup specialized in managing small and medium-sized companies. Founded in 2011, and today under the leadership of Carolina Samsing, this company has ambitious plans, in which it stands out to maintain a growth rate of 40% per year; in addition to developing a new product.
