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Miami's tech ecosystem is burgeoning, and at this point, it's clear that it's not just hype. The region is experiencing significant growth, building an engaging community of entrepreneurs, investors, and organizations. With such a dynamic scenario, the need to create a more supportive and innovative tech culture becomes evident.
That's why two key players in South Florida’s tech scene have teamed up in a game-changing merger that promises to revolutionize the region, turning Miami into a tech hub for Latin American and Caribbean companies. Base Miami and Moishe Mana's Mana Tech are merging. And our founder, Charly Esnal, is leading the initiative as the Managing Director for the technology platform.
No wonder, this is a significant milestone toward innovation that entails numerous benefits for entrepreneurs and the region’s development. However, such a move didn’t happen overnight. So, how did we get here?
By the end of 2020, after a rough year for the economy globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a few characters on Twitter put Miami in the spotlight. High profile investor Delian Asparouhov posted, "ok guys, hear me out, what if we move Silicon Valley to Miami." The tweet soon got countless replies and impressions, but indeed, the most relevant one came from Miami Mayor Francis Suarez with its now-famous "How can I help?".
Related Read: Miami Tech Boom Beyond The Hype: A Recap Of 2021 Top Startup Ecosystem Moments
This social media interaction ignited a movement that, at first glance, it seemed just hype. However, South Florida's Magic City was already working on building a tech gateway for LATAM companies long before December 2020. Key actors like Moishe Mana's division Mana Tech and Base Miami as a leading startup accelerator were already contributing to the growing tech scene.
On the one hand, Mana Tech was created as a division of Mana Common. The company had been investing more than $600 million in revitalizing the business Flager District since 2001. According to Moishe Mana, "Miami's innovative culture, robust investment, venture communities, highly skilled workforce, and impressive infrastructure create a fertile environment for continued growth." Therefore, that's when the Mana Tech initiative came to life, helping develop a culture of innovation within the tech community.
On the other hand, with such a fertile environment to build a tech hub, Base Miami became a key partner for founders as a leading startup accelerator. The company, led by Charly Esnal and Fernando Cariello, embarked on the mission to support Latin American companies to expand into the bustling US market.
That way, through a wide array of programs, webinars, events, and bootcamps, Base Miami has been helping LATAM tech companies successfully scale their operation in South Florida. In fact, it’s not the first time that Base Miami and Mana Tech team-up. In the past years, these two companies had partnered to host many programs and events like Base Miami’s Market Entry Bootcamp.
Therefore, now after years of hard work, these two companies have taken the leap by joining forces to keep building the next tech hub of The Americas.
So, what does this merger brings to the Miami tech community? First and foremost, it combines Base Miami's team expertise working in the US, Asia, South America, Africa, and Europe with Mana Tech's digital platform and thriving tech community.
The merger comes at a strategic time, with both companies well positioned in Miami's tech scene. The coalition aims to develop more programs and the necessary infrastructure to lead to more investment opportunities.
Some of the programs that entrepreneurs will be able to access are the Market Entry Bootcamp, Market Fit one-on-one program, and the Miami Immersion Week. All of them are expertly designed to support LATAM founders in their expansion process into the US market while saving time and money. That way, incoming companies from Latin America and the Caribbean will learn to avoid the most common pitfalls and succeed when scaling up in the US market.
Base Miami and Mana Tech merger, certainly it's a significant leap for Miami's tech scene development. Though there's still so much work to do to build the next tech gateway for Latin American companies, this alignment creates more investment and growth opportunities for entrepreneurs. So are you ready to revolutionize Florida's Magic City and turn it into the next tech hub? We are!
We are pleased to announce that Jonathan Fichman has joined Base Miami as a Partner. With more than 25 years of international leadership experience spanning investment banking, corporate strategy, finance, entrepreneurship, product marketing and financial modelling, Jonathan will be a welcome addition to the team.
His role will bring a new dimension and further strengthen our client related activities for US Market Entry.
“Jonathan has a proven track record of success. He not only understands how to find the next venture, but he importantly mentors founders to thrive with his strategic advice,” said Charly Esnal, Co-Founder of Base Miami. “We’re extremely excited to have him on board and can’t wait to share his expertise, enthusiasm and passion with our clients.”
Jonathan is a global entrepreneur, having advised, founded, exited and/or managed over 60 startups. He has developed a proven deal flow of success in many sectors including: Wall Street, wealth management, banking, consulting, FinTech, EdTech, HealthTech, consumer staples, government, and non-profits.
Among his many accomplishments, during a decade at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, he successfully led many international corporate initiatives, diversifying its global wealth portfolio and increasing corporate profitability while working closely with international regulatory matters.
“I've spent a large portion of my career working in the corporate and government sides but, for the last 10 years, I’ve worked as a venture advisor and mentor for startups,” said Jonathan Fichman. “I love to build businesses by leveraging my knowledge and imagination. There are so many global startups around the world having amazing products but need funding support and help with their operational and go-to-market strategies if they are to be successful in the US.”
“It’s great joining the Base Miami team, it is a diverse team of cultures and skill sets, who operate with such integrity and passion. They truly understand how to take a company global and how to scale a business. I look forward to assisting with many great companies and working along-side the Base Miami team.”
Jonathan will focus a major part of his talents on strategic advice for clients in business go-to-market, planning development, financial modelling and investment growth for our clients.
We are excited to share that Base España is launching operations in Madrid & Barcelona!
It's been around 6 months since we started working on this concept of exporting our methodologies to other markets and being able to offer different market expansion destinations for our clients and we are proud to share that it is now a reality.
Just as Miami has long been a key gateway for Latin American startups to launch their U.S. operations. Spain also provides those startups unique advantages to launch and grow their ventures in Europe.
The Base España launch team will be headed up by Agustin Kelly, Sandra Di Lucca & Jorge Araujo Muller. With more than 20 years of international experience working in the US, Europe and Latin America, they bring a diverse skill set that will be valuable to any entrepreneur looking at expansion.
"Whilst the US Market is the largest in the world, as a team with our Latin American roots we understand that many of our clients feel more comfortable with expansion into the European market via Spain due to the comforts of language and close ties to the region. There are some many amazing startups in Latam that we want to bring to the world." - said Agustin Kelly, Co-Founder of Base España.
Spain, especially Madrid and Barcelona, are the space chosen by the many of the most innovative and diverse companies in the world. They offer great access to talent, productivity and economic activity. Barcelona is fast building a reputation as being the European epicentre for business creation with the local government establishing a stable and business friendly framework for action that enhances economic growth.
We will work with the Base España team to create happy clients and successful Market Entry to the EU.
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