El Mercurio, in partnership with the Observatory for Entrepreneurship Policy (OPEM), reports that in 2017 there were over 80 programs in Chile that directly supported entrepreneurship and innovation. These programs originate from 60 different institutions and range from accelerators to competitions for international travel to seed capital.
The Observatory found that 39% of the funds did not directly contribute capital to new ventures, but rather provided support through acceleration programs, awareness campaigns, and international educational experiences. Another significant portion of funding comes from the Chilean government, which provides seed capital of US$16.8K to US$85K (CLP 10-50K) to help accelerate startups.
Around a third of the programs offered investments under the CLP$10K mark. The Observatory found that a full 60% of entrepreneurial funds were industry-focused and 14% were specifically designated for social enterprises. Only 9% of programs were targeted specifically toward women and female founders.
The Observatory noticed a growing number of private actors investing in startups in Chile, which has pushed funds to become more focused on innovation in specific industries rather than entrepreneurship as a whole.
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