startupi

You may recall LetMeGo, a Columbian startup that was named best Latin American startup in the PS10 competition? It’s an online travel reservation service for finding hotels using a reverse-auction type system, where lodging owners bid for customers’ visits.

In the last few days three competitors sponsored by LetMeGo have launched sites offering the service in Portuguese. The team that gets the best results from their site will win the competition, becoming a partner with LetMeGo. Read more…

I heard some interesting news from Rodrigo Lossio, from Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. DLM Invista Asset Management just entered into a 20% partnership with Chaordic Systems, a Santa Catarina business that develops recommendation software to augment sales in e-commerce sites. As analysts with market experience in the technology sector, the investors intend to participate actively in the direction of the company. “The company has indispensable characteristics of interest to private equity, like innovation, potential for growth, and technological sophistication,” said managing partner Paulo Caputo. Read more…

There are innumerable collective buying sites on the web: Coletivar, Wego!, ClickOn, Peixe Urbano, City Best, Imperdível, Oferta X, Clube Urbano and Oferta Única, just to name a few that have come on the scene recently. Read more…

I spoke to Marcelo Macedo, who used to work at Morgan Stanley before joining up with Paulo Humberg (investor in BrandsClub, founder of ShopTime, Lokau) and João Ramirez (founder of Migux) to get involved with ClickOn.

The three Brazilians have had the support of two Germans:  Klaus Hommels (who has spent time at AOL Germany, BenchMark Capital, and has invested in Facebook, Skype, and BrandsClub) and Oliver Jung (investor in BrandsClub, Brands4Friends, FashionFriends and KupiVIP). Read more…

The Service for Support of Micro and Small Businesses in Santa Catarina has launched Rede Empresas (a SEBRAE/SC project), a shopping portal with the main objective of putting small businesses on the map for larger corporations or state and municipal government offices who are looking for service and product providers. This service was initially for micro and small businesses in the state of Santa Catarina, but it has now expanded to serve businesses in other states. Read more…

You know how many different layers exist in an e-commerce site? How many different components, produced by different companies?

Do you know the technical and bureaucratic implications involved in keeping an e-commerce site running? And how this impacts the relationship with the consumer? Read more…