startupi

Startupi has entered a second phase with a new face on the team: yours truly, Diego Remus. Read more…

Rafael Bucco of ResultsON, competitor-friend of Startupi, came up with an interesting proposal. What if we recorded a “podcast” on Gengibre about CP Labs? Said and done - we recorded quickly and the results are below.

Yesterday was our launch party here at Startupi. There were entrepreneurs, tech bloggers, representatives from social media agencies, and various journalists here, as well as friends we’ve made in recent years.

Alexandre Fugita, photo by Larissa Herbst, at Flickr.

The party was great, the theme was Brazil, with traditional foods (manioc cakes, couscous, manioc fries, roasted corn) and drinks (caipirinhas!). The idea was to convey the importance of the Brazilian market. About 50 people attended and the impression I got from both the quantity of Twitter messages and comments from attendees was that the Startupi initiative is a great idea.

Read more about the launch at these links:

• Um blog só para as startups brasileiras, posted on e-Code
• Infopod 14 - Fugita e o nascimento da Startupi, podcast on Infopod
• Startupi: para falar de startups no Brasil, post on Infowester’s blog
• O nascimento do Startupi: a central de startups do Brasil, post on Ladybug Brazil
• startupi.com.br - O programa de índio do Fugita, on Contraditorium
• Photos on Flickr, by various people
• Twitter messages, by various people

After the break, some photos, with credits, found on Flickr:

Read more…

This blog, Startupi, has a definite objective. In Brazil in recent years there’s been a surge in internet startups, businesses seeking a place in the sun. It’s a market of people with innovative ideas which is not covered anywhere on the internet.

The idea originated when an American investor, Michael Nicklas, was researching the Brazilian market and could not find a single source for this type of information. In his search he contacted people like Gilberto Jr. and founded Social Smart to promote investment in the Brazilian market.

SocialSmart is a holding company that is an umbrella for two startups at the moment: Amanaiê, which develops social applications (predominantly using Open Social) and now Startupi, this blog which intends to cover the growing Brazilian startup market.

But is there an audience for this?

This question is easily answered. For starters there are many undiscovered tech startups in Brazil. Moreover, there are already investors interested in this market who are putting their money into innovative ideas.

The great challenge for Startupi is to stimulate this market in various ways: connecting entrepreneurs and investors, educating people with good ideas on how to procede, transforming the Brazilian market into an attractive place for venture capital, and more.

So enjoy this blog and I hope that Startupi serves as a platform for discussion about the startup market in Brazil.