Brazil ranks 39th compared to the rest of the world regarding their startup scene. Find out the reasons for that in todays blogpost:
Key Facts:
~ 370 incubators, accelerators, technology parks and co-working spaces
- very dynamic ecosystem
- main hubs: São Paulo, Curitiba („most innovative city in the world“)
As mentioned above, São Paulo is one of the main hubs in Brazil. Experts say that the city even has the best startup ecosystem in Latin America!
Current situation:
When looking at Brazils startup scene we need to mention the very impressive entrepreneurial spirit of young Brazilians. Since Brazil offers a hard labour market at the moment, founding your own business seems like a good alternative for many (young) people. Almost 12% of all startups in Brazil had been founded by students or post-graduates! A reason for the high number is that many universities changed their teaching methods in order to emphasize the entrepreneurial spirit among their students. And in our opinion it was a full success! Now even some schools offer innovation as a subject. All in all you can say that the entrepreneurial movement is a ray of hope in the stagnant economy of Brazil.
Reasons for the Brazilian success:
- high level of mobile saturation
- largest country in Latin America -> big market
Support programs:
In Brazil supporting landscapes vary a lot depending on the region. That’s why there is a huge focus of entrepreneurial activity around São Paulo.
Support by the government:
- Startup- Brazil
- Conexão Startup Indústria
- PIPE
In the last years the Brazilian government has made driving business growth to one of there key priorities so there are a lot of supporting programs.
Support by private institutions:
- In São Paulo, support by the IT companies Facebook and Google
- high engagement from banks to help entrepreneurs
- German- Brazilian chamber of Commerce and Industry ,,Startups Connected” connects German companies with Brazilian Startups
In spite of the many supporting programs, most of the founders in Brazil still finance their business over own financial resources.
Even though Brazil’s startup ecosystem is currently growing, there are still some borders that hinder the development of the scene:
- sluggish bureaucracy
- high taxes for entrepreneurs
- high capital costs complicate the credit access (financing)
- In the last five years, Brazil has experienced an economic recession while corruption was at the highest level of business