Chile Makes Headlines - Start-up Chile Company Acquired by Groupon

I know I said that this blog was designed to focus on Brazilian tech / cleantech firms - however, a recent headline on TechCrunch caught my attention because of its tie to Brazil's neighbor and my former home, Chile.

Zappedy - which TechCrunch describes as a company that "powers revolutionary applications that help brick and mortar merchants better understand, attract and retain customers" - was recently acquired by Groupon (a multi-billion dollar group buying site) for an undisclosed amount.   Of course, Groupon has caught alot of flack recently for driving too many one-time (and unprofitable) customers to its local merchants so this fits with the direction they may be going.

What is most interesting about this story, however, is that Zappedy was apparently part of the Start-up Chile program.  The program awards $40,000 as an equity-free grant to entrepreneurs who are willing to build their businesses in Chile.  In 2010 they had 23 teams which received the grant.  Their plan is to give grants to 300 participants in 2011 and 1000 by 2014.  Ultimately, the goal is to transform Chile into Latin America's tech hub.  The Brazilians are going to make stiff competition.

What are other interesting startups coming out of Chile?

P.S. Stay tuned for an exciting post in the next few days.  Tomorrow I am touring a friend's e-commerce startup facilities in Sao Paulo and look forward to telling you about the company and entrepreneurs.