São, em sua maioria, ex-empreendedores e executivos de sucesso, que acumularam patrimônio e experiência e agora buscam novos negócios para apoiar com capital e conselhos.

A categoria, que tem ampla representatividade em países em que o mercado de capital de risco é mais maduro, começa a ganhar força no Brasil.

“No Brasil, muitos anjos ainda têm medo de mostrar a cara, mas com a multiplicação no número de investidores deste tipo, essa barreira começa a ser quebrada”, opina Cassio Spina,  diretor da São Paulo  Anjos, associação que reúne 45 investidores anjo.

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Dennis Crowley, the chief executive and one of the founders of Foursquare, attributed the company’s continued momentum to its focus on location.

Then Facebook and Google borrowed the concept — and even the term check in. Analysts and users alike wondered if those Internet giants would squash Foursquare like a bug.

Thus far, it seems, Foursquare is holding its ground. The company said this week that it had hit 10 million registered users, though it would not say how many of those are active.

And on Thursday, Foursquare plans to introduce its largest partnership to date: a national deal with American Express to offer discounts to cardholders when they check in on their cellphone at certain shops and restaurants.

Foursquare users are accustomed to receiving awards in the form of coupons and digital merit badges. But more substantial deals like those being offered to American Express cardholders may bring Foursquare and other location-based services further into the mainstream.

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To cut to the chase, the answer is no, at least not yet, but there are several hubs that are definitely worth a visit. Here is an overview from North to South.

Staying in North America is easy if that is where you are based but it might not be the best option: though Mexico or even Miami could act as natural stops due to their geographical closeness to the American West Coast, their tech scenes aren’t as lively as other Latin American cities’ – maybe for that exact reason. Still, there are interesting initiatives around Mexico, such as Silicon Valley’s seed stage fund for Mexican startups, Mexican.vc, or the “Monterrey, International City of Knowledge” program – Monterrey being the hometown to world-class university ITESM, also known as Monterrey Tech.

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GeeksonaPlane, or #goap for the intimates, is an international business travel program for Silicon Valley leaders launched by Super Angel Dave McClure, founding partner at 500 Startupsand one of the 25 most influential people tweeting about entrepreneurship. It started with a tour of Asia (visited again twice since then), followed by Europe in 2010; there were also smaller trips to Japan and Hawaii.

According to Dave McClure, whom I had the chance to meet in Rio de Janeiro last Tuesday, his aim is now to organize one or two major trips per year, and the decision to add South America as a destination came naturally. He enlisted Bling Nation’s CEO Wences Casares to help plan the trip and well-connected supporting organizations for each country (Brazil Innovators, Palermo Valley, Endeavor Chile, for instance). As for the participants, they came from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Simply Hired or Flipboard, just to name a few (more details here).

Though everyone on board hopes that such a trip will ultimately lead to some investments and partnerships, the initial goal is rather to take the temperature of the local tech markets and learn more about them. In Dave’s opinion, it is something that Latin American startupers understood very well – sharing information and asking for advice, and not solely pitching their projects.

 
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O fato é que Vale do Silício tem testemunhado um significativo deslocamento do eixo de poder desde que a última grande bolha economico-financeira estourou, e, mais especificamente, nos últimos 18 meses. Empreendedores e investidores outrora membros do “baixo clero” tais como anjos, super-anjos, capitalistas de ventura de micro-capitalização, e incubadoras semente, estão começando a dar as cartas no cenário de investimento em empresas de web para o consumidor no estágio inicial. E, ao que tudo indica, trata-se de uma mudança definitiva, pois as próprias startups dos dias de hoje se diferenciam significativamente daquelas do início dos anos 2000. Como observa Naval Ravikant, co-fundador da AngelList, em palestra intitulada “The RiseoftheAngels” hospedada pela Capital Factory em Outubro de 2010, há uma clara ascensão dos investidores-anjo como consequência da ascensão dos empreendedores. E estes trazem novas exigências aos investidores: decisões independentes e rápidas, manutenção do controle da empresa, direito de vender, valorização dos relacionamentos entre pares, conhecimento específico, adiantamento do investimento em espécie.

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O legal é que o mercado de maior crescimento da região é o do Brasil, que viu nos produtos virtuais receitas de US$ 165 milhões durante o ano de 2010. Não é a toa que chamamos a atenção de grandes empresas de games sociais como a Zynga, que recentemente fez uma parceria com a Mentez no lançamento de cartões pré-pagos aqui no Brasil inicialmente e depois na AL, e também de VCs que procuram investir em um mercado emergente que esteja se acertando.

O mercado de bens virtuais decolou em algumas regiões. Além da Ásia, a América Latina também se destacou. O Brasil com seus US$ 165 milhões é responsável por 49% das receitas de US$ 336 milhões do mercado de produtos virtuais da América Latina, isso só em 2010. O mercado deverá crescer 50%, alcançando US$ 512 milhões em 2012, provavelmente atraindo muitas empresas de games sociais procurando expansão.

O Brasil está muito à frente na sua região, depois dele temos a Colômbia com US$ 44 milhões em receitas, com o México na sua cola (US$ 42 milhões), à frente da Argentina e Peru com respectivamente 19 e 15 milhões de dólares.

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Venture capital differs from traditional financing sources in that venture capital typically:

• Focuses on young, high-growth companies;
• Invests equity capital, rather than debt;
• Takes higher risks in exchange for potential higher returns;
• Has a longer investment horizon than traditional financing;
• Actively monitors portfolio companies via board participation, strategic marketing, governance, and capital structure.

Successful long-term growth for most businesses is dependent upon the availability of equity capital. Lenders generally require some equity cushion or security (collateral) before they will lend to a small business. A lack of equity limits the debt financing available to businesses. Additionally, debt financing requires the ability to service the debt through current interest payments. These funds are then not available to grow the business.

Venture capital provides businesses a financial cushion. However, equity providers have the last call against the company’s assets. In view of this lower priority and the usual lack of a current pay requirement, equity providers require a higher rate of return/return on investment (ROI) than lenders receive.

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In India, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) constitute one of the most employment-intensive segments of the economy, contributing significantly to the manufacturing output and national exports.

It is estimated that this sector accounts for about 45% of the manufacturing output and 40% of the total exports of the country. There are several steps that the Government can take to encourage entrepreneurship and the growth of such ventures, especially by providing access to capital.

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