The winners will present their solutions on October 31 and November 1 in IDB Lab Forum, the IDB’s flagship event focused on innovation and technology.
WeXchange, the platform of the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB Lab, which connects women entrepreneurs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) from Latin America and the Caribbean with mentors and investors, announced the 10 women-led companies selected through the WeXchange Women STEMpreneurs Competition 2024.
The competition received over 350 applications from 30 countries with solutions in edtech, healthtech, fintech, software as a service (SaaS), biotech, climatetech, agtech and ecommerce, among others. The venture capital fund AVP Ventures led the selection process involving more than 95 juries from more than 65 venture capital funds and entrepreneurial organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The selected women-led startups —all actively raising capital— will present their businesses to venture capital investors and key players in the innovation ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean at IDB Lab Forum in the WeXchange Demo Day 2024, which will take place on October 31 and November 1 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during IDB Lab Forum.
The selected companies are:
Bruna (Chile): a company that predicts months in advance the quality of raw materials using artificial intelligence (AI) and optimization. Their technology provides recommendations on how to use them in production, enabling companies to meet commercial contracts and reduce water and electricity consumption.
Cuentologia (Peru): an immersive, screen-free storytelling app that offers original Spanish audio stories endorsed by child therapists to make parenting easier and children emotionally stronger. It builds lasting skills for children ages 0-8.
Eolic Wall (Peru): a company aiming to decentralize and democratize wind energy. It produces modular wind cells specifically designed for distributed generation that achieve the efficiency of giant turbines at a fraction of the size and adapt to the energy needs of each user.
gen-t (Brazil): a company that leverages the Brazilian genetic diversity to advance global biomedical R&D and accelerate innovation and inclusion in the pharmaceutical industry.
Morado (Colombia): a platform that provides inclusive credit solutions for the beauty industry in Latin America, supporting entrepreneurs without financial history. Using technology, it facilitates access to financing and products, empowering over 32,000 women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through informed purchasing decisions.
Sofi (Brazil): a cloud-based e-collection platform for businesses that automates receivables management with integrated data intelligence and payment gateways. By leveraging AI, Sofi increases customer engagement, achieves 6x higher conversions, and reduces operational costs by 45% while improving payment and negotiation efficiencies.
Sommos (Bolivia): a company that seeks to unlock the potential of the unbanked and underbanked in Latin America by digitizing informal savings and credit associations and individual and group savings processes. Their white label platform integrates with the platforms of banks, financial institutions and retailers, enabling them to offer group and individual savings and credit plans to their users.
SphereBio (Argentina): A biotechnology solution that seeks to create a personalized cancer vaccine platform by training immune cells to eliminate tumor cells through custom engineered nanoparticles.
Vexi (Mexico): a neobank that has issued more than one million credit cards to young and underserved people in Mexico. It uses technology and data to assess credit risk fairly and seeks to build a future where everyone has access to financial opportunities.
Yeda Health (Uruguay): a precision medicine and nutrition company that offers an AI system that uses biosensors and clinical data analytics to predict personalized glycemic response for each intake. It empowers healthcare professionals by improving the efficiency of decision making and optimizing patient care.
The WeXchange platform seeks to make it easier for entrepreneurs to connect with other entrepreneurs and investors and participate in training and mentoring. This year again, the WeXchange events are happening as part of IDB Lab Forum, and the participating entrepreneurs will be able to take part in both the regular sessions of the event, as well as exclusive activities for STEM entrepreneurs, which include talks, workshops, and sessions with experts by industry and for business.
WeXchange’s activities are made possible through the support of the Women Entrepreneurs Financing Initiative (We-Fi).
About IDB Lab
IDB Lab is the innovation and venture capital arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group. We discover new ways to drive social inclusion, environmental action and productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean. IDB Lab leverages financing, knowledge and connections to support early-stage entrepreneurship, foster new technologies, activate innovative markets and catalyze existing sectors. www.idblab.org.
About AVP
AVP Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in exceptional founders who are leveraging new technologies and business models to solve major challenges in the region. AVP Ventures has made 17 investments, and its portfolio includes startups such as Prestamype, Lumu, Slang, among others. It has invested in FinTech, EdTech, HR Tech, and B2B SaaS companies in Peru, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina. 59% of its investment portfolio includes a female founder. www.avpventures.com