Tech stocks: invest in Latin America’s digital revolution

A region that was once an innovation desert is changing rapidly. Billions of dollars of venture capital funding and the impact of the pandemic are creating new tech giants. James McKeigue reports.

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Covid-19 battered Latin America – it killed more people and caused deeper recessions than in any other region. Yet the massive disruption also forced people to solve centuries-old regional economic challenges. This is accelerating a nascent digital revolution that will eventually save more lives and drive more economic growth than was lost in the pandemic.

I first tipped Latin America’s tech sector back in August 2012, when I highlighted Mercado Libre, the region’s leading ecommerce platform. If you bought in then, congratulations, as the stock is up more than 1,100% in the last decade. But don’t worry if you missed out, because Latin America’s digital revolution is only just beginning. The region only saw its first unicorn – the name given to private tech start-ups worth more than $1bn – in 2017. Now those mythical beasts are a lot less rare, with 34 in the region today.

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.