Dot coms discover another Eden

Latin America has the world's fastest-growing population of internet users. Growing nearly as fast are the internet companies feeding that demand and, on the back of that, venture capital and private equity firms trying to get in on the ground floor. Mark Piper reports

Foremost among the attractions is the idea that investors that feel they missed the dot com boat in the US can still get in at the beginning in Latin America. The mantra is that Latin America now is where the US was three years ago ­ some versions reckon it’s four.

Chase Capital Partners was in at the beginning. A would-be Latin portal called StarMedia was looking for funding in 1997. “It was extremely difficult,” recalls Steve Heller, StarMedia’s CFO.

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