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Mayor Lee Launches LatinSF Initiative

San Francisco Expands International Efforts to Create Greater Economic Ties with New Initiative to Strengthen Relationship between Latin America & United States; First Partnership Started with Mexico-

Mayor Edwin M. Lee today officially launched the LatinSF economic development initiative at Silicon Valley Day in Mexico City as part of his official trade mission to Latin America. Modeled after the groundbreaking China-San Francisco economic development initiative ChinaSF, LatinSF is a new economic development initiative to promote business and trade between San Francisco and Latin America by attracting Latin American companies to San Francisco and helping San Francisco firms expand in the Latin American markets. The new initiative will support and boost San Francisco’s economy by creating a comprehensive international business recruitment, expansion and retention strategy.
 
“We can never take our economic recovery and expansion for granted and LatinSF is another way in which we are diversifying our economy, attracting new companies and jobs to our City and creating opportunities for San Francisco-based businesses around the world,” said Mayor Lee. “San Francisco has much to offer companies from Latin America, including a highly educated workforce, access to the largest venture capital community in the United States, and international connectivity to China, Asia and beyond. With the launch of LatinSF and the continued success of ChinaSF, San Francisco has secured its reputation as a global gateway.”
 
LatinSF will promote San Francisco as the center for Latin American entrepreneurs who wish to tackle the U.S. and global markets. Similarly, there are many opportunities in the technology, life sciences, cleantech and professional services sectors for San Francisco companies seeking to expand in the dynamic Latin American market.
 
“Following the success of ChinaSF, the San Francisco Center for Economic Development is proud to once again partner with the City of San Francisco to run the new LatinSF initiative,” said San Francisco Center for Economic Development (SFCED) Executive Director Dennis Conaghan. “The demand for assistance for Latin American companies has been steadily growing, and we believe that the timing is perfect to reach out to the region. San Francisco has a global brand as a city that welcomes innovative entrepreneurs and we look forward to extending that welcome to Latin American companies.”
 
Mayor Lee’s two-day visit to Mexico City is his first official trade mission to Latin America. The visit underscores the importance of the relationship between San Francisco, Mexico and the rest of Latin America. While in Mexico, the Mayor is meeting with government and business leaders to promote San Francisco as a center for innovation and entrepreneurship. The visit focuses on attracting Mexican companies to San Francisco, expanding bilateral economic cooperation and developing key partnerships to strengthen the business relationship between San Francisco and Mexico.
 
During the visit, Mayor Lee solidified the first LatinSF partnership with Startup Mexico, a government-backed entrepreneurial campus and incubation/acceleration program for Latin American technology firms, to ensure a steady flow of companies from the region to San Francisco.
 
“LatinSF is an excellent partner for Startup Mexico and we are looking forward to working with them to assist Latin American technology companies to access the amazing opportunities that San Francisco has to offer innovative entrepreneurs,” said Startup Mexico Director Marcus Dantus.
 
As well as a business attraction and retention efforts, LatinSF will support the growing Latin American technology eco-system in San Francisco by partnering with organizations such as the Latino Startup Alliance, the Chile-California Council and BayBrazil, a networking organization with more than 4,000 local members.
 
“We are very excited about partnering with LatinSF on events and incoming trade missions,” said Bay Brazil Director Margarise Correa. “Brazilians have a great interest in the San Francisco market, and LatinSF is well placed to capitalize on that.”
 
Many Latin American technology companies have already established offices in San Francisco, including Globant, an Argentinian company that recently became the first Latin American software company to launch a public offering on the NYSE. The company employs more than 100 people in San Francisco. Over the past three years, government trade offices from Mexico, Brazil and Colombia have all opened in San Francisco.  
 
LatinSF has already garnered support for its efforts and counts the Mita Institute and Tech Accelerator (MITA), a business accelerator, venture fund and tech forum dedicated to building the innovation economy in Mexico, and AeroMexico among its early sponsors.
 
“We are excited to partner with LatinSF to build deeper synergies between the innovation economies of San Francisco and Mexico,” said MITA General Partner and Fund Manager Robin Reyes. “We believe San Francisco offers a singular ecosystem of needed mentorship, capital and business development opportunities to Mexico’s growing number of tech companies. As a dominant connector in linking these two regions, we are proud to be a supporter of LatinSF.”
 
About LatinSF
LatinSF is a dynamic new economic development initiative that will promote business and trade between San Francisco and the Latin American region. Created as a public-private partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and the San Francisco Center for Economic Development (SFCED), the goal of LatinSF is to create a welcome environment for established Latin American companies to expand and startups to locate in San Francisco.  LatinSF will also support San Francisco-based companies that are seeking to expand their businesses in the Latin American region. For more information, go to: sfced.org/latinsf.
 
About Silicon Valley Day
Silicon Valley Day is an event organized by San Francisco technology companies to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and the Silicon Valley culture in Latin America. The event has been held twice in Sao Paolo, Brazil with attendances of almost 800 people. The event includes panels featuring San Francisco and Mexico based founders and executives who will share their business experiences. The Silicon Valley Day 2014 event is made possible by Zendesk, Prezi, possible and 99designs. For more information, go to: siliconvalleyday.com.mx.