This case describes the development of ALLVP, a Mexico-based venture capital firm, from founding to Fund III. It discusses how Federico Antoni and Fernando Lelo de Larrea, ALLVP's founders, positioned the firm to address unmet funding needs in Mexico's nascent entrepreneurial market. The case also examines venture capital more broadly throughout Latin America, including the dominance of VC in Brazil, international investment, and structural barriers to exits.

The purpose of this case is to look at FarmFriend's product market fit. The case examines how the FarmFriend founding team evaluated various business models through extensive market research and ultimately decided to launch a marketplace that matched farmers to pilots that offered drone spraying services. Students will also be introduced to various go to market strategies that were used to address this target market. Students will also gain an understanding of the challenges a company faces to ensure product market fit.

The purpose of this case is to look at Aerobotic's product market fit. The case examines how the Aerobotics founding team determined the best way to approach the agricultural drone market in South Africa. It also highlights how the team evaluated pricing and which markets/partnerships to initially pursue. Students will also be introduced to various go to market strategies that were used to address this target market. Students will also gain an understanding of the challenges a company faces to ensure product market fit. The case also looks at the company from an investor's point of view.

This note identifies the key issues that must be addressed in the creation of a viable venture, and provides an overview of the processes and techniques available to resolve the issues discussed.

As developing economies grow and become more connected, new and exciting entrepreneurial opportunities arise across markets and industries. Smartphones, the best sensors on earth have already been deployed and new technologies, such as Machine Learning, Robotics and Blockchain, will allow problems to be solved at a scale like never seen before. Despite this fertile ground for new endeavors, success not only requires a unique technology fit but great execution in adverse environments. This case includes three vignettes featuring Latin American robo-advsing platform, Alkanza, Indian AI-enabled medical device startup, Sigtuple and emerging Turkish Venture Capital firm, ScaleX. It describes the unique opportunities and distinct challenges of applying deep technologies in developing economies through the eyes of three groups of entrepreneurs scaling technology-based endeavors.

Entrepreneurs looking to launch start-ups in developing economies must confront numerous challenges that their peers in more developed countries may be less likely to encounter. Depending on the country in which they are operating, entrepreneurs in developing economies oftentimes lack access to human capital and professional services, sufficient sources of funding, large markets for their products, adequate infrastructure, and predictable legal and regulatory processes, among myriad other challenges. This note aims to explore these challenges in more depth-while simultaneously examining some representative countries and regions in which entrepreneurship is thriving. The note also serves as a complement (and informal update) to the 2013 World Economic Forum Report: "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems around the Globe and Company Growth Dynamics." This note is intended primarily for current or budding entrepreneurs interested in starting a new venture in a developing economy, as well as investors seeking to fund start-ups in these countries. The note is also relevant for policy makers looking to encourage entrepreneurship in their cities or countries, universities wanting to support entrepreneurship, and corporations seeking a better understanding of their role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of a developing economy.

At the end of 2011, Fernando Lelo de Larrea (MBA 2004) and Federico Antoni (MBA 2004) decided to resign from their CEO positions in their respective mid-sized companies and start fundraising for their first early stage investment fund: Seed Innovation Trust 1. Given their lack of track record in venture capital, they decided to create a micro fund, the smallest, yet most institutional, venture capital fund possible consistent with their investment thesis. Founded in 2012, ALLVP raised the first institutional seed capital fund in Mexico to invest in innovative service-oriented, new companies. The investment thesis focused on service industries such as healthcare, financial services, and consumer internet that were experiencing high growth due to demographic and macro-economic trends, favorable non-market forces, the growing middle class and the availability of new technologies. Given the underdeveloped entrepreneurial ecosystem in Mexico, the founders established, along with the fund management vehicles, a Seed Accelerator Program, called Venture Institute that would feed the fund with high quality startups. This dual model proved key to creating a high value first portfolio and positioning ALLVP in the Mexican entrepreneurial ecosystem. Two years and twelve portfolio companies later, ALLVP raised a second, $40 million dollar (USD) fund focused on Series A and B rounds in Latin America. Given ALLVP's success, a new proactive public policy from Mexico's new government was launched and helped the seed capital industry grow from ALLVP as the first and only institutional fund in 2012 to more than a dozen funds in 2014.

Entrepreneurs seeking to start companies in developing economies face significant human resource challenges. Before embarking on their ventures, entrepreneurs should articulate a talent management strategy that describes how they will source, identify, screen, and manage employees, including rank and file workers, mid-level managers, and senior executives as the company scales. In developing such a strategy, the most important considerations will include how much and what kinds of human capital are present, the availability of tools to effectively identify and screen candidates, local culture, and the flexibility of the labor market. Drawing from interviews with entrepreneurs and investors across a number of countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, this note explores several major human resource challenges found in developing economies and the strategies entrepreneurs have employed to meet these challenges.

As of the date of this note, financing environments varied significantly across developing economies. Differences in legal structures, operating conditions, and available capital sources created a myriad of conditions for entrepreneurs to navigate when seeking funds to develop their ventures. One systemic trend, however, did exist: entrepreneurs consistently cited access to financing as one of the top three obstacles to achieving growth. This note does not seek to provide a "one size fits all" model to addressing this challenge. Rather, this note is intended to provide entrepreneurs with a starting point to better understand the types of financing available in developing economies, the sources of this capital, and the means to locate these investors. Entrepreneurs can use the examples in this note as a springboard to craft solutions for the challenges posed by their specific financing environments.