Latin America’s venture capital fund Kaszek has raised US$1 billion, seizing on the growing interest among global investors in the region’s technology startups.

The fund says it will use half of this cash into early-stage companies, and the remaining into later-stage portfolio firms.

Founded by former co-founders of Mercado Libre, Argentina’s e-commerce giant, Kaszek has backed more than 90 companies, which have collectively raised more than US$10 billion in capital.

Among the companies funded include Brazil’s unicorn Nubank, Creditas, and digital real estate broker QuintoAndar.

Geographically, Kaszek has been most active in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, but it has also invested in teams based in other countries in the region such as DigitalHouse (started in Argentina), NotCo (originally founded in Chile), or Kushki (launched first in Ecuador).

Latin America’s technology sector is booming like never before, according to the fund’s co-founder Hernan Kazah. “We are experiencing an acceleration towards digitalization,” he said in a press release.

The technology companies in the region have a huge potential to multiply investors’ money, reported The Wall Street Journal recently, citing an analysis by Brazilian venture firm Atlantico.

The capital raised by the technology firms from stock markets accounts for only 2.2% of the region’s GDP, compared with 39% in the US.

“There is so much more ‘room to grow’ here than anywhere else, so the potential is massive given we’re talking about 600 million people and $5 trillion in GDP,” reported the daily quoting Julio Vasconcellos, managing partner at Atlantico.

Soucre: Nearshore Americas