The Global Accelerator Network (GAN), an international organization focused on fostering entrepreneurship and accelerating startup growth worldwide, is growing its network in Latin America.
The Denver, Colorado-based company announced recently that the Technology and Scientific-Based Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence (EBCT) from the Entrepreneurship Institute of Tecnológico de Monterrey, the leading private research university in Mexico, has become a GAN member.
Led by its parent company, Morrow Global Network’s President, former Techstars Head of Growth Patrick Riley, GAN, provides a highly-curated community of independent accelerators, corporates, and investors.
GAN connects startups to the human and financial resources they need so that entrepreneurs and the cities they call home become increasingly whole.
GAN’s network stretches across the globe, with 130 partner accelerator programs in 30 countries. Here in the U.S., the organization includes partners such as Freshworks, Lighthouse Labs, and Purdue Innovates, from Purdue University.
In Latin America, the network is also growing, counting accelerator and venture partners such as Polymath Ventures, NXTP Ventures, and UTEC Ventures from the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Peru.
Now, the organization has added the prestigious EBCT from Tec de Monterrey to that list.
“We are delighted to invite Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Technology and Scientific-Based Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence into our exclusive GAN community,” said Steve Hayton, Director of Education at GAN. “We’re confident that GAN will provide the resources necessary to help Tecnológico de Monterrey founders grow their businesses and make a lasting, positive impact on the world.”
According to Mexican newspaper Milenio, startups belonging to the EBCT network will benefit from the GAN partnership with more than $1 million in perks, as well as discounts on services, and will have access to more than 200 founder spaces around the world.
GAN also holds regular, in-person and virtual networking events designed to connect business leaders and discuss the most pressing issues impacting entrepreneurship today.
“Tecnológico de Monterrey is committed to providing the tools necessary for founders to grow and scale, not only in Mexico, but globally,” said Odille Sánchez, Leader of Technology and Scientific-Based Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence at Tec de Monterrey. “Our membership into GAN expands our capacity to provide our talented founders with opportunities and resources from all over the world and ultimately drive economic growth on the campuses and in the communities we serve.”
The EBCT from Tec de Monterrey was founded in 2001. Since then, the program has graduated over 4,500 startups, creating over 34,000 jobs, according to a company statement shared with StartupBeat.
Their portfolio includes companies that are innovating in digital products, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), agricultural technology, climate tech and food tech.
Current companies within the EBCT network have registered sales in the tens of millions of dollars and raise funding of over $5 million annually, and startups have gone on to prestigious international accelerator programs including Techstars and Y Combinator.
Mexico ranks third in Latin America on the Global Innovation Index, a report published annually by the The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The collaboration between GAN and Tecnológico de Monterrey’s EBCT, the partners hope, will empower founders from the university’s network to expand their horizons and scale their businesses into the future.
