Key insights from SOSV and Chinaccelerator's Oscar Ramos' speech at the recent EqualOcean event.
Venture capitalists have put their eyes on frontier markets like Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe due to the evolutionary dynamics and new growth opportunities. Today, climate tech, fintech and digital transformation are integrated with traditional business and are pushing the market to a new horizon.
On December 9-10, 2021, EqualOcean hosted the World Innovators Meet 2021 (WIM2021) conference. Taking the venture capitalist's point of view, Oscar Ramos shared his opinion on the significant trends to watch in 2022.
Oscar Ramos, an entrepreneur-turned-investor, is partner at SOSV, Managing Director of Chinaccelerator and partner at MOX. He invests broadly across enterprise SaaS and cross-border Internet startups, manages the accelerator program and serves on the Board of Directors of several portfolio companies. In his current role, Oscar has made investment decisions and helped accelerate the growth of 160+ startups. He holds a Masters of Engineering in Telecommunication from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
Per Mr. Ramos, there are three buckets of trends to watch in 2022.
New geographies
· The Middle East and Africa experienced a three times increase in venture capital activities in 2021.
· Meanwhile, Central and Eastern Europe embraced a five times improvement in venture capital activities.
· Latin America enjoyed the highest growth rate among the frontier markets.
New leading industry clusters
· Climate tech, a segment of ESG, offers massive opportunities with projected market size of around USD 5 trillion.
· Global funding in fintech doubled this year, accounting for 25% of the total venture capital investments.
Ongoing technological shifts
· Traditional industries are becoming more digital to improve their efficiency.
· Building the relationship beyond products and operations will enable new business models and drive more value.
For Oscar Ramos' slides and presentation recording, please subscribe to our weekly newsletter: we will be sending them out in the following weeks.
About China & The World Summit
As a part of WIM2021, China & The World Summit was hosted on December 9-10, 2021. It was focusing on the world's second-largest economy's global impact and interaction with the rest of the world.
WIM 2021 China & The World Summit is built around two major topics:
Ⅰ. Investing in China: Seeking value amid global turbulence.
Over the past decade, China has been an attractive investment destination. But will it remain one in years to come? WIM 2021 gathered global investors, senior executives, and market participants to discuss this and other questions concerning the world's second-largest economy's past, present and future.
Ⅱ. Localization & Globalization: Global enterprises' 'China story' and Chinese companies' global expansion.
China's role in the global economy has been continuously changing. As the country's market matures, the world's largest enterprises have been venturing into it – with varied success. Meanwhile, Chinese new-economy companies are also expanding their presence in foreign markets. At WIM 2021, a number of eminent experts and industry insiders discussed the most important trends and narratives at the interface of China and the rest of the world.
Follow EqualOcean.com and stay tuned for other WIM recap articles!
About WIM2021
WIM2021 'Digital Reshaping the World' will be hosted offline in Shanghai and New York while broadcasting globally. The event covers 11 topics, including the hottest industries (from automotive to healthcare) and concepts (like Carbon Neutrality and 'Zhuan Jing Te Xin').
World Innovators Meet (WIM) is a yearly flagship event hosted by EqualOcean for the past 6 years. It is a time where international delegates gather to discuss hot button topics in China's key industries.
We see innovation as the biggest driving force to building a better world. Hence, through WIM we seek to create a platform for global innovators to connect. By uniting bright minds, we seek to foster learning, inspiration and wonder – and inspire conversations that matter.
In a short span of 6 years, WIM has grown from a local event in China to a global event that bridges the world and China by bringing together 1,500+ international speakers (including several Nobel laureates), 50,000 global attendees, and 2,000+ media and community partners.