Matías Vernengo, director of the Bucknell Institute for Public Policy (BIPP) and professor of economics at Bucknell University: “The main reason for the increase in the capital raised by start-ups is that, in spite of many problems and heterogeneity in the experiences of the many countries of the region, growth has been more or less robust. The growing economy generates the possibilities that start-ups can capitalize upon, and that their funders see as potentially profitable. The rapid growth is also the result of the region’s relatively small size, particularly when compared to advanced economies, which leaves ample space for expansion. Brazil had no unicorn firms until 2018, and now there are about 24. Most of these are in the fintech and electronic retail sectors—that is, services. The boom in this area has gone hand-in-hand with deindustrialization, an increase in commodity exports as the engine of growth of the economy, and the increasing size of services, in general, as the largest sector with the largest labor force…”