Origo Ventures has obtained a $1 million grant from CORFO, the investment entity of the government of Chile. Origo Ventures is a San Diego-based venture capital fund that looks for investments in seed and early stage firms in Latin America. In order to help Latin American startup firms succeed, Origo Ventures looks for gaps in funding and mentoring and meets them. It immediately invests in tech firms post-accelerator.

In a statement about the funding, Origo Ventures received the grant from Fen Ventures, its subsidiary in Chile. Proceeds from the grant will be used to support the firm's investment activities in young companies in the country that hold the most potential for success. As one of the first American companies to be aware of the huge potential that emerging upstarts in Chile and Latin America hold, Origo Ventures capitalizes on the experience of its founders in order to choose the most promising entrepreneurs in the region to invest in.

As the innovation epicenter in Latin America, Chile has a government conducive to business. Its government has come up with different incentives to lure up-and-coming entrepreneurs around the world to its shores. The centerpiece of this thrust is the Accelerator Startup Chile which was founded in 2010. The accelerator provides global innovators as much as $40,000 in funds and six months of support for young firms. It graduates 300 companies annually. It is these kinds of efforts that provide entrepreneurs with compelling reasons to form their startups in the country and have greatly contributed to Chile's lead in entrepreneurship, the statement said.

Origo Ventures Managing Partner Derek Footer said about the grant, "The timing and opportunities are ideal for investing in Chilean startups, which attract global talent and serve as the foundation of Latin America's thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. Origo and Fen Ventures are honored to have received this grant from the Chilean government, and will use these monies to bolster promising startup companies."