Latin American Tech Company Builder QUASAR VENTURES™ Launches With $5.4 Million Influx Led By Emergence Capital

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Quasar Ventures™, a new technology company builder led by former Officenet executives Andy Freire, Santiago Bilinkis and Pablo Simon Casarino, announced today that it has begun operations with $5.4 million (USD) in outside investment from a group of strategic investors led by Silicon Valley venture capital fund Emergence Capital Partners. Using a growth model that varies dramatically from incubator approaches, Quasar Ventures plans to use its outside investment to develop ten new technology companies globally in the coming four years.

Quasar, the first company-builder in Latin America, is introducing a novel concept into the region called "parallel entrepreneurship." The format turns the typical startup formula on its head by identifying robust business models, selecting them as projects, and then getting the best entrepreneurs to partner in order to implement them. Quasar offers the seed capital as well as its global network to ensure proper financing of each startup.

"It is because of these distinctive traits that Quasar is neither an investment fund nor an incubator. We are an experienced group of entrepreneurs with the mission of building groundbreaking and successful technology companies by bringing together robust business models and talented entrepreneur teams," says Quasar Ventures founder and CEO Pablo Simon Casarino.

Quasar's innovative approach, based on its partners' entrepreneurial experience around implementing ideas and building high-impact companies, extends to its method of selecting entrepreneurial partners. Because human capital is a fundamental pillar, the ideal Quasar entrepreneur must have a cluster of unique personal and professional skills: he/she must be intellectually brilliant, ambitious, creative and an extraordinary leader. Quasar plans to find entrepreneurs with an edge who are able to produce a dramatic global impact as leaders of the ten companies that will be built in partnership with the firm in the coming years.

Besides Emergence Capital Partners, other successful and renowned strategic partners have joined Quasar in this effort. Some of them are Peter Kellner, Martin Migoya and Guibert Englebienne, Alejandro Tamer and Roby Souviron, CAP Ventures, Wenceslao Casares and Micky Malka, Alex Mendez, Silvia Torres Carbonell, Verónica Serra from Pacific Investimentos and Gustavo D'Alessandro.

"Having worked with members of the Quasar team for over 15 years, we are convinced that Quasar's entrepreneurship model is the most robust option for building groundbreaking and successful technology companies in Latin America. We deeply trust this group of renowned entrepreneurs, and we hope to continue to build exciting things together in the future," says Emergence Capital Partners Principal Santiago Subotovsky.

About Quasar Ventures:
Quasar Ventures is focused on creating disruptive technology companies in Latin America and abroad. The company was formed by Andy Freire, Santiago Bilinkis and Pablo Simon Casarino. As the first "company builder" of Latin America, this new concept of entrepreneurship is emerging globally and is supported by the entrepreneurial experience of its partners to implement ideas and create high-impact companies. For additional information, visit: http://www.quasar-ventures.com/.

About Emergence Capital Partners (@emergencecap):
Emergence Capital Partners, based in San Mateo, Calif., is the leading venture capital firm focused on early and growth-stage SaaS and technology-enabled services companies. Its mission is to empower business users and organizations around the globe by unleashing the power of technology-enabled Services. The firm's investments include Salesforce.com (CRM), SuccessFactors (acquired by SAP), Yammer (acquired by Microsoft), Lithium, YouSendIt, Box, and Veeva Systems. Founded in 2003, Emergence Capital has $575 million under management. More information on Emergence Capital can be found at http://www.emcap.com/.

SOURCE Emergence Capital Partners