Announcing the Cohort: ShelterTech Accelerator Andean Region

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Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter and Village Capital are excited to announce the full cohort for the ShelterTech Accelerator Andean Region virtual accelerator program.

This year’s innovations are designed to address housing challenges and contribute to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, from isolated and hermetic shelters like the ones created by HOBE, to helping millions of Latin Americans that lack adequate shelter through quality houses, such as the ones built by Consolida. 

The startups participating in the accelerator program include:

• Baño Grato (Cartagena, Colombia) develops mobile modular bathrooms made of 100% recycled materials for low-income and rural areas, to decrease health and safety issues.
• Consolida (Santiago, Chile) builds quality small condominiums for multiple family nucleus living in deteriorated houses built informally through government's subsidy.
• Forttech WIIF (Bogota, Colombia) provides an ecommerce platform, consulting and implementation services for affordable planning and home improvements. 
• HOBE (Santiago, Chile) constructs mobile and hermetic shelters for emergencies and those without stable housing.
• Litro de Luz (Bogota, Colombia) provides solar public lighting and free internet access for low-income communities.
• Mi Fika (Bogota, Colombia) helps people acquire property through its end-to-end platform; from saving goals, to searching for the best options and closing the deal.
• Mutuo (Lima, Peru) offers a platform where families can match with architects and construction professionals to cover the whole house building process and financing their new homes.
• Terroformaciones (Quito, Ecuador) develops a modular brick that facilitates construction for the user, reducing up to 40% of the final construction costs. 
• uHOMIE (Santiago, Chile) is an end-to-end digital marketplace for landlords and tenants that speeds up and improves the rental process while reducing costs for both parties.
• Zilper Trenchless (Bogota, Colombia) has a patented and cost-effective technology for installing and fixing underground water pipes by reducing costs and increasing water access, without digging trenches.

ShelterTech, the world’s leading platform for affordable housing innovation, supported by Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, partnered with Village Capital to create a second accelerator program in Latin America – following a successful program in Mexico in 2017 – to advance entrepreneurial housing solutions in the Andean Region. 

More than 100 startups from all Andean countries applied to participate in the six-month program and join a worldwide network, developing and supporting disruptive products and services with the capacity to improve the quality of life for low-income households. Five out of the ten selected startups have a female founder and all of them are pursuing better living conditions for Latin American families.

Participant startups will go through three different phases inside the program, where they will undergo training from sector experts and mentors, test and validate their business models, connect with investors, partners, and both ShelterTech and Village Capital’s alumni. To start, all participant startups will receive USD$10,000 in catalytic funding from Habitat for Humanity.

About Village Capital

Village Capital helps entrepreneurs bring big ideas from vision to scale. Our mission is to reinvent the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Our vision is a future where business creates equity and long-term prosperity. Since 2009, we have supported more than 1,000 early-stage entrepreneurs through our accelerator programs. Our affiliated fund, VilCap Investments, has invested in more than 100 program graduates, including 9 early-stage Latin American companies like Fintual, ePesos and Mutuo Financiera.

About ShelterTech

ShelterTech is a global innovation platform advancing entrepreneurial housing solutions that radically improve the lives of low-income families. Supported by Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter and its partners, ShelterTech puts entrepreneurs at the center of a highly connected ecosystem of mentors, investors, peers, alumni and technical experts who share a passion for revolutionary ideas in affordable housing. Our ambitious goal: make housing one of the top five impact investment categories by 2025. For more information and opportunities, visit shelter-tech.org

About Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter

The Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, a unit of Habitat for Humanity International, works with housing market actors to expand innovative and client-responsive services, products and financing so that households can improve their shelter more effectively and efficiently. The goal of the Terwilliger Center is to make housing markets work more effectively for people in need of decent, affordable shelter, thereby improving the quality of life for low-income households. To learn more, visit habitat.org/tcis.

About Habitat for Humanity

Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 as a grassroots effort and has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in more than 70 countries. In the Asia-Pacific region since 1983, Habitat for Humanity has supported millions of people to build or improve a place they can call home. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. To learn more, donate or volunteer, visit habitat.org.