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Story highlights
$40,000 investment, working visa and office space offered to high potential companies
Successful businesses selected by panel of Silicon Valley experts
By 2014 grants will have been granted to 1,000 firms for a total of $40 million
Finding enough capital to give a burgeoning business its best shot of success is a challenge that faces many budding entrepreneurs.
So when Mariano Kostalec heard about the Start-Up Chile initiative, he was intrigued.
The government funded project offers high potential global start-ups a $40,000 investment. No equity is ceded and the only requirement is that at least one member of the team remains in the country for six months.
The aim is to turn Santiago into South America’s Silicon Valley.
“Looking at what’s happening in Argentina at the moment my expectations were actually quite low in a sense,” Mariano told CNN’s Rosie Tomkins.