PuntaTech happened in Punta del Este, Uruguay this week. Around 600 hundred people from the entrepreneurial and technology world – present and past entrepreneurs, investors, technology people, and invited guests from other regions – get together for a big meet-up at sunset in the amazing Punta del Este. A number of informal activities including great after parties are informally organized around the main event.

The main objective of PuntaTech is networking of the tech community of South America (most of the attendees are from the Southern Cone because of proximity). The event is organized at the beginning of January every year taking advantage that many of the successful entrepreneurs and investors are already spending time in the resort town of Punta del Este during the summer of the Southern Hemisphere. The event was created and is still run by Ariel Pfeffer, Pablo Brenner and Sergio Fogel, successful Uruguayan entrepreneurs. This was the seventh edition.

What makes PuntaTech great is that people have the opportunity to meet and interact with other people during several days in many very relaxed venues. This is unique in Latam. I don’t know of any other event that has been able to do the same in the region. You can even spend a few hours at the beach between events if you want.

I attended PuntaTech for the first time two years ago and it worked. In that occasion I met Miguel Santos, co-founder and CEO, of Technisys. We started a very good dialogue, saw that we shared a common vision and we ended up investing in Technisys around a year and a half later. Exactly the type of interactions and results that PuntaTech aims to achieve.

On top of all the networking, Punta del Este is a great place to spend a few days during summer time. If you are interested in the tech ecosystem in South America, you should not miss it next year.

All photos by me. More in here and in my Instagram account.