Case study: Aentropico, Colombia Aentropico is a \"big data\" company, founded in Colombia in 2012, that provides predictive analytics services to businesses. It aims to make its service easy to use and accessible to a large base of customers. This type of service typically is delivered over a web interface and therefore requires reliable broadband connectivity.In its first year, Aentropico started its search for funding with a small team and a platform at a very early stage of development. It succeeded raising USD 45 000 from private investors121. In 2013, Aentropico raised USD 110 000, of which USD 20 000 was received from INNPulsa, a government-funded incubator,122 and Fundación Bavaria, an institution that sponsors development-oriented initiatives. Both institutions’ missions are to support the growth of Colombia’s business sector. The funds were offered to Aentropico as grants; Fundación Bavaria and INNPulsa were not expecting to receive a financial return. For Aentropico, this type of funding meant that it did not have to dilute its equity stake, safeguarding capital for later and attracting investment from other parties.The grants, together with funding received from investors such as Start-Up Chile and StartupBrasil, allowed Aentropico to keep growing its team and develop the platform. Today the company is selling its products to clients across Latin America. 1.7 Conclusions Based on the case studies presented in this chapter, this section summarizes the key lessons and best practice approaches to implementing regulatory frameworks and policies in order to attract investment in broadband networks and higher-layer services. This section also summarizes the investment trends across each of the case studies reviewed. Care should be taken, however, in interpreting these trends, because the sampling of case studies needs to be significantly greater to be statistically representative. Therefore, at best the case studies can be considered illustrative, and the trends can be tested further through more analysis and research. 1.7.1 Investment trends This section summarizes the investment trends discussed in each of the case studies. By plotting the value of the investment of each case study (x axis) and the economic maturity of the region where the investment was made (y axis) it is possible to derive an investment trend for:• traditional PPP broadband investments; • new market entrants and alternative investors; and • innovative investors financing higher-layer services. The results are shown in the chart in Figure 2.8. As previously mentioned, however, care should be taken when interpreting these trends, Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2016 37 Chapter 1 Box 1.19: Key lessons: Aentropico • Grant funding from non-profit organizations means that companies do not have to relinquish any of their any equity or ownership, which can be significant in attracting further, private-sector investment. • Non-profit funding is particularly relevant during the initial stages of a business, when it can be very challenging to attract private investors.• Governments can foster non-profit initiatives in different ways. A direct approach is to form agencies such as INNPulsa, which help fill in the gaps where there are no private investors. Other, less direct approaches could include rewarding companies that invest in projects of socio-economic importance with fiscal benefits.