Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008 - (Page 40)

SUCCESS & MOTIVATION VENTURE CAPITAL CHASES HISPANIC WEBSITES By Jeffery D. Zbar THE WEB, TAKE 2 afael Urbina is sitting on a pile of venture capital, trying to take the Hispanic web market by storm. The chairman and CEO of Batanga. com received $30 million in VC money back in August. Since then, the Hispanic media and entertainment company has honed its efforts to reach young Latinos through what he calls a “multiple platform approach.” The company delivers an online entertainment destination with social networking, live events, and targeted publications, streaming some 200 million songs and videos a month on demand to young Hispanic consumers. It’s a far cry from just a few years ago, when Batanga was trying to get by with two advertisers and limited resources. Urbina projected closing 2007 with more than 120 advertisers. And his third-round VCs—particularly Tudor Ventures and H.I.G. Ventures—have taken notice. 40 R “That’s driving dollars into the space,” says Urbina from his Miami headquarters, “and in turn makes for an attractive investment opportunity.” THE DOT-COM PHENOM REPEATED It’s almost like the heady days of the dot-com phenom all over again. Except the Hispanic 2.0 market is speaking a different language—and has the beneﬁt of hindsight. Smart investors see the segmentation of an aspirational and growing market. Expected to represent more than 20 percent of the U.S. population by 2020, Hispanics today command about 11 percent of the nation’s disposable income and $700 million in purchasing power. Yet they are targeted by only 3 percent of total U.S. advertising expenditures. Several forces are at work in the growing interest in the Hispanic web market. One is the observation that ac- culturated U.S. Hispanics like sites like Facebook, MySpace and others, and would like to use them—just not as sites reskinned and translated into Spanish. Many want English- or Spanish-language services focused on Hispanic culture, says Eduardo Hauser, formerly with AOL Latin America and currently CEO of DailyMe.com, a mass market news customization service in Hollywood, Florida. It doesn’t hurt that Hispanic websites have seen the successes—and failures—of general market sites. “The premise is that U.S. Hispanics will want to use those same tools in Spanish,” Hauser says. “Generally speaking, services targeting U.S. Hispanics have the advantage of hindsight. They see what’s happening in the general market, what worked and what didn’t work, and now are launching it two to three years later without the mistakes.” The growth of the Hispanic consumer HISPANIC ENTERPRISE February/March 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008

Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008 Contents Briefcase: BIZBUZZ: Business Briefs Briefcase: Trendsetters Briefcase: BIZTECH: Virtually Meeting BizLife: Travel: Madrid's New Attraction Q & A: Mi Case es su Casa Hispanic Commerce: The Agenda Cover Story: The Top 50 Corporations for Supplier Diversity Technology: Hispanic Web 2.0 Success & Motivation: Sweetening the Deal Politics & Government: The Rescue Generation Managing: The Method Franchising: The Hispanic Face of Franchising Chamber Focus: It's Showtime Movers & Shakers: Open for Business Finance & Investing: Getting Your 401(K) on Target

Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008

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