Portland tech startup with Chilean roots gets Google cash boost
Courtesy / Eskuad
Eskuad, a Portland-based startup with Chilean roots, is one of 50 startups selected for Google's inaugural Latino Founders Fund. Eskuad is led by Max Echeverria, shown here.
Eskuad, a growing Portland-based technology startup with roots in Chile, is getting a capital boost from Google through its inaugural Latino Founders Fund.
As one of 50 startups selected for the $5 million fund, Eskuad will receive $100,000 in cash and $100,000 in Google Cloud credits and hands-on support from the tech behemoth, according to Max Echeverria, Eskuad's founder and CEO. Google will also provide founders with free access to mental health therapists.
Eskuad is developing a mobile-first platform to help field operations in industries such as forestry and maritime collect and report data more efficiently. The company relocated to Portland after participating in the Roux Techstars Accelerator program at Portlad's Roux Institute. The company was a member of the debut cohort that wrapped up last December.
With the fund, Google said it aims to help Latinos build and grow their businesses.
Asked what Eskuad will do with the money, Echeverria said, "We are going to use it to enhance our product and commercialize it in New England, with a focus on Maine."
The company plans to hire a designer and a developer along with contract sales people. Eskuad currently employs nine people, four of whom are in Chile. Five are in the United States, including three in Portland.
Earlier this year, Eskuad participated in the Google for Startups Founders Academy, a four-month virtual program help pre-seed/seed stage startups grow their revenues and gain access to capital.
And in Echeverria's native Chile, Eskuad received the Most Innovative Solution Award in 2021 from Startup Chile, a government-funded seed accelerator based in Santiago.
Echeverria, an industrial engineer-turned entrepreneur, referred to the Google Latino Founders Fund support an an "outstanding milestone" in his company's strategy to grow in this country.
"We started bootstrapping in the south of Chile, and at first nobody believed [in] us," he said. "Being backed by Techstars, and now Google, is a dream come true."
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