Photo: Manolo Constain, manager of the services sector at Invest Pacific, attends TechCruch Disrupt in San Francisco. (Photo credit: Invest Pacific)

Led by the Investment Promotion Agency of Cali and Valle del Cauca (Invest Pacific), ProColombia, and Cali’s economic development department, the group traveled to both San Francisco and Los Angeles to attend TechCrunch Disrupt and an AI B2C Investors & Networking event in addition to other meetings.

Along with technology and software firms, the mission sought to target investment into Cali from service providers and investors in the business process outsourcing (BPO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) sectors.

Manolo Constain, manager of the services sector at the non-profit Invest Pacific, said that the trip was designed to generate new investment opportunities, foster job creation, and “reinforce commercial ties between the two territories.”

The United States is the largest investor in both Colombia and Valle del Cauca, according to Invest Pacific data, including 124 relevant projects from 77 US companies realized in southwestern Colombia, totaling more than $700 million USD and generating more than 9,000 jobs.

This represents more than one-fourth of all investment projects into the region, per the agency, and includes major commitments from California-based firms TaskUs and Alorica, which have both already established operations in Cali.

Other significant investments into the region from tech and services companies have come from Globant, TSO Mobile, Moove it, Foundever, and Encora.

“We are committed to promoting economic growth and investment in Cali, and this collaboration with Invest Pacific is fundamental to achieving our goals of contributing to the social and economic development of Cali,” said Jarrison Martínez, secretary of economic development of Cali.