In the last decade, the demographics of companies in the Argentine software sector changed. While the first generations, mostly focused on software development, grew globally and became more attractive as a target for international players, more and more companies emerged, mainly dedicated to products oriented to specific sectors. We will make a genealogy of the different local software companies, and then focus on this most recent segment which, if successful, has an interesting productive and exporting potential.
Illustration: Micaela Nanni.
Software companies: a heterogeneous ecosystem
The software and IT services business ecosystem in Argentina is far from homogeneous. It includes companies of very different sizes and productivity levels. The “unicorns” such as Mercado Libre, Despegar or Globant stand out, with a value of more than USD 1 billion and a high capacity to compete internationally. But it would be wrong to think that this is the general panorama. The Argentine software sector is mainly composed of micro and small companies that sell programmer hours at low cost (92% of the total in 2022).
Between unicorns and micro-enterprises, it is possible to identify different generations of medium and large companies that have opened a development path for the sector, based on different types of specialization, domestic or global market orientation, and growth and financing strategies. Understanding this heterogeneity is fundamental to rethinking the different requirements of incentives, regulations and policies for the coming years, to take advantage of global market demand and the sophistication needs of the domestic productive fabric.
Three generations of Argentinean software companies
1990- early 2000s
The first generation emerged in the 1990s and early 2000s, in the context of the local emergence of companies dedicated to providing specialized services, arising from the wave of privatizations and the boom in web-based ventures, and driven by the search for offshoring of non-core functions by global companies. They were mainly custom software development companies for the corporate market, with a strong focus on the banking and telecommunications sectors.
Post-2002
The second generation emerged after the devaluation, boosted by the Software Industry promotion regime in 2004. It also focused on custom software development, but, unlike the first generation, most of them only had clients abroad. These companies not only developed projects, but also started to sell programmer-hours and tended to develop growth strategies through the financing of risk investment funds. This greater global imprint would lead them to deploy -in many cases- strategies to enter foreign markets through the purchase of companies abroad and the establishment of subsidiaries or companies outside the country.
Post-2010
The third generation has emerged in the last fifteen years, mainly dedicated to the sale of software products associated with different “business verticals” (agribusiness, livestock, energy, health, and finance, among others). Unlike previous generations, which provided customized software development services, these companies do not require large or growing development teams. They need staff with specific knowledge of the industry they are targeting and an understanding of where the market is heading and the type of product they are aiming to achieve.
Why focus on software start-ups?
In the last decade, while the companies of the first two generations, mostly focused on software development, grew globally and became more attractive as targets for international players, more and more third-generation companies emerged, some dedicated to data and others mainly oriented to product development in specific business verticals.
The first two generations are labour-intensive service companies and are – on average – larger. This hinders their competitiveness because it is difficult for Argentina to compete in terms of costs with other players such as India, the Philippines or Vietnam, in Asia, or Bulgaria and Romania. As a result, they encounter important bottlenecks and limits to their growth.
Third-generation product-oriented companies, on the other hand, are less labour-intensive and smaller. While product scalability does not require large, ever-expanding development teams or significant scale, it does require a very fine-grained understanding of the needs and business of your vertical. Competition is not for costs or the cheapest price of a solution but for the best option.
In this sense, third-generation software companies make up an interesting segment in terms of their potential impact on the development of local strategic sectors and the insertion (and scalability) of their products in foreign markets. Therefore, it is important to understand the forms of organization and strategies used by this segment in order to think of public policy alternatives focused on the specific challenges it faces.
Who are they? Characteristics of third-generation product-oriented software companies
Founders with experience outside software
Companies specializing in products are generally young, with an average age of just over 10 years: most (80%) were established between 2010 and 2020. Their founders usually have a common background, but rarely in software. Their technical knowledge and proximity to the sectors that are now their customers stand out.
In addition, these entrepreneurs usually have previous unsuccessful experiences. In general, in their first attempts, they were oriented towards the development of a device or hardware with an embedded solution. When faced with difficulties in production, or with the necessary assets for deployment in the field, they reoriented themselves towards software solutions.
Software companies in need of risk-taking funders
These companies need to turn an idea into a viable product prototype to scale to earn revenue from customers. Without a functional product – which can take years to develop – test and bring to market, there are no customers and no revenue. Thus, they seek capital at earlier stages due to the need to finance the initial development of their products. In addition, they require in-depth knowledge of the target market, innovation and sales capabilities.
In the different stages of financing, they not only acquire partners who provide capital but are complemented in their capabilities by the investors themselves, who provide not only funds but also reputation, experience and contacts. Thus, it is common for companies to be selective when deciding who will be their investors, since these not only open doors but also function as a seal of quality before future investors and new clients. This matching is not a trivial process, nor does it occur in a single instance.
A sector focused on the foreign market
A segment in search of specialised personnel
Although in recent years the number of people studying programming and data science has increased, in general, the companies interviewed recognize that in Argentina there is a shortage of programmers and talent with experience and/or specializations in AI and data science.
This problem has a differential impact on the different types of companies in the sector. The most affected are those in the first generation, which do custom software development or data services, and sell their services in the global market. This is because they are more labour-intensive companies, while their human resources interact with foreign clients, which makes it easier for them to enter the foreign labour market.
On the other hand, third-generation companies, which are more product-oriented, do not depend so much on a large number of programmers. They require knowledge applied to their verticals, which makes them look for more specialized profiles and have a lower staff turnover.
