30 May, 2020 | BX Crew

Social issues and Enterprise & Industry

UltraGrupo

Carlos Jordan is an entrepreneur passionate about innovation and technology. He is the CEO and co-founder of UltraGrupo, a tech startup that raised the largest funding rounds in Bolivia’s history.

It all started in 2015 after Carlos Jordan, returned to Bolivia after living abroad and was looking for a place to live. ‘It was very hard to find a place, I had to look for ads in the newspaper,’ remembers Jordan. Now UltraCasas has grown and has been joined by his sister company UltraCreditos which are both part of UltraGrupo. For Jordan the objective is clear: ‘Our mission and vision is to position Bolivia on a regional level. We want to show that in Bolivia we can do great things.’

It proved challenging at first because there was no digital environment in Bolivia at the time. ‘At first it was difficult due to the lack of digitalisation, but Bolivians support Bolivia. And it is easier now. On the positive side, now we have to turn to digital options, and it is a big moment to start a technological company.’

Jordan and his team learned a lot through the process and they are now looking for their third round of investments. ‘You have to be well-prepared,’ says Jordan, ‘The learning process is fundamental. My advice for young startups is to not be afraid to fail, and to learn to grow.’

Looking to the future, Jordan tells us, ‘As Bolivia enters an economic recession, we will have to be able to make it, and understand its process. In the meantime we need to prepare and strengthen our digital offer, which is in itself an opportunity.’

‘We will have to invest in solutions to avoid human contact, and we are going in that direction. We have to take advantage of the context. Before [the pandemic] working with digital technologies was essential, now it is a matter of life and death. We will have to be more aggressive.’

UltraGrupo has two portals: 

- UltraCasas: the number one property classifieds in Bolivia with 25,000 listings and 800,000 sessions per month. Today, it is the largest in the country, it currently has 25,000 properties available and receives up to 23,000 people a day who are looking for a property in the main cities of the country such as La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.