Andrés Barreto
| Andrés Barreto | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1987 (age 28–29) Bogota, Colombia |
| Residence | New York City, New York, United States |
| Nationality | Colombian-American |
| Other names | The Latin Mark Zuckerberg |
| Education | |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 2005 - Present |
| Known for | Atom Accelerator, Onswipe, Coderise, Cloudomatic, Grooveshark, VoiceBunny, Ambassador, Pulsosocial, Socialatom Group, Endeavor |
| Home town | Bogota, Colombia |
| Board member of | Atom Accelerator |
Andrés Barreto (born in 1987) is a Colombian-American entrepreneur. Originally from Colombia, he now lives in New York City. His latest company, Onswipe, is a software platform that enables publishers and advertisers to reach large audiences through touchable devices like the iPad.[1] Barreto has also launched several successful technology firms, including Grooveshark, PulsoSocial, and Cloudomatic. His serial entrepreneurship earned him the nickname of “The Latin Mark Zuckerberg”.[2]
Early life and education
Barreto was born in Colombia and moved to the United States at the age of 12. His parents, an engineer and a dentist, settled in Florida where Barreto attended high school and college.
He founded his first company in 2005, while he was a student at University of Florida. Barreto initially planned to major in business and engineering, but after a few political science courses he decided he wished to help Latin America become more financially stable through entrepreneurship.[3][4]
Career
Socialatom Group
In 2005, he created an online platform where students could share class notes and homework. During this year he also launched a public-relations agency to help companies in United States reach the Latin American market and vice versa. This agency, Socialatom Group, connected the two markets to help the economies of Latin America. The group is headquartered in Miami, Florida and has offices across Latin America.[4][5]
Grooveshark
In 2006, he was one of three co-founders of Grooveshark, an on-demand, music-streaming service. In 2008, however, Barreto was ousted from the company after a disagreement with CEO Sam Tarantino. Grooveshark has grown to more than 100 employees. Over a million users listened to more than 15 million songs of all different genres on the website.[3] In 2011, Grooveshark was a finalist in the 2011 Mashable Awards, which honors the best of digital and social media. On April 30, 2015, Grooveshark was shut down due to several copyright claims from several companies.[6]
PulsoSocial
In 2008, he launched PulsoSocial, which is a media portal that is used to share technology, social media, and entrepreneurship news from Latin America.[1] PulsoSocial is "the leading publication on Social Media, Technology and Entrepreneurship" in the region. Barreto describes the site as a “Latin American version of TechCrunch or Mashable.”[7]
Onswipe
Barreto founded Onswipe with Jason L. Baptiste in June 2010 to facilitate app sharing across all tablet and device platforms. Onswipe has simplified sharing for publishers because they no longer must develop applications for each mobile platform.[3][8]
Startup accelerator
In 2012, Barreto launched a startup accelerator in Colombia. The program invests $25k in each of the 5-10 teams that it incubates for a period of 14 weeks. Teams have the opportunity to “meet with mentors, entrepreneurs and investors in San Francisco, Boston, and New York.” Teams selected for the accelerator will have access to shared office space in Bogotá.[9]
Awards and Recognition
- Inc. Top 30 under 30 (2011)[8]
- TR35 Awards (2012)[3]
Philanthropy
Barreto mentors with the nonprofit, Endeavor, which aids early-stage companies in fund-raising and global expansion.[10]
Along with other members of Onswipe, Barreto provides support to Coderise, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching children in developing nations how to write computer code.[11]
Current life
Barreto currently lives in New York City. His hobbies include adventure travel and extreme sports.[2]
External links
- 1 2 Cristancho-Ahn, Mariana (May 30, 2012). "Our American Dream: The Latin Mark Zuckerberg". Fox News Latino. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- 1 2 López, Tracy (February 23, 2012). "Meet the Latino Mark Zuckerberg". Fox News Latino. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 Zafra, Elena (June 26, 2012). "TR35 Colombia Spotlight: Andrés Barreto, 24". Opinno. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- 1 2 Holly Hutton (July 5, 2012). "The Startup Sit Down: Andres Barreto – Founder Of OnSwipe And GrooveShark On Securing $6 Million In Funding". Killer Startups. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- ↑ Heim, Anna (March 12, 2012). "Evernote enrolls Socialatom and SclBits to expand across Latin America". The Next Web. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- ↑ Haberman, Stephanie (November 21, 2011). "Announcing the 2011 Mashable Awards Finalists". Mashable. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- ↑ Berthiaume, Dan (August 19, 2011). "Serial Entreprenuer Sees Payoff of North-South Hybrid Model". Nearshore Americas. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- 1 2 Fenn, Donna (June 27, 2011). "Jason Baptiste and Andres Barreto, Founders of Onswipe". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- ↑ Heim, Anna (November 1, 2012). "Colombia gets a new startup accelerator, Socialatom Ventures, backed by NXTP Labs". The Next Web. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- ↑ "Andres Barreto". LinkedIn. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
- ↑ Heim, Anna (August 27, 2012). "Coderise will teach kids how to code in developing nations, starting with Colombia". The Next Web. Retrieved November 30, 2012.