Minister Marco Antonio Raupp releases the Start-up Brazil program.

The government in Brazil is offering foreign companies visas and funding to relocate to South America. Startup Brasil is a new program offering up to $78 million in investment for domestic and foreign high-tech companies. Firms that participate would have to relocate to Brazil and hire local employees; disbursement of funds would take place through a series of government-subsidized accelerators concentrated in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero. One of the participating accelerators, 21212, also has a New York office.

Brazil’s program is modeled on a similar funding-and-visa bundler called Start-up Chile. But while the Chilean program is designed for foreign companies to temporarily operate overseas and cultivate ties to Silicon Valley, New York, and Berlin for local entrepreneurs, Brazil seeks companies willing to permanently relocate to their country.

Via Fast Company