By Doreen Hemlock
A new tech star from Spain is setting up its Americas headquarters in Miami: Hiberus, a software maker and consultancy strong in media, travel, retail and banking.
After doubling billings in the past two years to roughly $100 million in 2022, the company aims to double revenues again in the next two years, with the Americas region as a key component, says Marcos Latorre Diez, CEO of Hiberus International, the unit now establishing in South Florida.
“From Miami, we’re going to coordinate our growth in Latin America, where lots of our global clients have operations, like Banco Santander, Havas Media and Roche,” says Latorre. “And we know Miami is developing as a tech hub, with fintech, blockchain and crypto. As we’ve done in Spain, we see opportunities to develop local talent in the IT sector.”
Hiberus began in 2012 in Zaragoza, the capital of Aragon in northeast Spain. Its name comes from the Latin version of the Ebro River in that area. Four tech colleagues launched the venture to offer IT consulting and create software. They received backing from Spain’s Grupo Henneo, a media conglomerate with newspapers, magazines and TV operations. Hiberus built a content management system for Henneo that it now markets worldwide, with clients including El Tiempo in Colombia, El Milenio in Mexico and Clarin in Argentina, he says.
“Our company is based on three pillars: IT consulting, with specialists in 40 areas including Adobe, Salesforce, SAP, Google, Amazon and Microsoft; Proprietary software, with some 30 products we built including our content management system popular in Spain and Latin America; and Talent development, through collaboration with universities and our own courses to train engineers and others in our specialty areas. We will develop all three pillars in the Americas.”
Hiberus now employs more 2,500 people worldwide, with some 20 locales in Spain, offices in Europe in Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, plus an operation just opened in Morocco in north Africa. It expects to grow to 3,000 people globally this year, Hiberus CEO Sergio Lopez has said.
In South Florida, Latorre is starting out with just one colleague from Spain: Sandra Benedicto, director of business development and operations, with more to follow. “We need to go step by step,” he says, to evaluate the new market, figure out where to put an office, build a brand name and “create value for the Miami market.” Longer-term plans call for additional offices in Boston, Dallas and New York, according to Lopez in Spain.
The arrival of Hiberus comes amid a wave of tech expansion from Spain to Miami. Other recent arrivals include: Factorial, a human resources software company from Barcelona, which opened its North American hub in Miami (RefreshMiami article here); ClimateTrade, a Valencia-based platform to buy and sell carbon offsets that keeps its U.S. headquarters in Miami (article here); and MedUX, a venture from Madrid that measures the performance of telecom networks and runs Americas operations from Miami. Among tech veterans from Spain is TheVentureCity, the international venture capital fund-incubator with headquarters in Miami and Spain (article here.) And this week, a contingent from the Miami tech community is participating in the South Summit in Madrid.
The growth builds on long-standing ties between Spain and Florida, the area named by the Spanish for its flowers. More than 400 Spanish companies now have operations in South Florida in sectors as diverse as tech, construction, banking, food, telecom, outsourcing services and insurance, says Juan Carlos Pereira, executive director of the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest binational chambers in Florida. Many of those Spanish companies set up in Miami after expanding first from Europe to Latin America and manage all their Americas operations from Florida, says Pereira.
To help build its name in the Americas, Hiberus is working with large regional organizations. For instance, it’s helping the Washington, D.C.-based InterAmerican Development Bank on a “smart destinations” program that includes tech in development plans for 10 popular tourist spots including Cancun, Mexico and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, says Latorre. Hiberus already built a proprietary software for tour operators that combines bookings for hotels, flights, restaurants and more.
“Within a few years, we aim to be truly global,” says Latorre, “offering services that follow the sun and providing tech specialists, software and talent development in every time zone.”
Photo at top of post: Marcos Latorre Diez and Sandra Benedicto of Hiberus International, the unit basing its Americas HQ in MIami.
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