Brazilian tech coworking space Cubo to quadruple in size

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Latin America's largest hub for technological entrepreneurship, Cubo coworking Itaú, will quadruple its office space in São Paulo, underscoring the growth in technology and mobility solutions activity in the country. Itaú Unibanco Holding SA and venture capital firm Redpoint eventures said Cubo's move to a 12-floor building in São Paulo's financial district will take place by June 2018. Cubo hopes to house more and larger startups and offer more logistic and networking support to non-resident startups. The new facilities could have 2,000 daily visitors, house as many as 210 resident companies and partners, and more than 1,250 workers. "This expansion is driven by the need to increase the scale of the positive impact that Cubo has had on the ecosystem, both in domestic and international environments," a statement said. Cubo's current space houses 52 startups. Itaú, Latin America's largest bank by assets, conceived Cubo as a venture to bring the culture of Silicon Valley to Brazil, where the number of operating tech startups has surged in recent years. A bigger coworking space should help connect "entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, universities and corporations in a single location," the statement said. The São Paulo-based bank has yet to invest in any of the startups housed in Cubo, although some are suppliers and contractors. Apart from Itaú and Redpoint, Cubo's partners include AES Corp, steelmaker Gerdau SA and Cie de Saint-Gobain SA and local and international firms. More partners will be able to join Cubo after the relocation to bigger and more modern offices, the statement said. (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)