ProChile recognizes the successful international expansion of a tech company from La Araucanía into the U.S.

• Source: ARAUCANÍA CUENTA

Appoderado.com is now offering its services to schools in the state of Florida (United States) under the brand “School in One,” which has been fully adapted to this market.

The company Appoderado.com celebrated its first successful entry into the North American market with a commercial agreement signed with several schools in the state of Florida. To achieve this, they fully adapted their software to meet the necessary requirements and launched the “School in One” application.

Ignacio Leiva, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of School in One, traveled from Temuco to Miami to begin training the first schools that will use this platform. School in One allows for the digitalization of numerous school activities, including attendance records, grades, communication with parents, behavior notes, and students' academic information.

For Claudia Rojas Sanhueza, Regional Director of ProChile in La Araucanía, “this is a tremendous milestone for the region’s information technology sector. Entering a market as sophisticated and developed as the United States demonstrates that the company operates at a very high level and is capable of competing anywhere.”

The tech company Appoderado.com, originally from La Araucanía, was founded in 2014 by a group of engineers from Universidad Mayor. They aimed to create a digitalized solution for the education sector in Chile.

“Appoderado started as a communication tool between families and schools. Initially, it was quite rudimentary. Later, they were pioneers in sending notifications to mobile phones so that families could stay informed about their child’s activities without relying on the old communication notebooks,” explained Leiva.

Over the past 10 years, the company has experienced steady growth, now serving over 700,000 users in Chile, including teachers, students, and parents. Additionally, it is the highest-rated school platform on Google Play, App Store, and AppGallery.

Leiva adds, “We cover virtually all the internal operations of a school, all in one place. It’s designed to be user-friendly for both teaching staff and school administrators. Now, these needs are not only present in Chilean schools but also in schools worldwide.”

How did they manage to enter the United States? According to the School in One executive, “It was a long and gradual process, during which ProChile helped us immensely, both through their office in La Araucanía and their office in Miami.”

With their guidance, “we began to learn about how businesses operate abroad, gradually understanding, hand in hand with ProChile, what internationalization entails. It’s no small effort. In fact, we underwent two soft-landing processes to fully grasp how we could directly enter the U.S. market and adapt our proposal, which works very well in Chile and Latin America, to a completely different market.”

Claudia Serrer, Commercial Director of ProChile in Miami, noted, “We have supported Appoderado in every stage of its journey, from market research through our specialized EdTech programs to its successful participation at eMerge Americas this year as School in One. We are proud to see their progress, and starting collaborations with schools in the U.S. is a significant achievement in their internationalization process.”

The challenge involved adapting not only the language but also the concepts and processes specific to U.S. schools. “The U.S. is a country that continuously innovates, so we had to meet those standards, raise our bar, and achieve that level,” Leiva stated.

School in One’s ambitions extend beyond Florida. With ongoing support from ProChile, the company is starting conversations to expand to other states, including Los Angeles, New York, and Washington. “The application has already demonstrated its capabilities and potential for growth, and we want to continue working with ProChile as we expand,” affirmed Leiva.