Noticias Aguila, which translates as News Eagle, now has 20 million users and became the No. 1 news app in Google Play’s Mexico store late last year, according to App Annie. That has come as Tang and his development team remain based in Shenzhen, the Chinese technology hub just across the border from Hong Kong.

Tang, who worked for Tencent Holdings Ltd. before striking out on his own, is among an emerging group of Chinese developers and investors betting the next technology gold rush will come from Latin America and its 600 million-plus people. Fueled by deep-pocketed mainland venture capitalists and success at home, the 40-year-old and his peers are exporting a formula honed in China of pursuing rapid expansion over profitability.

Chinese venture capital investment in Latin America jumped to $1bn since the start of 2017, compared with about $30m in 2015, according to data collected by Preqin.

“China used to copy from overseas, but now we see more opportunities by helping replicate business models that’ve taken off and exporting them,” said Tang, who now spends a quarter of his time in Mexico. "Competition is so fierce in China that smaller companies feel it makes sense to look for opportunities elsewhere."

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