The Latin America (LatAm) startup space has been classed as an emerging market with significant potential for many years. Yet the latest figures suggest this potential has finally come to fruition across the region. In 2023 alone LatAm secured $3.9B in VC investment despite the global funding winter. The continued maturation of tech ecosystems across the LatAm region has been fueled by a young, tech-savvy population and innovative founders creating solutions that address pressing, unmet needs for local users.
Within these broader regional trends, Brazil offers a shining example of the benefits that a developed tech ecosystem can offer. In 2023, Brazil boasted 33,489 active startups 33,489 according to a report by Distrito supported by SoftBank Latin America Funds and Upload Venture.
These impressive figures were made possible thanks to Brazil’s well-established and highly diversified economy, which provides large-scale employment in heavy and light industries, manufacturing, commerce, finance, trade, and other service sectors.
But around the region, other startup ecosystems are looking to catch up. From Colombia, to Argentina, Mexico and beyond, here are some of the most promising startups in Latin America this year.
Fracttal
Fracttal is a modern and intuitive software platform designed to transform the way maintenance is handled by companies across industries. The solution helps to ensure manufacturing equipment is used optimally, taking machinery maintenance practices to the next level.
The company has headquarters in different cities across the globe, establishing its base in Brazil in 2018. Christian Struve and Alejandro Pérez, co-founders of this high-impact startup identified a common maintenance challenge and developed a tailored solution. With AI-powered assistants, predictive maintenance, and business intelligence for improved reporting, more than 12,000 maintenance teams worldwide use the market-leading solution for their asset management. Fracttal successfully raised USD $10 million in a funding round in a Series B round led by Kayyak Ventures. This capital injection indicates the company is in a position to scale its operations and potentially increase its market share within the asset management software industry.
belo
Belo is a digital wallet created for workers of the future. It is a tool that makes it easier for freelancers and remote workers to access their earnings in foreign currency. It offers different options to receive money internationally, allowing people to save in stablecoins and enjoy a simple and intuitive interface to use as an everyday wallet. Its features include the freedom to send local currency to more than 50 countries along with a range of intuitive savings tools.
Co-founded in 2020 by Manuel Beaudroit during a particularly chaotic period in Argentina, belo is now available on iOS and Android. More recently belo closed its Seed round in 2022, securing 11 investors, including Diverse Angels and Fortified Ventures. Since expanding into Brazil, the fintech solution has integrated Pix, the most popular payment method in the country, allowing Argentines to make payments in Brazil without exchanging currency or carrying cash. Pix is an instant payment system launched by the Central Bank of Brazil in November 2020
Allie
Alex Sandoval and Nicolas DeGiorgis founded Allie in 2022, creating an AI-powered B2B workflow automation tool focused on Industry 4.0. They recently launched “Factory GPT,” a virtual assistant that allows users to “talk to their machines,” streamlining all their factory processes, automating and connecting all their assets, and even linking to WhatsApp. Allie connects to the machines that make up stations and production lines in a plant, enables real-time data capture and visualization, uses this information to generate downtime prediction models, and allows users to perform queries using Generative AI to generate insights. Allie is working with 30 of the largest industrial facilities in America, producing products worth $30 billion in annual output. They also recently raised $2.3 million in equity funding for further technology development.
LeadSales
LeadSales is a multi-agent platform focused on WhatsApp and social networks. It centralizes all chats in one place, allowing users to organize them in custom columns and qualify leads into sales funnels. Forbes named LeadSales one of the 30 most promising startups of 2024. With over 10 years of work experience in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship, Roberto Peñacastro Ortega co-founded LeadSales in May 2021. Since then, he has achieved through his entrepreneurship significant growth and traction, reaching over 10,000 users and 1,400 paying customers across 20 countries. LeadSales is currently the first WhatsApp CRM in Mexico, supported by Meta as a Business Partner, to accelerate the expansion of client service delivery.
Sim Local
Sim Local, founded by Irish entrepreneur Killian Whelan in 2011, is the trusted leader in the eSIM industry, and is fast expanding across Latin America. The company first got its start over a decade ago when its retail shop was established in Dublin Airport. Fast forward to five years ago, and his enterprise had already connected more than 700,000 travelers across the globe. Sim Local caters to global travelers so they can stay connected and avoid expensive roaming charges. The enterprise sells local SIM cards and eSIM Profiles direct to customers through its Sim Local retail stores, kiosks, vending machines, mobile app, and eShop.
Making Sense
Driven by business success and value creation, Making Sense has an agile way of work resulting from more than 15 years of hands-on experience and 100+ projects. The company is driving digital transformation within the US, focusing on successful midmarket companies, looking to transform their business with technology. Leadership is committed to innovation that empowers businesses to thrive in an increasingly digital landscape.
With its headquarters in Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico, Making Sense is proud to have a team of over 400 collaborators. With powerful cultural and industry know-how, Making Sense offers a unique solution for each problem, driving operational efficiency, improved EBITDA, increased revenue, and new market penetration.
Hand Talk
Founded in 2012 by Carlos Wanderlan, Ronaldo Tenório, and Thadeu Luz in Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil, leveraging a team of 50 members and raising $670,000 in Seed funding from Kviv Ventures. Hand Talk uses technology to break communication barriers between deaf and hearing people around the world. It does so with an artificial intelligence-based automatic translation platform. It works with two products in its country of operations: the Hand Talk app and the web accessibility plugin. The former is also going to soon be available in the US. The Hand Talk pocket dictionary app automatically translates text and audio in English to ASL. The application is still free, but there are features to buy, such as new outfits for their 3D digital avatar to interact with others.
Extrimian
Founded in 2020 by Guillermo Villanueva and Pedro Perrotta, Argentinian startup Extrimian offers enterprise blockchain services to governments and companies. They develop countless decentralized applications where customers can easily benefit from technological development. With Extrimian, users can design and implement their own blockchains or consortium networks, allowing greater scalability and privacy in the operations and transactions carried out within them without losing speed and security.
It is a startup with spectacular growth linked to digital identities, working with US Migration, the Government of Buenos Aires, and Mexico, among others. This platform is an entire ecosystem that allows users to build and deploy a universe of decentralized applications based on blockchain and hosted in the distributed cloud designed by RSK.
Alis
Ramon De Hoyos Cantu founded Alis to bring the positive impact of microalgae to global supply chains by producing clean ingredients for cosmetics and foods. The Alis team is developing frontier research in three areas: cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. Alis was earlier part of the Tech and Scientific-based Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico’s leading engineering school.
Current projects include the development of systems for water reuse processes with microalgae, cleaning of water from contaminated natural sources of wastewater generated by industrial processes, and the transformation of spaces with microalgae where they generate oxygen within cities and incorporating them in public spaces where it would not be possible to plant trees or plants while measuring environmental pollution and obtaining environmental data.
Tobipets
The largest online pet store in Costa Rica, founded by Pablo Coto and André Robert, delivers the optimal pet products to the customers’ door. The company is committed to zero waste generated by 2024—winner of the eCommerce Award by the Commerce Institute. The online platform offers a wide range of products focused on pet health and well-being, all in one place, simplifying the purchasing process for pet owners. With national and international recognition, Tobi has positioned itself as the leading pet market startup. With a focus on convenience, health, and well-being for pets, TobiPets provides comprehensive solutions, including food, pharmacy, and accessories.
CuidaMiMascota
Ignacio Guglielmetti founded 2015 CuidaMiMascota, a pet care platform helping people find trusted pet sitters. Users can see and hear how the pet behaves, even throw treats, and engage in the platform through the app. The platform has over half of recurring clients, allowing users to rate pet sitters to look after their furry ones when they travel or just for the day. The same service is responsible for geolocating the user according to distance and the owner’s needs, offering products and services.
With CuidaMiMascota, beloved pets can stay at home with a loving pet sitter under the same routine, decreasing their stress and separation anxiety. It also provides pet insurance, customer support, and daily video updates.
Oliver Pets
Oliver Pets is an all-in-one service platform that makes pet parenting simpler and more fun. The platform utilizes AI to tailor each pet parent’s experience based on their pet profiles and data. María Nougués is the Co-founder of Oliver Pets (MisPichos), the one-stop-shop app for pet parents.
Maria identified a growing problem for pet owners who frequently had to visit 3 or 4 pet shops to find the proper food. Having pets herself, Maria understood the complexity of needing multiple services and platforms when caring for pets. This led her to establish Oliver Pets which also offers comprehensive service and support for elderly pets.
Yipi
Yipi is a Latin American tech startup providing sustainable last-mile transportation that’s affordable for everyone. In this way, Yipi aims to change urban mobility, reduce carbon footprints, and ensure affordable travel for all, driving towards a brighter, greener future. Founded by Ana Vásquez, Yipi is committed to the connectivity, safety, and sustainability of short journeys, known as last-mile journeys. The startup aims to ensure that all trips of less than 5 kilometers worldwide are sustainable, with zero greenhouse emissions, given that its innovative actions address the climate crisis and are currently impacting Jalisco and the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area in Mexico. Previously, Yipi was part of the Tech and Scientific-based Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico’s leading engineering school.
Arkangeles
Arkangeles is a thriving company dedicated to ensuring that investments arrive in the form of capital. To summarize, this means that shares of startups can be acquired. Arkangeles is mainly immersed in the educational, health, and financial sectors. Founder Luis X. Barrios’s expertise has helped to establish and lead a multifaceted team thanks to more than ten years of experience within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. During that period, he realized that collective funding was necessary to provide tools to new investors looking to obtain returns who did not find the traditional financial system attractive, leading to the creation of Arkangeles.
Carryt
Carryt is a last-mile logistics service ideal for eCommerce, retail, and healthcare created by DATATF. Currently operating in the 12 major cities of Colombia, as well as Mexico City and Guadalajara in Mexico, and Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Carryt is making efficient deliveries and securing collections for mass consumer companies, distributors, and grocers that serve the modern channel and make store-to-store sales easier for everyone.
This thriving company has raised over $3.2 million in its series A. It has recently acquired Lift’s operations in Brazil for $800,000. Carryt has a sustainability approach by using electric fleets that can reduce the impact on the carbon footprint by 60%, and according to their own evaluations, they can reduce operating costs by 35% through geocoding algorithms, route optimization, and artificial intelligence.
Truora
Founded in 2018 and recently partnered with AWS, Truora is a Latin American start-up that helps businesses grow by simplifying and automating their user interactions. Since the beginning, Cesar Pino and fellow cofounders have been passionate about building great technology and providing digital solutions for companies everywhere, with the mission to simplify and automate interactions between users in the digital world. Clients include startups, marketplaces, fintech, and banks, where Truora works to reduce risk and validate relationships with users, customers, employees, and suppliers, helping them get more engagement through its all-in-one communication platform that verifies user identities, requests, and processes digital signatures while automating customer support interactions.
WeConecta
Founded in 2021 and based in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, WeConecta is a health tech platform that aims to promote health and well-being through the analysis of health behaviors and risk factors. Using a unique analytical approach, they identify possible risks and guide users about their behaviors, using AI for the prevention and early diagnosis of non-communicable diseases. They collect health behavior data remotely and in real-time, mapping habits and family history to identify at-risk people.
Through an intuitive interface on WhatsApp, WeConecta makes preventive care more accessible and personalized, promoting prevention and early diagnosis. Today, WeConecta has a base of 10 clients from the public and private sectors in Brazil, bringing together more than 30 million Brazilian citizens. Health prevention offered by WeConecta has the potential to help them reduce health care costs by 37%.
Declare Cripto
Declare Cripto emerged as a practical and efficient solution to help investors fulfill the Brazilian Federal Revenue’s demands for greater formalization and accountability from investors, which can be a complicated and time-consuming task for many. Declare Cripto is more than a cryptocurrency declaration platform; it makes the process simpler and more accessible for everyone, helping to ensure compliance with tax obligations. To meet each client’s specific needs, the company offers a customized plan according to demands and objectives.
Denis Rocho, Founder, and CEO of Declare Cripto, is convinced that the platform helps to spread good practices with crypto assets in the country because it provides transparency and security to investors and is committed to providing excellent service in declaring crypto assets in Brazil.
SimpliRoute
SimpliRoute is a company dedicated to designing innovative technological solutions for highly complex problems in the logistics and operations of companies. After opening six offices in Latin America, the intelligent routing technology company is committed to turning Brazil into its second most important market in the short term. SimpliRoute is currently launching a battery of new products in addition to traditional last-mile intelligent routing, such as air and foot routing, and a series of first-mile solutions. It has more than a thousand clients throughout the American continent. Walmart in Chile and Central America, Falabella, Liverpool in Mexico, and the Arca Continental bottling company stand out.
Coral Bio
Daniel Gajardo and Tamara Akentjew, co-founded Coral Bio to create sustainable industrial ingredients from algae using biorefinery processes thanks to their shared biotechnology experience, all driven by innovation,
These raw materials can be used by companies to manufacture sustainable products, from food to cosmetics. This Patagonia-based biotech company uses a new model for processing algae based on biotechnology where they craft ingredients for food, cosmetics, biomaterials, and agriculture while looking to empower coastal communities, regenerate marine ecosystems, and be used as ingredients for thousands of products with sustainability attributes, maintaining a strong sense of commitment to people and the planet.
Skyblue Analytics
From Uruguay, Skyblue Analytics is a thriving fintech company that uses a white label platform and RoboAdvisor to allow financial institutions to have a RobinHood or Interactive Broker-style platform, offering a better experience to their clients. It is looking to raise a capital round of US$1 million for its growth and international scalability. Sebastián Musso and co-founders Founded this startup in 2021; currently based in San Francisco, it offers real-time data analysis solutions via API or embedded and uses AI to generate personalized financial reports. It operates in Argentina, the United States, Peru and Colombia. Skyblue Analytics seeks by 2025 to be a Broker regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) in the United States and cover all of Latin America.
Disclosure: This article mentions clients of an Espacio portfolio company.
