2018: The Year VC In Latin America Began To Close The Gap

In November 2018, Brazilian delivery startup iFood raised more capital than Latin American startups raised in all of 2016. The round, which Forbes called Latin America’s largest funding round ever, was a high point of the accelerating pace of innovation in the region and confirmation of international investor interest in Latin American startups.

For the Latin American startup ecosystem, 2018 was also a year of new unicorns and new records. The first of these unicorns emerged after Didi Chuxing’s acquisition of Brazilian rideshare app 99 in January.

Hardly a day goes by now without a breaking story about a new Latin American tech deal. As international VC money pours into the region, Latin America’s tech revolution is starting to feel unstoppable. In 2010, the year I arrived in Chile, venture capitalists invested less than US$200M in Latin American startups. In the past two months, Latin American startups have raised more than US$1B, nearly matching what Latin American startups raised in 2017 (US$1.1B)