Latin America’s Unicorns – Rapidly Growing Startups and New Innovations
Over the last years, Latin America has established itself as one of the most important regions for the foundation of new companies. Many startups have been founded in Mexico as well as in other LATAM countries and they are growing rapidly and successfully. A startup valued at over one billion US dollars in the market is a so-called “unicorn”. 24 Latin American companies have achieved this status over the last 4 years thus leading the way to a promising future, as entrepreneurial spirit in Latin America now seems to be awakening.
Latin America – A Favorable Environment for Innovation
Although this region’s boom seems to have come out of nowhere, there are many different factors and drivers that made this development possible. The environment that favors innovation and the creation as well as the growth of startups has been built slowly over many years. The foundations for current success were already laid at the beginning of the last decade. A certain entrepreneurial spirit, easier access to capital, the improvement of academic offers, as well as the advancing digitalization form parts of the supporting structures for a successful foundation and rapid growth of new companies. Above all, the digitalization and an increasing number of globally connected individuals and companies make it possible for tech-startups to become “unicorns” in a very short time.
Not only these factors have paved the way for the new LATAM “unicorns”, but also some individual companies have done their part, such as the e-commerce company Mercado Libre, which became a role model for Latin American founders back in 2000. Likewise, the delivery service Rappi also impressed with its rapid growth. The success of this company was to focus not only on a specific region or country in Latin America but to exploit the entire region’s potential something many of the new “unicorns” are also taking as an example today.
Mexico´s Unicorns
Among the 24 new unicorns of Latin America are three Mexican technology startups. The most exceptional is the fintech startup Clip, which received a $250 million investment reaching the threshold of a $1 billion valuation and becoming one of Mexico’s first “unicorns”. F Likewise, Kavak, a car dealer and Bitso, a cryptocurrency trading company, achieved the unicorn status in the last years.
These examples show that not only Latin America as an entire region, but also Mexico as an individual country is establishing itself as a significant location for innovation and startups. Mexico stands out in particular due to the low barriers for starting a business and offers particularly good access to the U.S. market due to its geographic location.
If you want to start a business in Mexico, please do not hesitate to contact us! We will not only help you find the right location for your business but will advise you regarding each and every aspect of a business startup in Mexico.
