Latin America Startup Funding Ticked Higher In 2024
Latin America startup investment closed out 2024 on an up note, with the fourth quarter delivering the highest aggregate funding of the year.
Overall, investors put $4.2 billion into seed- through growth-stage rounds for the region in 2024. That’s a 27% increase from the prior year.
Even with these gains, however, funding remains far below the peaks scaled in 2021 and early 2022. Last year, meanwhile, was a historically weak period for venture investment in Central and South America.
For perspective, we charted out investment totals, color-coded by stage, for the past 12 quarters below.
A fintech-led recovery
Fintech was by far the dominant sector for Latin America’s startup investment in both Q4 and 2024 overall, with companies in the space pulling in the lion’s share of the largest rounds.
In the fourth quarter, for instance, the largest venture financing was a $300 million Series E for Buenos Aires-based neobank Ualá. The next-biggest was a $133 million Series C for Brazil-based Asaas, a provider of online business accounts, followed by a $125 million venture round for another Brazilian company, Contabilizei, an accounting platform.
You can see the financial sector’s strong showing in the chart below, outlining 13 of the year’s largest Latin America venture rounds.
Digital commerce was another predominant theme for startup funding in 2024. Two Mexico-based companies were among last year’s largest fundraisers: Clip, a provider of payment terminals and apps for merchants that raised $100 million, and OCN, an EV subscription service for rideshare drivers that picked up $86 million.
Brazil leads for startup funding as late stage gains
Brazil was by far the largest startup investment recipient in the region in 2024, pulling in close to half of funding. Next was Mexico, capturing roughly a fifth of total investment, followed by Argentina, Colombia and Chile.
Funding was up year over year for a majority of geographies. Investment by stage, however, fluctuated a great deal quarter to quarter.
For Q4, in particular, late-stage funding drove gains, with investment hitting its highest point in five quarters, as illustrated below.
Read the full article: https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/latin-america-startup-funding-eoy-2024/
