Despite the challenging fundraising environment for late-stage growth start-ups in Latin America, at least a dozen tech firms in the region could cross the coveted US$1-billion valuation mark this year.
Distrito, a platform specialised in artificial intelligence and innovation that helps companies execute business plans, has been publishing its list since 2019 and in 2024 correctly identified Brazil’s QI Tech among its candidates to become unicorns, or cross the US$1-billion threshold, according to a press release.
Some of the names in 2025 include Bezos Expeditions-backed Stark Bank, Argentina-based payments infrastructure start-up Pomelo, Mexican fintech Kueski, industrial maintenance firm Tractian and Mottu, a motocycle-rental company for the gig economy that counts Marcelo Claure’s Bicycle Capital among its investors.
Distrito chose the companies based on metrics like billing, volume of investments received and speed at which the workforce is growing along with capacity to scale the business, according to the report.
| Name | Country | Sector | Last round | Total equity raised |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stark Bank | Brazil | Fintech | Series B | US$60.3 million |
| Pomelo | Argentina | Fintech | Series B | US$110 million |
| RecargaPay | Argentina | Fintech | Series C | US$108.6 million |
| Omie | Brazil | Fintech | Series C | US$136.7 million |
| Celcoin | Brazil | Fintech | Series D | US$162.4 million |
| Kueski | Mexico | Fintech | Series D | US$137.8 million |
| Flash | Brazil | HRTech | Series C | US$132.3 million |
| Tractian | Brazil | Industry | Series B | US$65.7 million |
| Blip | Brazil | MarTech | Series B | US$230.6 million |
| CRM&Bonus | Brazil | MarTech | Series B | US$135.1 million |
| Mottu | Brazil | Mobility | Series C | US$110.4 million |
| Petlove | Brazil | PetTech | Series C | US$222 million |
| Source: Distrito |
Distrito didn’t provide the latest valuations for the firms.
Venture capital investments in Latin America totalled US$4.5 billion last year, up from US$4.2 billion from 2023, according to a report by Volpe Capital, citing LAVCA data as of January. That’s still well below the peak of US$16 billion in the low-rate environment of the pandemic.
by Daniel Cancel, Bloomberg
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