Not so long ago, the idea of public tech companies emerging from Latin America seemed far-fetched, and Mercado Libre once appeared as rare and mythical as a true unicorn. Today, however, the region is home to several startups that have reached billion-dollar valuations.

Some of these startups, propelled into the spotlight by cross-border expansion, are now recognized beyond their home countries, with Nubank notably going public in the U.S. 

Yet, there is a broader cohort of Latin American scale-ups that deserve attention; many in fintech, but not exclusively. Other important sectors include e-commerce, health tech, logistics, proptech, and SaaS.

Some homegrown unicorns may currently hold “paper valuations” from rounds that were raised during the 2021 peak, but the point still stands: They are worth knowing, and many could recover alongside the market, as VC investment in Latin America demonstrated resilience in 2024.

As a group, these unicorns also reflect Latin America’s multiple startup hubs. While Brazil and Mexico remain leaders in numbers, unicorns have also emerged from Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay, further strengthening these ecosystems.

Let’s take a closer look at the top Latin American unicorns by valuation — although the oldest price tags often need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Coming out of Colombia, Rappi is an on-demand delivery platform that became a super app and expanded into multiple countries.

Its rise solidified before the pandemic: In 2019, it raised a $1 billion investment from SoftBank. But its $5.25 billion valuation was attached to the round of more than $500 million it secured in July 2021. 

Since then, Rappi has operated in a more challenging environment, conducting multiple rounds of layoffs and facing changing gig economy legislation in Mexico, where it now plans to invest $110 million to boost its operations. However, the company still very much hopes to IPO and hired a CFO to prepare for that endeavor after reaching break-even for the first time in late 2023.

QuintoAndar is a Brazilian proptech company focused on the rental and sale of residential real estate. With commercial activities in six Latin American countries and a tech hub in Europe, it made several acquisitions and grew into a group with a headcount of more than 3,500 people.

In 2021, the startup was busy on the fundraising front: Less than three months after announcing a $300 million Series E at a $4 billion valuation, QuintoAndar raised an additional $120 million at a $5.1 billion valuation. With $755 million raised to date, its cap table includes Kaszek, General Atlantic, SoftBank, and Tencent.

Creditas is a Brazilian fintech player specializing in loans, including consumer credit.

Its latest round of funding was a $260 million Series F in January 2022 valuing the Brazilian lender at $4.8 billion, up from $1.75 billion in December 2020. 

The Series F was led by Fidelity, with participation from new and existing backers, including Kaszek Ventures, QED Investors, and SoftBank. It was extended in July 2022 at the same valuation, allowing Creditas to buy the Brazilian license of Andorran bank Andbank for some $93 million.

Branded as Tiendanube in Spanish-speaking markets, Nuvemshop is a Brazilian e-commerce platform designed for SMEs and entrepreneurs to sell products and services online — or in short, “Latin America’s answer to Shopify.”

Its latest known valuation of $3.1 billion comes from the $500 million Series E mega-round co-led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global Management that it raised in August 2021, only a few months after its Accel-led $90 million Series D.

Wildlife Studios is a Brazilian mobile gaming company.

It was co-founded by Victor Lazarte, now also a general partner at Benchmark, the VC firm that led Wildlife Studios’ $60 million Series A in 2019 at a $1.3 billion valuation. Less than a year later, the startup reached a nearly $3 billion valuation from its Series B round.

In a candid conversation onstage at Slush 2023, Lazarte said that, in retrospect, raising too much capital at too high a valuation so fast was a “mistake.” In June 2023, the company announced that former Amazon executive Peter Hill would replace Lazarte as CEO. It also conducted several rounds of layoffs.

Loft is a Brazilian proptech company supported by big Silicon Valley names since its genesis in 2018.

Loft’s $175 million Series C was co-led by a16z and Vulcan Capital in 2020. A $425 million Series D led by New York-based D1 Capital Partners followed in March 2021, and its extension in April 2021 valued the company at $2.9 billion.

The digital real estate platform wasn’t immune to the market turn. It conducted two rounds of layoffs in 2022 but denied having raised a down round in November 2022. In 2023, after fresh funding from a sovereign fund in the Middle East” at an undisclosed valuation and another round of layoffs, it claimed to have reached break-even.

Unico is a Brazilian ID tech startup, and one of Latin America’s largest SaaS companies.

Its $2.6 billion valuation is more recent than many on this list. It came from the $100 million Series D the company raised in April 2022. The round was led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from existing investors General Atlantic and SoftBank Latin America Fund.

C6 Bank is a Brazilian digital bank. Unlike some competitors, it hasn’t expanded beyond Brazil, where it has more than 35 million clients. 

C6 was valued at $2.28 billion in December 2020, six months before JPMorgan Chase acquired 40% ownership of the neobank in 2021. After increasing its stake in 2023, it now owns 46% of C6, which had its first-ever profitable year in 2024.

With backers including General Catalyst and SoftBank, Kavak is a Mexico-based e-commerce platform to buy and sell used cars online. 

Once valued at $8.7 billion after a Series E round that doubled its valuation in 2021, Kavak saw its valuation slashed by $6.5 billion following expansion difficulties and layoffs. After raising a $127 million equity round and securing two $200 million debt facilities in March 2025, the company aims to position itself for a potential IPO within the next three to five years.

Bitso is a Latin American cryptocurrency exchange that also facilitates cross-border payments.

In May 2021, it secured a $250 million Series C round valuing the company at $2.2 billion and co-led by Tiger Global and Coatue, with participation from new and existing investors, including Kaszek and QED.

Known for its InfinitePay and Jim.com brands, CloudWalk is a Brazilian payment infrastructure company (not to be confused with the Chinese facial-recognition software company by the same name). 

CloudWalk’s $2.15 billion valuation resulted from a $150 million Series C led by Coatue in November 2021. Since then, CloudWalk achieved its first full year of profitability in 2023 and closed 2024 with $497 million in revenue.

Briefly known as BlitzPay and founded by former PayPal employees, Clip is the Square of Latin America, with POS devices and fintech solutions for businesses.

Clip became a unicorn in 2021 following a $250 million round led by SoftBank and Viking, and maintained this status since then. The $100 million round it raised in June 2024 confirmed its $2 billion valuation as the company was “on the brink of profitability,” its CEO told Bloomberg.

Loggi is a Brazil-based logistics company known for its focus on last-mile delivery.

Its backers include Monashees, Qualcomm Ventures, and SoftBank. Its latest funding round was a $205 million Series F led by CapSur Capital in March 2021 at a valuation close to $2 billion.

Bets are still open on who may join the list and how the rankings might be reordered, so we’ll make sure to keep it updated.