Unicorn companies are rapidly changing the way business is done in Latin America and are having an impact that goes beyond investments and business development, from the way they market themselves and their innovative character, to the very core of their businesses.
They are not only advancing economies, but are actually becoming economic accelerators in their countries.
“Unicorn” is a term used in the venture capital industry to describe a private startup company valued at more than $1 billion. The term was first popularized by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, founder of CowboyVC, an early-stage venture capital fund based in Palo Alto, California.
According to Lee, the first unicorns were founded in the 1990s. Alphabet (GOOG), then Google, she noted, was the clear super-unicorn of the bunch with a valuation of more than $100 billion. Many unicorns were born in the 2000s, though Facebook (FB) is the only super-unicorn of the decade.
Ranking of Latin American unicorn companies value
infographic-The-most-successful-unicorn-companies-in-Latin-America
Nubank
Value: USD $25B
Sector: Fintech
Capital: USD $1,500M
Year and Country of Foundation: 2013, Brazil
Founders: David Velez, Cristina Junqueira, Adam Edward Wible
Nubank is a Brazilian neobank and the largest Fintech in Latin America and one of the most innovative companies in the world, according to the Fast Company 2019 ranking , founded by Colombian entrepreneur David Vélez. Its headquarters are located in São Paulo, Brazil.
The company achieved a new valuation of 25 billion this year, compared to the 10 billion it had since 2019, with a base of 34 million customers in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.
According to the company, Nubank is currently the largest digital bank in the world by number of customers and its application has been downloaded more times than all other banks combined.
Poplar
Value: USD $4B
Sector: E-commerce
Capital: USD $485M
Year and Country of Foundation: 2016, Mexico
Founders: Carlos Garcia Ottati, Roger Laughlin Carvallo, Loreanne Garcia Ottati
Kavak is an online second-hand car buying and selling company philippine whatsapp number . Founded by Carlos García Ottati, Roger Laughlin and Loreanne García, it has also become one of the first startups to achieve internationalization, after arriving in the Argentine market by merging with Checkars.
During 2020 and under an economic crisis due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Kavak has managed to raise funding from new private investors, valuing the company at more than 1.15 billion dollars, and thus becoming the first startup in Mexico to achieve “unicorn” status.
Rapper
Value: USD $3.5B
Sector: Logistics
Capital: USD $1,765M
Year and Country of Foundation: 2015, Colombia
Founders: Felipe Villamarín, Sebastian Mejia, Simón Borrero
Recognized as one of the most popular delivery platforms in Latin America, Rappi managed to be valued at 1 billion dollars, earning the recognition of being the first startup in Colombia with the title of “unicorn.”
The idea of taking home delivery services to another level came from entrepreneurs Simón Borrero and Sebastián Mejía, who launched the company as a spin-off in 2015. From there, Rappi managed to attract the attention of American venture capitalists and obtained an initial investment from Andreessen Horowitz, an investment firm from Silicon Valley. Likewise, in 2017 it received investment from Endeavor Catalyst, the Endeavor Entrepreneurs Fund.
Wildlife Studios
Value: USD $3B
Sector: Consumer
Capital: USD $250M
Year and Country of Foundation: 2011, Brazil
Founders: Arthur Lazarte, Michael Mac-Vicar, Victor Lazarte
Wildlife Studios is a mobile game development company. It has formed teams in Argentina, Brazil, Ireland and the United States. It
also has ties with important companies in the video game sector, for example, it recently hired the art director of Riot games (the same company that created League of Legends) and the vice president (VP) of Game development from Sony Interactive Entertainment and the VP of Engineering from Mercado Libre.
Other investors include notable participants such as Hugo Barra from Facebook and Javier Olivan, Micky Malka from Ribbit Capital, Ric Elias founder of Red ventures and Divesh Makan from ICONIQ.
Loft
Value: USD 2.9B
Sector: Proptech, E-Commerce
Capital: USD $788M
Year and Cou