The Startup Ecosystem of Argentina

Argentina has 4 cities in the top 1000 and is one of South America’s best countries for setting up a startup.

COUNTRY RANKING

Since 2023, Argentina lost 10 spots in the Global Startup Ecosystem Index, having now positioned itself as 47th worldwide.

Population

46.1
Million

Regional Ranking

4th
-
1
In South America

Global Ranking

47th
-
10
Worldwide

Ecosystem

Startup Ecosystem Overview

city buildings during day
Argentinian entrepreneurs have demonstrated their ability to create high impact startups, such as MercadoLibre, and the country is blessed with both highly skilled entrepreneurs and specialized programmers.

Argentina was one of the richest economies in the world 100 years ago, yet its current state of economic uncertainty is not helping local entrepreneurs thrive. There is still too much bureaucracy and red tape, exemplified by the confusing black-market exchange rate for the Argentinian Peso.


The challenges that Argentina faces are mainly economic; the country suffers from both a long term devaluation in the local currency and severe inflation. These challenges were further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which discouraged foreign investment and drove many international companies to relocate overseas.

Despite all this, Argentina is still one of Latin America’s biggest economies in terms of GDP, and has the potential to become its most powerful regional startup hub. The success of MercadoLibre is truly remarkable. The company became one of the strongest Latin American tech startups after launching ecommerce and auction platforms. With Auth0, the nation demonstrated its capacity to foster Argentinian-owned unicorns. However, Auth0 also demonstrates the difficulties of building an impactful startup in Argentina, as the company was relocated, acquired by Okta, and is now headquartered in the US. Regardless, new unicorns such as Ualá, a mobile Fintech app, are managing to appear. Other than fintech, The country has great potential in agtech considering its dominance as an exporter of agricultural products to the world.

Buenos Aires is the startup powerhouse of Argentina, hosting some of the most successful startups in the country and a community-led startup ecosystem organization, Startup Buenos Aires. Moreover, the Buenos Aires City Government is an active participant in the ecosystem through an incubator called incuBAte. Another promising startup hub in Argentina is Córdoba. Córdoba Acelera is a public-private organization that has a mission to connect the city with the world through innovation, business models, entrepreneurship, and new economies.

Although the Argentinian startup ecosystem is growing and gathering success stories, Argentina’s public sector needs to improve infrastructure and reform legislation to avoid brain drain and attract foreign entrepreneurs. A step towards tackling these challenges was taken in 2017 when the Entrepreneurship Law was passed, and further steps include legislation like the Knowledge Economy Law. Argentina is also among the countries offering a digital nomad visa. More should be done to ensure local entrepreneurs feel they can create startups with regional and global impact while remaining in Argentina. The country has plenty of tech talent and STEM graduates, and we hope to see them embrace entrepreneurship within the country.

Startups

Argentina Top Startup Industries

Fintech icon
Fintech
#32 worldwide

135 startups

Foodtech icon
Foodtech
#33 worldwide

71 startups

Ecommerce & Retail icon
Ecommerce & Retail
#36 worldwide

65 startups

Ecosystem HealthCheck

Argentina Ecosystem Health Check

The health check tables allow you to look at the performance Argentina has in each of the parameters that are part of StartupBlink's ranking algorithm. There are five tables, corresponding to the three subscores, the subscore analysis and industry ana...

  • Overperformance
  • Performance equal to global ranking
  • Underperformance
ParameterParameter Global rankParameter rank change since 2022ResultContribution to total scoreRank gain / loss due to parameter
Total Score47-105.068100%0
Quantity Score4021.39127.45%0
Sample size of startups26251214.89%-3
Sample size of accelerators25-1302.62%-4
Sample size of coworking spaces3211628.48%-5
Community Score29N/A0.0390.77%0

ECOSYSTEM

Browse the startup ecosystem database of Argentina

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Ecosystem

The Startup Ecosystem in Argentina

Our startup ecosystem map for Argentina includes a sample of 545 tech companies. We have identified as unicorns 1 startups that have passed the USD 1 billion valuations. Contributing to the vitality of this startup ecosystem are the 1 pantheon member entities.

Global Rank

Argentina is ranked within the top 50 startup ecosystems globally.

Top Industries

Argentina’s startup scene is best represented in Fintech, Foodtech, and in Ecommerce & and Retail.

Top Cities for Startups in Argentina - Ranked by StartupBlink
StartupBlink ranks the startup ecosystems of 100 countries and 1,000 cities. Download our latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report.
Rows:
2023 National Rank & Change ▲
2023 National Rank & Change City
search leaderboards icon
Global Rank & ChangeTotal Score
Access subscores for 1000 cities and 100 countries
Quantity Score
Quality ScoreBusiness Score
1st
0
75th
-
19
8.529
00.00
00.00
00.00
2nd
0
240th
+
8
2.047
00.00
00.00
00.00
3rd
+
1
568th
+
125
0.389
00.00
00.00
00.00
4th
-
1
655th
+
22
0.305
00.00
00.00
00.00
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Startups

Notable Startups in Argentina
Workana startup icon
Workana
Digital House startup icon
Digital House
Lemon Cash startup icon
Lemon Cash

Startups

Successful Fintech startups in Argentina
Lemon Cash startup icon
Lemon Cash
Brubank startup icon
Brubank
Pomelo startup icon
Pomelo

Featured Startup Ecosystems

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