The Startup Ecosystem of Argentina

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.