The Startup Ecosystem of Chile

Chile, although relatively low in population, is a pioneer of economic development in Latin America, giving it a first mover advantage on innovative startup initiatives. However, with other Latin American ecosystems growing quickly, Chile’s startup ecosystem will need to reinvent itself to maintain its regional leader position. Chile’s economic over-reliance on physical resources like copper suggests its policymakers understand that developing a robust startup ecosystem will be required to keep the country’s economic fortunes. We can only hope that Chile’s recent political shift would not distract anyone from understanding that the real heroes of the economy are its entrepreneurs who should be celebrated as heroes of future economic growth.
A clearly effective program from a marketing standpoint, Startup Chile has garnered global acknowledgment for the country. The program is not restricted to Chilean entrepreneurs and supports founders around the world through an accelerator in Santiago, along with a 1 year startup visa. This was an innovative way to attract foreign entrepreneurs and other countries are now trying to replicate it. For this reason, we have marked Startup Chile as a member of the pantheon club on the StartupBlink map. Chilean ecosystem developers, like their Estonian counterparts, have assertively built a narrative. These efforts have clearly produced fruitful results as the country now has two unicorns: NotCo and Betterfly.
However, Chile’s startup ecosystem has unlocked potential. A challenge for the ecosystem is the tendency of startups to target the relatively small local market rather than international markets. The collaborative and innovative startup playground of Santiago de Chile, coupled with forward thinking and advanced startup promotion initiatives from the Chilean government, will serve Chile’s startup ecosystem well over the coming years.