The selected companies are among the most promising in the region, with significant financial and innovative capacity to corner the Spanish and European market, as well as a high social and environmental commitment.

ICEX-Invest in Spain, IDB Lab and Endeavor have launched the first edition of the SPAIN-LATAM SCALE-UP programme, aimed at a selection of startups and scaleups from Latin America and the Caribbean, and with the objective of raising awareness regarding the opportunities and steps needed to establish themselves in Spain as a bridge for global expansion.

13 Latin American startups from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay have been selected out of 140 candidates. During the immersion programme, the winning startups will gain deep, wide-reaching knowledge of the main stakeholders in the Spanish entrepreneurship ecosystem. Over 40 speakers from the Spanish entrepreneurship ecosystem will participate, including the main players at institutions, venture capital (VC) funds, corporations with open innovation processes and successful startups from, both Spain and Latin America. The programme will take place between 14 and 18 November in collaboration with leading players in the Spanish entrepreneurship ecosystem, such as Google Campus, South Summit, Wayra, IE University, Barcelona Activa and Barcelona Tech City, to name but a few. 

During the welcome session, the executive director of ICEX-Invest in Spain, Elisa García Grande, highlighted the maturity of the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem in Spain and outlined success stories of Latin American technology companies already established in Spain. Fazia Pusterla, representing IDB Europe, emphasised the institution's commitment to supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem and showcased the contributions of companies supported by IDB Lab in proposing solutions to the challenges of structural transformation in the region. The Managing Director of Endeavor Spain, Antonio Iglesias, rounded off the session with a presentation of the main players in Spain’s technology entrepreneurship ecosystem. Iglesias highlighted the key role that Spain plays as a gateway to Europe for Latin American entrepreneurs, and the importance of this programme in providing them with tools and contacts to facilitate their expansion to the old continent.

The programme combines technical sessions, working meetings, institutional meetings and networking activities. Aspects addressed will include topics such as startup financing in Spain, access to funds, financing opportunities offered by the European Union, legal and tax requirements for setting up in Spain, visas for entrepreneurs and the possibility of collaborating in open innovation activities carried out by Spanish companies.

The 13 startups selected were:

• Accessin (Argentina) Platform for digitalising, administering and managing estates and sports clubs.
• Chazki (Peru) Startup specialising in domestic, first-mile and last-mile freight services for retail, eCommerce and department stores.
• Coally (Colombia) Human resources platform dedicated to recruiting young professionals by using artificial intelligence.
• Elipse (Chile) Startup specialising in automated communication solutions and the use of artificial intelligence to automate communications between health centres (public and private) and patients.
• FractalUp (Peru) Innovative platform for the education sector (EdTech) that provides personalised services adapted to the needs of each student and to new teaching trends.
• Keyper(Chile) Provides workspace services to organisations at every stage of their development, as well as turnkey consulting, design, construction, management and administration services to companies.
• Koggi (Colombia) Digital platform that connects the property industry, enabling buyers to access better loans and smarter services for their homes.
• ManejeBem (Brazil) Creates intelligence for developing rural communities. Its solutions help to structure agricultural production in order to create profitable products with social responsibility.
• MuniDigital (Argentina) Dedicated to developing software for governments, and accelerating their digital transformation through GovTech and CivicTech.
• TheEye (Argentina) Company specialising in automating business processes. They help companies and start-ups to become more efficient and scale up, creating automated processes with a focus on profitability.
• VU (Argentina) Cybersecurity company specialised in developing solutions for digital identity protection and fraud prevention.
• Wenu Work (Chile) Technology company allowing companies to visualise and manage  electricity consumption, facilitating the search for savings opportunities and process improvements, and mitigating the environmental impact.
• Zafrales (Uruguay) Startup that simplifies the process of hiring temporary farm labour through technology.

At the end of the immersion programme, the startups will have received key information on the business climate in Spain and will have discussed the legal, operational and technological aspects with experts that are required to establish themselves in Spain as a bridge to global expansion of their business.

The SPAIN-LATAM SCALEUP programme has selected some of the most promising companies in Latin America. As part of the selection criteria for the winning startups, factors taken into account were the ability to scale up the companies based on consolidated, innovative business models and a presence in several countries, their financial capacity and the incorporation of sustainability and impact criteria into their operations.