Machine-translated from Spanish. It may contain errors.
More AI startups are landing their first check in Latin America, but raising the next round is getting harder
According to LAVCA, as cited by Entrepreneur, 55% of startups that closed a first round in the first half were AI companies. Only 27% of those funded since 2020 raised again within 18 months.
Entrepreneur en Español pulled together data from LAVCA and Crunchbase that paints a two-sided picture of the region for anyone looking for capital.
The first side is good news: according to the LAVCA report, 55% of the startups that raised venture capital for the first time in the first half of 2026 were AI companies. In 2025 that figure was 30%, and in 2020, 6%.
The second side is tougher. Of the region's 3,032 venture-backed companies since 2020, only 27% landed another round in the past 18 months, and moving from seed to Series A or from Series A to Series B has become more difficult.
The third quarter
According to Crunchbase data, the region raised US$1.3 billion between July and September: 26% more than a year earlier, but 9% less than the previous quarter. The article adds that seed and angel rounds grew 62% to US$266 million, while Series A and B rounds fell 34% to US$288 million.
Why it matters if you're building with AI: having AI in your pitch may help you in that first conversation, but the next round will be decided on other grounds. It's worth planning now how you'll get there, or how you'll grow without depending on it.