I am proud to announce the 2026 Colombia Early Stage 100.

We reviewed hundreds of Colombian based or founded companies to identify 100 of the most promising Colombian boot strapped, pre-seed, and seed stage startups.

Our goal is to celebrate the work of Colombian entrepreneurs and highlight the excellence of these firms to investors and future employees.

This is our third year of the program and it is clear the Colombian ecosystem is maturing with more and more “venture ready” founders tackling big problems with big markets.

Companies on last year’s list raised over $140M in the last 12-18 months and we know there will be breakout companies on this year’s list as well.

A few highlights from this year’s group:

✔ Fintech and AI represent over 50% of the companies on the list

Top fintechs include: Akua, Littio, Palomma, and Platam

Top AI companies include: Dapta, Braven, and Callbook AI

✔ There are excellent companies in a wide range of industries from consumer (e.g., Idilio TV) to cyber (e.g., Kiggu)

✔ 20% of the companies have their headquarters in another country (mostly the US) or split their team across multiple countries (e.g., CEO in US and dev team in Colombia, teams in Mexico City and Bogota).

Colombia is a special place and breeds a level of resilience that is key to startup success.

NuMundo Ventures is deeply committed to supporting founders in Colombia and I’m happy to share their work with the world.

Special thanks to the team at Colombia Tech Week and Colombia Tech Fest for their incredible support and the work to strengthen the startup community in Colombia and across LatAm.

I hope you enjoy the list (see link below to see the table and market map) and invest and get involved with Colombian startups!

https://numundoventures.com/2026-colombia-early-stage-100/

Cashea today announced a $100 million fundraise opening up a new chapter for Cashea and Venezuela.

Founded in 2022 by Pedro Vallenilla, Ramón Lange Fernández, Nicolás Curat, and Arnoldo Gabaldón, Cashea set out to rebuild access to credit by restoring trust between consumers and merchants.

Today they serve 10+ million consumers, over 50% of Venezuela’s adult population, and 40,000+ stores nationwide.

Now Cashea is building trust between global investors and Venezuela.

To rebuild its economy, infrastructure, and human resources, Venezuela needs global capital to invest across a wide range of sectors including energy, financial services, infrastructure, and technology.

Cashea’s $100M raise represents the first major raise outside of the energy sector in 2026.

NuMundo Ventures first invested in Cashea in December of 2023 in their seed round.

For the next two years the company built an extraordinary company with just $2.1M raised.

Today they announced a Series A and Series B raise that totals $100M in capital and new investors to the company including:

• Finsight Ventures

• Spice Expeditions

• Architect Capital

• Washington University in St Louis

• Endeavor Catalyst

• Krealo

• Amador Holdings

• and NuMundo followed on in both the Series A and Series B

For the last 3 years I have been lucky to work with the founders of Cashea and see the incredible journey up close.

Just as with consumers and merchants, building trust with investors did not happen overnight.

Pedro (CEO, co-founder) and his team invested years, countless flights across the US, Europe, and Latin America, and hundreds of meetings to build relationships with investors.

I have had a chance to meet almost every one of the new investors and they all bring unique insights, networks, and expertise to support the Cashea team’s continued growth.

Cashea is still incredibly early in its journey.

The additional capital will allow them to develop more services to help Venezuelans in their everyday lives and, especially, during the rebuilding process after the recent tragic earthquakes.

Cashea has an amazing team and will use this capital to become an even more compelling place for talented people to do their life’s best work.

I remain as bullish as ever about Cashea and the potential of Venezuela.

Every time I open and shut my computer I see the word Cashéalo to remind me of the incredible team growing trust in Venezuela.

Congrats team Cashea!

You can read more about the raise in this Bloomberg article.

I have been an investor in Venezuelan startups since 2021.

The energy and optimism of Caracas was palpable during my visit in May 2026.

Unfortunately the hope I saw in May gave way to tragic earthquakes in June.

In the face of the disaster, the entrepreneurial community and private sector response has been impressive.

Very early on, Yummy led an effort to create a donation platform that included matching programs from other Venezuelan founded startups including:

Slash, Félix, Kavak.com, Tebca Perú, El Dorado, Maximiza, MERU , Colektia , wawa, Luuna, Propaga, VRM Penzini Capital, and Reserhub.

To date they have raised almost $1.3M (see image)

Cashea today launched a series of initiatives to help its 10 million customers and 40 thousand merchants get access to credit to rebuild and refinance.

The “Creo en ti” campaign from Cashea will commit millions of dollars to the recovery by allowing customers to extend the number of installments, lower initial down payments, and get free shipping for all online orders.

The Cisneros group launched a series of actions including turning Venevision into a news channel to aid in the recovery and launched a wesbite (see links below) to help drive donations, identification of missing persons, and aid in the reconstruction effort.

The response of Venezuelan private sector to the earthquakes reinforces my optimism for the future of the country.

I encourage you to learn more about these initiatives and contribute if you can, check out the links below.

https://ayudavenezuela.venevision.com/

https://dona.yummyrides.com/

https://www.veneconnect.com/apoyo-terremoto

https://www.cashea.app/creo-en-ti

https://www.elnacional.com/2026/07/cashea-ofrece-un-mes-de-facilidades-a-sus-clientes-por-emergencia-nacional/

The goal of the NuMundo newsletter is to share insights from the front lines of the startup scene in LatAm and the US.

In this edition of our newsletter, we cover the following topics:

Market Insights

• Top US VCs return to LatAm

NuMundo Portfolio updates

• Idilio raises $5M seed round

NuMundo Network

• Colombia Early Stage 100 is back!

• Ivan Duque: day with ex-president of Colombia

Subscribe now

Market Insights

Top US VCs lead $600M+ funding into LatAm startups

The most under-discussed development in LatAm startups over the last two years is the return of the top US VCs to LatAm.

Key players include:

• Sequoia: Enter is their first seed investment since NuBank (2013)

• Founders Fund: invests in 2 companies and Peter Thiel moves to Argentina

• Benchmark: Pax is first LatAm investment in 7 years (Wildlife: 2019)

• Khosla: Comp appears to be their first investment in LatAm ever

• Ribbit: investing in AI application (Tako) and infrastructure (Somos) companies

• a16z: made four investments ranging from seed to Series F

Why are the premier US VC firms investing again in early stage companies in LatAm?

In my opinion two factors are driving the recent investments:

• LatAm founders are pursuing bigger markets

• More LatAm founders are “venture ready”

Bigger markets

• AI is opening huge markets that were slow to adopt SaaS including healthcare (e.g., Telepatia, Leona), legal (e.g., Enter), and public safety (e.g., Pax)

• Arq’s stablecoin banking services allow them to serve customers across the region and the globe

• Several startups are using AI to develop differentiated solutions for huge sectors of the economy (e.g., HR/payroll: Tako and Comp. Auto sales: Kavak)

• Somos competes in the massive telecom/ISP sector and will likely expand to offer AI data center offerings

Venture ready founders

• Mercado Libre ($85B market cap) and NuBank ($64B market cap) set an example of what world class looks like for LatAm founders for 25+ years

• The ambitious Silicon Valley mindset permeates the LatAm founder community via global accelerators, online content, social media, and travel to Silicon Valley

• LatAm’s startup ecosystem is maturing and producing more founders with previous startup experience (e.g., Sebstian Mejia: Tako founder, Rappi co-founder)

I started NuMundo Ventures with the thesis that LatAm founders will build world class startups and connecting them more closely to Silicon Valley can unlock their potential.

It’s great to see funds like Sequoia, Benchmark, Founders Fund, USV, and others see the same potential.

NuMundo Portfolio

Idilio raises $5M seed round

I first met Gabriela Tafur in February of 2025 while she was a second year student at the Stanford GSB.

She was working on the idea that eventually became Idilio, an AI Powered Micro-drama streaming platform.

I provided feedback on her pitch deck, her co-founder selection process, and the capital raise strategy.

From the early ideation to now, the progress has been incredible:

• Gabriela assembled a team while finishing school

• Launched an MVP in late Q3 ‘25

• Achieved strong early traction (e.g., 1.5M+ downloads, 30M streamed episodes)

• Leveraged AI to produce high quality content at record speed and efficiency

With her recently announced $5M fund raise, the Idilio team has the resources to drive further progress on content creation, user engagement, monetization, and distribution.

I am excited to support Gabriela and the Idilio team as they build the future of entertainment, starting in LatAm.

Lets go!

NuMundo Network

The Colombia Early Stage 100 is Back!

After 3 years our goal remains the same: to identify and raise the awareness of the top 100 early stage Colombian startups.

​Companies on last year's list (2025) raised $140M to date and we know there will be breakout companies on our 2026 list.

Selected companies will be promoted on social media, online publications, and at a Colombia Tech Week event that will have 500+ attendees.

We encourage Colombian startups to apply by July 22, 2026 through this Link.

In addition, on August 13 in Bogota we will host an event where you will:

• ​Learn the methodology behind the “Colombia Early Stage 100”

• ​See 10 startups pitch in 2 minute lightening rounds

• ​Hear 3 top founders from our 2025 list share candid perspectives on what it takes to build a world class company

  • Gabriela Tafur (Idilio)

  • ​Nico Rojas (Dapta)

  • ​Cristian Villamizar (Duppla)

To learn more and sign up to attend the event, just click on the link below to the Luma page for the event.

Attend the event

Ivan Duque: a day with the ex-president of Colombia

On a recent trip to Colombia, I had the honor to meet with former Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez.

The President and I discussed several topics including:

• Our shared connection to my Stanford Business School classmate Juan Mario Laserna who served in the Colombian senate with President Duque.

• My hands-on approach to backing LatAm founders and the role Colombia plays in my investing (e.g., Picap, Foodology, Dapta, Idilio)

• The long-time commitment of the president and his wife, María Juliana Ruiz, supporting young entrepreneurs (including Nico Rojas back in 2021).

I was asked to present at the annual “Dreamers and Makers” event for young social entrepreneurs.

Given my experience backing founders in their early twenties (e.g., Mairon Sandoval, Luis Olave), I shared what I look for when I back young entrepreneurs.

The experience was amazing and the "Dreamers and Makers" asked great questions.

I look forward to working with President Duque in Colombia and Silicon Valley to attract more capital and support for Colombian entrepreneurs!

Thank you for reading our newsletter!

Feel free to share with friends who might be interested in our work at NuMundo Ventures.

Thanks!

Ivan

• How I gained conviction to back Pedro and Cashea in 2023

• How Pedro connected with me and why he reached out to me

• The secret Pedro told me that drove the initial opportunity for Cashea

• Why building an extraordinary team is the most critical requirement for Cashea's future growth

• How my conviction in Pedro & Cashea helped give Pedro the faith to embrace Venezuela as their core market

At the beginning of the video, Esteban asks the audience how many people would invest in a fintech in Venezuela.

Maybe 3 hands rose.

At the end of the video, he asks the same question, and the entire room raises hands.

I hope you watch and enjoy this video!

“If it works, how big can this be?”

This is the key question I try to answer when I evaluate a startup.

A million things can go wrong at a startup.

But if the team is successful, can they build an iconic company?

In this article, I apply this question to a country: Venezuela.

My perspective is unique having invested in 3 startups in the country:

• Yummy (2021)

• Cashea (2023)

• Tesote (2025)

This is the first of a three part series on the upside opportunity of Venezuela.

Venezuela GDP from 2010 to 2025

In 2010, Venezuelan GDP was $393B.

In 2025, $83B, a drop of about 80%.

What happened?

• US economic sanctions start in 2014

• Oil output shrinks from 3 million barrels per day (bpd) to about 1 million (bpd)

• Inflation skyrockets with a peak over 80,000% in 2018

• To fight inflation, capital controls placed on on banks, shrinking access to credit

• 8M people leave Venezuela

Now imagine a future where everything changes

• US removes sanctions and promotes trade with and investment in Venezuela

• Oil companies invest $ billions to increase production

• Inflation drops precipitously

• Capital controls lifted and credit markets expand

• Millions of people return to rebuild their country

The optimistic future I hoped for when I invested in Yummy, Cashea, and Tesote now seems very possible in 2026

But how much could GDP grow if Venezuela is successful?

Venezuela: GDP upside scenarios

Kazakhstan may provide some guidance.

Venezuela and Kazakhstan share key similarities:

• Oil driven economy

• Former communist state that transitioned to market economy

• 75% of the population of Venezuela

However, despite having 1/10th the oil reserves of Venezuela, Kazakhstan’s GDP is 3.6x larger (see table below)

In 2010, the story was very different.

Venezuela’s GDP was 2.7x the size of Kazakhstan in 2010 (see chart below).

There are many reasons why one could believe Venezuela has more economic potential than Kazakhstan including:

• 10x more oil reserves

• Trading partners, especially US, likely to drive higher growth and investment

• 7 million more people with likelihood that millions more return

Using Kazakhstan (KZ) economy as a benchmark, I propose two upside scenarios for Venezuelan (VE) GDP growth:

• VE reaches 1x KZ ‘GDP: $300B

  • VE oil production doubles

  • VE reaches GDP levels from 2012

  • 3.6x growth over VE GDP in ‘25 ($82B)
    
    

• VE reaches 2x KZ GDP: $600B

  • VE taps into larger economic potential

  • VE GDP reaches ~2x the size of KZ GDP (ratio of these economies from 2010 to 2012)

  • 7.2x growth over VE GDP in ‘25 ($82B)

If Venezuela’s economy can reach $300-600B GDP over the next 10 years, economic growth could resemble the chart below.

The idea that the country with the world’s largest oil reserve reaches Kazakhstan’s GDP levels seems very conservative.

The opportunity for GDP growth could be much, much higher with the right levels of investment and leadership.

Although oil is the lynchpin for Venezuelan economic resurgence, there are many other potential drivers of GDP growth which include:

• Financial services: the credit markets alone could grow 25-50x

• Construction: rebuilding infrastructure will be a multi-billion dollar industry

• AI data centers: access to low cost energy and telecom infrastructure position Venezuela to be the AI Data center hub for South America

• Tourism: Venezuela has the longest Caribbean coastline of any country

• Real estate: residential and commercial real estate could boom if millions of people return to Venezuela

• And much, much more … stay tuned for the next few articles in this series!

There is much work to be done to unlock economic growth in Venezuela.

But the payoff from this investment could be enormous for the people of Venezuela, Latin America, the US, and the world.

Excited to share NuMundo Ventures latest investment: Idilio TV — the company bringing micro-dramas to the Americas 🎬

I first met Gabriela Tafur (CEO & co-founder) at an event I hosted at my home in February 2025.

She was a second-year student at Stanford University Graduate School of Business working on a startup idea and I offered to give her feedback on her pitch deck.

From day one, three things stood out to me about Idilio:

• A massive market — micro-dramas are already a ~$7B industry in China

• Exceptional founder–market fit — Gabriela spent 5 years in TV and media

• AI as a true accelerator — enabling hyper-personalized storytelling at scale

Despite my gut telling me to back this founder, I hesitated because this investment was outside my focus areas (e.g., fintech, B2B AI).

Over the summer, Gabriela and the Idilio team executed impressively:

• Built the platform and launched the app in September

• Produced 20+ original shows

• Reached 10M+ in app view

• Acquired users across 26 countries world-wide including LatAm and the US

After spending time with Gabriela in Colombia and Mexico, it became clear I should have trusted my initial instincts about her strengths as a founder.

Thankfully, in December 2025, Gabriela and her co-founder Esteban Ramirez welcomed me in as an investor.

I am super excited to support them and the entire Idilio team on the journey ahead!

The goal of the NuMundo newsletter is to share insights from the front lines of the startup scene in LatAm and the US.

In this edition of our newsletter, we cover the following topics:

Market Insights

• LatAm founders building $B Tech in US

NuMundo Portfolio updates

• New investment: Tesote

NuMundo Network

• Stanford at Casa NuMundo

• Ivan in Forbes Colombia

Subscribe now

Market Insights

LatAm founders building $ B Tech in the US

Immigrants have built great tech businesses in the US and Silicon Valley.

A few recent tech examples include:

• NVIDIA: Jensen Huang (Taiwan 🇹🇼)

• WhatsApp: Jan Koum (Ukraine 🇺🇦)

• Databricks: Ali Ghodsi (Iran 🇮🇷)

LatAm immigrants and hispanics raised in the US are also making an impact including the following companies with valuations at or over $1B.

• Brex: Pedro Franceschi & Henrique Dubugras (Brazil 🇧🇷)

• Kalshi: Luana Lopes Lara (Brazil 🇧🇷)

• Vercel: Guillermo Rauch (Argentina 🇦🇷)

• Duolingo: Luis von Ahn (Guatemala 🇬🇹)

• Runway AI: Cristóbal Valenzuela, Alejandro Matamala (Chile 🇨🇱)

• Outreach: Manny Medina (Ecuador 🇪🇨)

• Drift: Elias Torres (Nicaragua 🇳🇮), David Cancel (US 🇺🇸 - Ecuadorian 🇪🇨 /Puerto Rican 🇵🇷 descent)

• Eight Sleep: Alexandra Zatarain US 🇺🇸 - raised in Mexico 🇲🇽)

Based in Silicon Valley I can see the pipeline of LatAm/Hispanic founded tech companies is growing for several reasons:

• Massive hispanic population with tech experience including more second time founders (e.g., Elias Torres: Agency, Many Medina: Paid.ai)

• A large number of LatAm and hispanic students in US college that are taking the leap to found companies (e.g., Victor Cardenas: Slash)

• Many LatAm tech founders moving to the US to build their AI companies

• A growing number of communities supporting LatAm and Hispanic founders (e.g., LaFamilia, Colectivo)

But the road is not easy.

Many LatAm/Hispanic founders lack a network they can tap into for startup advice or funding. It feels even worse if you moved to the US from another country.

NuMundo Ventures can help solve this problem for founders.

I believe the LatAm & Hispanic founders in the US are massively underfunded.

In Fund I we backed 5 LatAm/hispanic founded companies in the US including:

• Dapta AI: Nico Rojas (Colombia 🇨🇴, based in Phoenix)

• Seals AI: Luis Mario Garcia (Mexico 🇲🇽, based in San Francisco)

• Tesote: Luis Pulgar (Venezuela 🇻🇪, based in Miami)

• Stealth #1: Ramon Silva (Brazil 🇧🇷, based in San Francisco)

• Stealth #2: Renzo Viale (Peru 🇵🇪, based in San Francisco)

I am excited to share more news about our plans in 2026 as we build NuMundo Ventures as the top partner to LatAm talent globally!

NuMundo Portfolio

New Investment: Tesote

Closing the books is one of the most painful jobs in finance.

That’s why I’m excited to back Tesote, a team that will solve this pain (and more) for finance teams in LatAm.

I met Luis Pulgar in Miami earlier this year and was struck by how quickly Tesote had scaled—launched just a year prior after raising a small angel round and already at $500K+ in ARR.

Tesote gives finance teams a single view of transactions and cash balances across multiple bank accounts, saving hundreds of hours of manual work and enabling faster, better decisions.

I also gained conviction as I learned the strength of the “founder market fit.”

Luis is a repeat founder that worked at several US fintechs and is hyperfocused on serving customers.

Daniel Francoeur, his co-founder, is an accountant who later became a software developer … the perfect background for Tesote’s CTO.

Since investing in May, Tesote has continued to accelerate—now processing 3M+ transactions per month that represent $2B+ in value.

In the coming years, Tesote will use AI to automate many critical finance workflows and help CFOs make better decisions, faster, while reducing cost.

I am super excited to support Luis, Daniel, and the entire Tesote team! 🚀

Shout out to Miguel Armaza for making the initial intro 🙏

NuMundo Network

Stanford at Casa NuMundo!

My mission is to back exceptional founders building in LatAm and the US and to build bridges between LatAm and Silicon Valley.

Last week I hosted an event at my home with 50+ Stanford University Graduate School of Business LatAm students and several special guests for a night of connecting, learning, and building community.

We had people from Brazil 🇧🇷 , Colombia 🇨🇴, Mexico 🇲🇽, Venezuela🇻🇪, Chile 🇨🇱, Argentina 🇦🇷, Peru 🇵🇪, El Salvador 🇸🇻, Costa Rica 🇨🇷, Spain 🇪🇸, Uruguay 🇺🇾, Ecuador 🇪🇨, and the US 🇺🇸.

After some food and drinks, we hosted a panel discussion with some incredible Latin Americans investing, building, and operating here in the Bay Area including:

• Eva Alonso (Ribbit Capital)

• Jose Menendez (Groq)

• Luis Carlos Sante (OpenAI)

• William Gaviria Rojas (Coactive AI)

Topics discussed included:

• Funny (crazy) stories from OpenAI, Ribbit, and Groq

• What is key to building a startup

• How to break into VC investing

• Why they came to the Bay Area and why they are still here

William, co-founder of Coactive AI, delivered one of the most powerful messages about building networks of trusted relationships.

As a founder, the people you surround yourself early have a disproportionate effect on your path so chose these people very carefully:

• Your co-founders

• Your team members

• Your investors

I agree with William and that is why I focus on building networks and supporting the community so that we have all have access to as many extraordinary people who help each other.

Let’s go LatAm!

Ivan in Forbes Colombia

A few months ago I sat down with Forbes Colombia reporter José Caparroso to share what we are building at NuMundo Ventures.

In the article, Jose does a very thorough job covering the entire journey from when I moved from Colombia to the US, the inspiration to launch NuMundo Ventures, and my investment philosophy.

I am incredibly passionate about my work and my mission to be the best partner to exceptional founders.

The journey is just beginning.

Read the article

Thank you for reading our newsletter!

Feel free to share with friends who might be interested in our work at NuMundo Ventures.

Thanks!

Ivan

Closing the books is one of the most painful jobs in finance.

That’s why I’m excited to back Tesote, a team that will solve this pain (and more) for finance teams in LatAm.

I met Luis Pulgar in Miami earlier this year and was struck by how quickly Tesote had scaled—launched just a year prior after raising a small angel round and already at $500K+ in ARR.

Tesote gives finance teams a single view of transactions and cash balances across multiple bank accounts, saving hundreds of hours of manual work and enabling faster, better decisions.

I also gained conviction as I learned the strength of the “founder market fit.”

Luis is a repeat founder that worked at several US fintechs and is hyperfocused on serving customers.

Daniel Francoeur, his co-founder, is an accountant who later became a software developer … the perfect background for Tesote’s CTO.

Since investing in May, Tesote has continued to accelerate—now processing 3M+ transactions per month that represent $2B+ in value.

In the coming years, Tesote will use AI to automate many critical finance workflows and help CFOs make better decisions, faster, while reducing cost.

I am super excited to support Luis, Daniel, and the entire Tesote team! 🚀

Shout out to Miguel Armaza for making the initial intro 🙏

The goal of the NuMundo newsletter is to share insights from the front lines of the startup scene in LatAm and the US.

In this edition of our newsletter, we cover the following topics:

Market Insights

• Voice AI in LatAm

NuMundo Portfolio updates

• New investment: Time to Hire

NuMundo Network

• The 2025 Mexico Early Stage 100

Subscribe now

Market Insights

Voice AI in LatAm

Technology adoption in Latin America has long been a tale of two cities.

Consumer tech adoption is world-class.

Per-capita use of social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, as well as messaging apps like WhatsApp, ranks among the highest globally. ChatGPT is seeing explosive growth with Brazil already one of OpenAI’s largest markets.

B2B tech adoption has been inconsistent.

SaaS adoption across LatAm has lagged, in part because low labor costs make manual workflows appear less expensive.

However, Voice AI may unlock B2B digitization in LatAm and reshape how consumers interact with technology.

Already, we see companies using voice AI in LatAm for critical tasks including:

• Lead qualification (e.g., Dapta)

• Customer support (e.g., Vozy, WeKall)

• Debt collection (e.g., Altur)

• Personal voice assistants (e.g., Mirlo)

• Recruiting (e.g., Time To Hire)

Learning new software is rarely intuitive. It requires effort, habit change, and time.

But speaking to get something done?

That’s been a natural part of human behavior for thousands of years.

The combination of voice and chat-based interfaces may finally unlock LatAm B2B tech adoption.

At NuMundo Ventures, we’ve already backed five companies where Voice AI sits at the center of the value proposition—Altur, Dapta, Mirlo, Time To Hire, and Seals—as well as several companies adopting Voice AI to improve operations, such as OCN.

ElevenLabs, one of the world’s leading voice-model providers and now valued at over $3B, recently hosted a summit in San Francisco.

At the event, Mirlo’s CEO, Rafa León, shared how they will bring Voice AI to millions of mobile phone users in Mexico.

But the summit was also a reminder that ElevenLabs launched its first beta product in early 2023—less than three years ago.

The use of Voice AI is still at its infancy.

In the coming years, I can’t wait to back entrepreneurs using Voice AI to solve real problems for consumers and businesses.

NuMundo Portfolio

New Investment: Time to Hire

I’m excited to announce NuMundo Ventures’ latest investment: Time To Hire, a company using AI to transform how we hire.

Whether you’re a candidate searching for your next role or a company searching for talent, the experience hasn’t changed in more than twenty years.

And for most people, it still feels frustrating, repetitive, and inefficient.

In short: hiring sucks.

So when I first met Pablo and Miguel in Menlo Park, I was immediately intrigued by their ambition to tackle this problem.

At the time, the company had not yet launched and was still testing its MVP.

Without product and traction to evaluate, my focus was learning about the founders:

• Pablo was a second-time founder with a successful exit (Gus).

• Miguel, the first employee at Frubana, had firsthand experience with the highs and lows of building from zero to scale.

• Daniel Zenteno, their CTO, founded Gus alongside Pablo back in 2016.

• These founders had “seen the movie before” and bring a great combination of relentless + thoughtful energy to their next venture.

They believed AI could directly address several core problems in recruiting:

• Expanding high quality candidate pools through AI-driven video interviews that are more consistent and less biased than traditional screening.

• Improving the candidate experience by replacing repetitive first-round interviews with a single AI interview that unlocks access to multiple roles.

• Enhancing candidate matching as AI uses data on the results of past placements to find better fits.

• Allowing companies to use AI to match their preferred hiring workflows, whether as a software tool or as an outsourced recruiter.

I gained conviction, invested in May 2025, and since then they came out of stealth and have seen strong early traction:

• 5,000+ AI video interviews conducted with “Mia,” their AI interviewer

• 50+ companies using the platform

• 200+ open roles filled

After visiting the Pablo and Miguel in Mexico, I was reminded of the truth of inception-stage investing: It’s all about the team.

To back a pre-launch team, I have to:

• Admire them as professionals

• Believe they are obsessed about the problem they are solving

• See a strong growth mindset: constant learning and course correcting

• Look forward to spending time with them on all the ups/down that will come

I’m incredibly grateful to support Pablo, Miguel, Daniel, and the Time To Hire team.

I can’t wait to see what they accomplish!

👊

NuMundo Network

2025 Mexico Early Stage 100

This fall, NuMundo Ventures and Nascent VC reviewed 500+ startups to identify Mexico’s top 100 early-stage companies.

We evaluated startups based on problem clarity, traction, market potential, and founding team strength.

Our goal is to raise visibility of these firms with investors and future employees.

We announced the list in early October and hosted an event to celebrate the companies during Mexico Tech Week in late October.

Highlights from this year’s list:

• Top industries: AI (30%), Fintech (20%)

• Companies were based in 8 cities across Mexico, plus founders in the US, Argentina, and Guatemala

• Increasingly, Mexican founders are building for regional, US, and global markets from day one

A few standout examples:

• SARELLY SARELLY – a fast-growing consumer brand expanding into the US

• Altur (YC S25) – AI-powered debt collection, fresh out of Y Combinator

• Niko Energy – driving solar expansion across Mexico

At our event, 9 companies did a two minute YC demo day pitch and 3 founders were on a panel sharing what it takes to build a world class company in Mexico.

The 250+ people in the audience were energized and we were proud to see the founders on stage.

If you want to get a feel for the “demo day” pitch experience, check out the video of NuMundo Ventures portfolio company Mirlo.

Watch Mirlo demo day pitch

Check out all the demo day pitches here.

The venue was incredible with immersive imagery and sound.

To see some of the best startups in LatAm, I encourage you to click on the link below to watch the video of the event.

Watch 2025 MX Early Stage 100 event

Thank you for reading our newsletter!

Feel free to share with friends who might be interested in our work at NuMundo Ventures.

Thanks!

Ivan

The goal of the NuMundo newsletter is to share insights from the front lines of the startup scene in LatAm and the US.

In this edition of our newsletter, we cover the following topics:

Market Insights

• ⁠⁠YC and LatAm in the age of AI

NuMundo Portfolio updates

• New Investment: Altur

NuMundo Network

• The 2025 Mexico Early Stage 100 Event

• Startup Success Podcast, Ivan Montoya

Subscribe now

Market Insights

YC and LatAm in the age of AI

Over the last six years, I’ve invested in nearly 20 Y Combinator (YC) companies, with a particular focus on Latin America.

Some of the region’s most prominent startups began their journey at YC, including:

• Rappi

• DolarApp

• Kapital Bank

• 99minutos

• Platzi

• Jeeves

• Baubap

• Yummy

• Somos

• Simetrik

Yet, despite this strong track record, the number of YC-backed companies with an explicit focus on Latin America has declined sharply in recent years.

At its peak, the Summer 2022 batch featured 44 Latin American startups. By Winter 2024, that number had dropped to just one.

Why the steep decline?

The answer lies in YC’s evolving priorities.

Today, the accelerator favors companies building for the U.S. and global markets, with AI at the core of their value proposition.

In the immediate aftermath of ChatGPT’s launch, many Latin American founders may have been applying with solutions that were either region-specific or not AI-first—both of which are less aligned with YC’s current focus.

Still, being based outside the U.S. is not a barrier. What matters is ambition: starting locally but scaling globally.

Two recent examples highlight this dynamic:

• Seals AI (YC Summer 2024): They are building AI agents for industrial use cases starting with customers in Monterrey, Mexico, but now expanding aggressively into the U.S.
  
  NuMundo Ventures invested in Seals last year and below is a recent picture with their CEO and Co-founder, Luis Mario Garcia, from his home in San Francisco.

• Legora (YC Winter 2024): An AI workspace for lawyers founded in Sweden. Just one year after entering YC, Legora is valued at $675M and serves customers worldwide.

So what role will YC play in Latin America during the AI era?

I believe YC will continue to influence Latin American founders by pushing them to:

1. Build AI-first solutions.

2. Tackle massive, high-impact problems.

3. Design for large—ideally global—markets.

This doesn’t mean regional opportunities are off the table. Some AI-first companies can build huge businesses in Latin America, with optionality to expand globally.

Two cases illustrate this point:

• Altur (YC Summer 2025): Using voice AI for debt collection, Altur launched in Mexico and is pursuing a massive regional opportunity, with the potential to expand globally. I am big fans of Altur and invested (see article below).

• Enter (non-YC, founded 2023): Focused on Brazil’s unique legal market, Enter has already attracted Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund thanks to the scale of its opportunity—even without immediate global ambitions.

At the same time, more Latin American founders are building companies in the U.S. through YC.

For example, Flai (YC Summer 2025), founded by three Uruguayans, is developing AI solutions for U.S. auto dealers.

The outlook

It remains to be seen whether the number of “Latin American” companies in future YC batches will rebound.

What is clear, however, is YC’s lasting influence: inspiring Latin American founders to think bigger, aim global, and build AI-first.

NuMundo Portfolio

New Investment: Altur

NuMundo Ventures’ latest investment: Altur (YC S25), a company transforming how banks and fintechs use Voice AI for debt collection.

Founded by Luis Olave and Pedro Fernández, Altur’s journey is a testament to grit and reinvention. Originally launched as a WhatsApp-based debt collection tool, the team pivoted in early 2025 to build a Voice AI agent. In just eight months, they scaled from $0 to $1M ARR with a team of only four people.

The results speak for themselves:

• Millions of calls placed each month, reaching over 500,000 unique people

• 40% higher collection rates compared to traditional call centers

Debt collection is a massive global challenge, and Altur is starting in LatAm with ambitions to expand worldwide. From our first conversations in San Francisco to follow-ups in Colombia and Guatemala, it was clear that Luis and Pedro are relentless, mission-driven founders with the will to win.

NuMundo Ventures is proud to back Altur as they redefine how financial institutions engage with customers—and set a new standard for what’s possible with Voice AI.

NuMundo Network

The 2025 Mexico Early Stage 100 Event

Mexico Early Stage Top 100 is the definitive list of the most promising pre-seed and seed startups shaping Mexico’s tech future.

From hundreds of companies, NuMundo Ventures and Nascent VC conducted a rigorous review of traction, market potential, team strength, and scalability. The result: the 100 startups best positioned to become Mexico’s next category leaders.

Join us for an evening of:

• Insights into the Mexico Early Stage 100 methodology

• Live 2-minute pitches from 10 standout startups

• A candid panel with 3 founders building world-class companies

• Networking with founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders

Register early to secure your spot, limited space of 250 guests.

RSVP

Startup Success Podcast, Ivan Montoya

I recently joined Kate Adams from Burkland on their Startup Success podcast to share the NuMundo Ventures approach to backing and supporting founders. In just 30 minutes, we cover:

• Why this is the right moment to invest in LatAm startups — and how it echoes Silicon Valley of the late 70s

• How NuMundo provides “Series A or B level” mentorship and support at the pre-seed/seed stage

• Stories of incredible founders like Nicolas Rojas, Pedro Vallenilla , and Mairon Sandoval

• The role of our “Venture Partners” — including experts like Diego Bartoli, who have been invaluable to NuMundo founders

• And why I see supporting founders as being a sherpa on the climb to Everest

Thank you for reading our newsletter!

Feel free to share it with friends who might be interested in our work at NuMundo Ventures.

Thanks!

Ivan

I am excited to share NuMundo Ventures latest investment: Altur, the company that will transform how banks and fintechs in LatAm & US use voice AI for debt collection.

I met Luis and Pedro earlier this summer after hearing great things about them from Paula Enei at Platanus Ventures.

They were the only Mexican company in this summer’s YC batch and I was eager to meet them in San Francisco.

The two founders launched Altur about 3 years ago with the plan to use WhatsApp for debt collection.

They built software optimized for call centers, the debt collection use case, and learned how to work with banks, but WhatsApp ultimately was not the right initial solution.

Facing an existential crisis, Altur launched a Voice AI agent for debt collection in January 2025.

In about 8 months they went from $0 to $1M in ARR with a team of just 4 people.

The metrics behind the product are amazing and accelerating:

• Voice AI agents make millions of calls and connect with 500K unique people per month

• 40% higher debt collections than call centers

The problem Altur is solving is fundamentally a global problem.

Starting in LatAm, the Altur team will eventually serve banks/fintechs across the world.

After many conversations with the team, from SF to Colombia to Guatemala, it was clear this was a hungry set of founders with a will to win.

I can’t wait to support Luis, Pedro, and the entire Altur team in the years to come.

Let’s go!

The goal of the NuMundo newsletter is to share insights from the front lines of the startup scene in LatAm and the US.

In this edition of our newsletter, we cover the following topics:

Market Insights

• The Figma IPO and LatAm implications

NuMundo Portfolio updates

• Cashea at $120M ARR - Fintech Leaders podcast

NuMundo Network

• The 2025 Colombia Early Stage 100

• Ivan Montoya, Cut the Check podcast

Subscribe now

Market Insights

The Figma IPO and LatAm implications

Figma, founded by a 20 year old, built their product for 5 years before launching publicly.

This approach defied the conventional wisdom of the lean startup which advocates launching a minimal viable product (MVP) quickly and then iterating with feedback from paying customers.

When Figma finally launched, revenue grew rapidly and culminated with their recent IPO at a ~$20B market cap.

Early Figma investors (e.g., Index Ventures) backed a team and an approach that did not follow established norms and turned investments of millions of dollars into returns of several billion dollars.

In a world of AI where you can quickly launch a product at low cost, ironically, I am hearing more stories of companies building in stealth for months or over a year.

Not exactly Figma time frames but still the opposite of what you would expect.

In some cases, AI companies targeting the enterprise have a very high “quality bar” to cross.

In other cases, founders can build with AI tools at very low cost for months refining their ideas with beta customers before seeking funding.

Early stage investing in LatAm is entering an era where investors that simply pattern match traditional approaches will be frustrated.

With lower funding needs, seed stage investors need to get closer to founders before they raise or risk missing big opportunities.

At NuMundo Ventures, we often work with founders for months before investing allowing us to build trust, help, and make non-consensus investments that today generate millions in revenue per month (e.g., Cashea, OCN).

As Figma reminds both founders and investors, it often pays to defy conventional wisdom to produce something extraordinary for your market.

NuMundo Portfolio

Cashea at $120M ARR - Fintech Leaders Podcast

Cashea, launched less than 3 years ago, is among the world’s fastest growing and most capital efficient startups in the world.

They reached $120M ARR with only $2M in equity raised since inception.

Cashea is bringing consumer credit back to Venezuela and you can hear the full story in an interview with Miguel Armaza from the Fintech Leaders podcast (link below).

A few highlights that Pedro (Cashea founder) and Miguel discuss include:

• Slow launch: Zero traction until pivot to focus on in-store transactions

• Explosive growth: Word of mouth drove viral growth. Cashea is the most downloaded app in Venezuela

• Trust & reliability: NPLs <2% (better than Affirm)

• Founder journey: Pedro is a third time founder who bounced back from many setbacks

Cashea’s story is one of resilience, trust, and financial reinvention.

It has been an honor to be so close to this team throughout their journey, and I strongly encourage you to listen to the podcast.

The conversation is incredible.

Full Episode

NuMundo Network

2025 Colombia Early Stage 100

Over the last few months, I worked with Colombia Tech Week to identify the top 100 early stage (bootstrapped, pre-seed, seed) companies in the country.

There are two key goals for the program:

• Raise awareness of the top companies with investors and future employees

• Inspire and educate founders on what it takes to build a world class startup

We released the list a few weeks before Colombia Tech Week allowing investors to schedule meetings with the companies raising capital.

During Colombia Tech Week we hosted an event titled “What it takes to build a world class company in Colombia”.

The panelists highlighted several factors including:

• Solve big problems for big markets

• Obsess at delivering value for customers. It all begins and ends here.

• Compete and benchmark against the best players in your industry

• Have an agile team that moves fast and ships product. More shots on goals are critical in the early stages.

Over 250 people attended the event and the energy in the room was awesome.

My core investment thesis is LatAm founders will build world class companies and I want to back them from the earliest stages.

I came away from the event more motivated and inspired to find those builders.

I hope you enjoy the list (see link below)!

2025 List

Numundo Ventures, Cut the Check Podcast

I had a great conversation with Mack Meyer on the VC Mx: Cut The Check podcast, where we walked through my journey from operator to investor and why I’m so energized about backing LatAm founders.

We dug into:

• Why I invest in LatAm.

• What I look for in founders — humility, competitiveness, clarity of thought, and a secret insight about their market.

• My perspectives on the “laws of startup physics” (e.g., obsession on product market fit before scaling, sound unit economics)

• Examples of my hands-on approach with OneCarNow and Cashea.

Thanks to Mack for the thoughtful conversation.

I hope you listen and enjoy the podcast!

Full Episode

Thank you for reading our newsletter!

Feel free to share it with friends who might be interested in our work at NuMundo Ventures.

Thanks!

Ivan

Figma, founded by a 20 year old, built their product for 5 years before launching publicly.

This approach defied the conventional wisdom of the lean startup which advocates for launching a minimal viable product (MVP) quickly and then iterating with feedback from paying customers.

When Figma launched, revenue grew rapidly and culminated with their recent IPO at a ~$20B market cap.

Early Figma investors (e.g., Index Ventures) who backed a team and an approach that did not follow established norms, turned investments of a few million dollars into several billion dollars in return.

In a world of AI where you can quickly launch a product at low cost, ironically, I am hearing more stories of companies building in stealth for months or over a yar.

Not exactly Figma time frames but still the opposite of what you would expect.

In some cases, AI companies targeting the enterprise have a very high “quality bar” to cross.

In other cases, founders can build with AI tools at very low cost for months refining their ideas with beta customers before seeking funding.

Early stage investing in LatAm is entering an era where investors that simply pattern match traditional approaches will be frustrated.

With lower funding needs, seed stage investors need to get closer to founders before they raise or risk missing big opportunities.

At NuMundo Ventures, we often work with founders for months allowing us to build trust, help, and make non-consensus investments that today generate millions in revenue per month (e.g., Cashea, OCN).

As Figma reminds both founders and investors, it often pays to defy conventional wisdom to produce something extraordinary for your market.

The goal of the NuMundo newsletter is to share insights from the front lines of the startup scene in LatAm and the US.

In this edition of our newsletter, we cover the following topics:

Market Insights

• You Can't Eat IRR, But....

NuMundo Portfolio updates

• New investment: Uvicuo

• Mirlo: LatAm telecom change

NuMundo Network

• The Colombia Early Stage 100 is Back

• Numundo Ventures on the Slice Podcast

Subscribe now

Market Insights

You Can’t Eat IRR, But…

VC funds ultimately are judged by the amount of capital they return to their LPs via distributions.

However, during a fund cycle which can last 10 years or more, the approach the VC fund takes to valuing their stakes impacts performance metrics they share with LPs and potential investors in future funds.

Most VC firms change the value of their marks at the next priced equity investment round or with the shut down of a company.

When the gap between priced rounds stretches over long periods, many VC funds are left with outdated valuations.

In some cases a fund can hold an overvalued position in a company that is struggling.

Or the reverse, where a mark is too low in a company with extraordinary performance.

About two years ago, Numundo Ventures backed a company at the seed stage that reached cash flow positive quickly and scaled to over $100M ARR. They are a breakout company that has not needed to raise follow on capital.

In the absence of a priced round since our initial investment, we are working closely with the company to reassess the valuation of our position.

In the long run, they key to venture investing is backing breakout companies and returning capital to your LPs.

It is true “you can’t eat IRR” … but your marks do need to be up to date to effectively manage your fund, set expectations with LPs, and raise your next fund.

NuMundo Portfolio

Uvicuo: Fintech + AI for Fleets in LatAm

Luck = opportunity + preparation.

That’s how I met and backed Iker Haro Escandon and the team at Uvicuo.

Our original NuMundo Ventures thesis was to find opportunities in fintech, prop/con tech, and supply chain.

I’d backed several fintechs and a construction tech company, but for over 2 years, a supply chain investment had eluded me.

Then I heard about Uvicuo.

A fellow investor sent me their pitch and I immediately liked the idea and a few days later I was on a call with Iker.

Uvicuo helps LatAm fleet owners run healthier businesses by offering a financial + AI platform to cut costs, automate processes, reduce cash dependence, and open up credit—all via WhatsApp.

Uvicuo can build products and solve problems tailored to the supply chain industry that are hard or impossible for legacy providers and horizontal spend management solutions to address.

Iker’s founder market fit is off the charts.

He had just spent over 4 years working at Revolut, first in London and then helping them launch in Mexico.

Before that he worked at DiDi in Mexico and came from a family who had deep experience in shipping and commerce.

I am excited to support the entire team at Uvicuo and their mission to make LatAm’s supply chain stronger.

Change for LatAm Telecom - finally?

Some of the most successful startups of all time are David vs. Goliath stories.

Small startup takes on entrenched, profitable, and seemingly invincible incumbents that oftentimes offer poor service to their customers.

• Nubank vs. the banking oligopoly in Brazil.

• Uber vs. the taxi industry around the world.

There may be no bigger goliaths than the incumbent Telecom operators.

High barriers to entry protected incumbents and led to minimal innovation in services despite very low customer satisfaction.

But that may be about to change with the next generation of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs)

With the development of independent telecom networks (e.g., Altan Redes in Mexico), modern software and AI that allows for greater efficiency and product innovation, we are on the verge of a new wave of competitors in telecom.

Nubank recently launched its “Nucel” service in Brazil, Walmart launched its “Bait” service in Mexico in 2020 and has almost 20M users, and most recently, Mirlo launched an AI first telecom service in Mexico targeting businesses and independent professionals.

Mirlo, a company backed by NuMundo Ventures, aims to bring voice AI services to millions of Mexicans directly through their cell phone plan with services like an AI agent that filters inbound calls, schedules meetings, and integrates into business CRMs and calendars.

NuMundo is betting on Mirlo.

But more importantly, NuMundo is betting on change for the hundreds of millions of cell phone users in LatAm.

NuMundo Network

The Colombia Early Stage 100 is Back!

After an incredible response last year, we're thrilled to launch the 2025 edition.

Our goal remains the same: to identify and raise the awareness of the top 100 early stage startups (bootstrapped, angel, pre-seed, seed).

A big part of my mission is to be the bridge between Silicon Valley and Latin America and help these founders build and attract the capital they need from LatAm, US, and global investors.

The selected companies will be promoted at an event during Colombia Tech Week, on social media, and by publishing the list on-line.

We encourage all early stage Colombian tech startups to learn more and apply by July 18, 2025!

Apply Here

Numundo Ventures, Slice Podcast

I had a great conversation with Fabri Cara on the NuMundo Ventures podcast, where we dug into how I invest and partner with early-stage founders in Latin America.

I focus on backing LatAm founders tackling big, urgent problems in bold, fundamentally better ways—and often before others notice them.

We explored:

• How I find overlooked founders

• Why emerging managers have a unique edge in LATAM

• What’s ahead for the region’s early-stage scene

Thanks to Fabri for having me on, and to Sunwoo Lee for making it happen.

Hope you get a chance to watch!

Full Episode

Thank you for reading our newsletter!

Feel free to share it with friends who might be interested in collaborating with NuMundo and engaging with the LatAm startup ecosystem.

They can subscribe by clicking on the link below.

Thanks!

Ivan