Uruguay is one of Latin America’s smallest countries—with just 3.4M people, it is far smaller than cities like São Paulo (22.6M), Mexico City (22.3M), and Buenos Aires (15.49M). But that hasn’t stopped Uruguay from punching above its weight on the international stage, and its national soccer team is proof: Uruguay has won 15 Copa Americas, second only to Argentina, along with two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals.
Beyond sports, Uruguay has the highest GDP per capita in Latin America at $22.5K, standing out as an economic leader. Over the years, Uruguay has positioned itself as a hub for local startups and foreign investment through public policies like:
- Corporate tax exemptions of up to 100% for software companies that spend at least 50% of their business costs in Uruguay (2007)
- Corporate tax exemptions of up to 30% on certain international costs, like payments to international service providers and software development and maintenance. A lower income tax rate of 12% and a social security exemption for IT professionals (2023)
- A renewable Digital Nomad Visa valid for up to 12 months (2023)
But when did Uruguay become a technology powerhouse, and how did it become one of Latin America’s success cases?
A brief history of Uruguay’s tech scene
If you heard about Uruguay’s first unicorn in 2016, you’d never guess that it was an overnight success three decades in the making.
Long before startups became popular in Latin America, three Uruguayan founders launched Scanntech in 1992 to help retail companies improve operations through technology–yes, before MercadoLibre. Today, Scanntech provides software solutions to 450 of the world’s top 500 retailers, offering tools like ScannMarket for market and competitor analysis, ScannView for pricing optimization and product mix insights, and PromoClub for managing promotions at the point of sale.
Nearly two decades later, PedidosYa launched in 2009 as a food delivery app and B2B last-mile logistics platform, helping restaurants and e-commerce businesses cut delivery costs and simplify operations. PedidosYa is now present in 15 Latin American countries and was acquired by Delivery Hero in 2014.
In 2016, dLocal launched as a cross-border payment processor, connecting global merchants with emerging markets, becoming a unicorn in 2020 and IPO’ing on the NASDAQ in 2021—only the second Uruguayan company to reach Wall Street after StarMedia in 1999. Beyond its success in payments, dLocal has quietly become a launchpad for Latin American entrepreneurs. Joaquin Colella and Ilan Bajarlia, former software developer and head of sales at dLocal, now lead Nocnoc. Ex-dLocal executives Michel Golffed and Rodrigo Sánchez Prandi are driving fintech innovation at Brinta. Meanwhile, dLocal co-founder Sergio Fogel has turned his focus to Datanomik.
All three of these companies–Scanntech, PedidosYa, and dLocal–have one thing in common: they’re headquartered in Montevideo, the beating heart of Uruguay’s tech scene and home to around 500 startups as of 2024. The Uruguayan capital is one of the most prominent emerging tech hubs in Latin America, with more VC-backed startups than cities like Monterrey, Medellin, Curitiba and Belo Horizonte.
Now that you know why you should keep an eye out, let’s get into the 8 Uruguayan companies that, according to public data, have raised over $5M in venture capital funding and remain independent—meaning they haven’t been acquired, reached unicorn status, or gone public yet.
1. Bunker DB
Bunker DB is a SaaS marketing analytics platform that helps businesses consolidate and analyze data to improve marketing performance. It provides paid media analytics, social media monitoring, audience management, sentiment analysis, and automated reporting. Bunker DB’s real-time analytics deliver actionable insights to help clients make data-driven decisions.
Founded in 2014 by CEO Avedis Boudakian, Bunker DB serves clients like Unilever, Walmart, AB InBev, and KFC.
According to Crunchbase, Bunker DB has raised over $6.4M in funding from investors including Globant Ventures and Draco Capital.
2. Bankingly
Bankingly is a white-label digital banking provider that helps financial institutions, banks, and credit unions offer services such as apps, online portals, and automated chat assistance without the cost of in-house development.
Founded in 2015 by CEO Martin Naor, Bankingly provides web and mobile banking, digital onboarding and loan origination, fraud prevention, and client management portals. Bankingly has worked with over 120 financial institutions in more than 20 countries, including Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia, Bolivia, and Kenya.
Bankingly has raised over $18.75M across three funding rounds, most recently an $11M Series A in May 2022 from investors Oikocredit, Dalus Capital, iThink VC, IDC Ventures, and IDB Lab.
3. Prometeo
Prometeo is an open banking platform that provides standardized APIs for secure access to banking data and transactions across Latin America. Companies use Prometeo’s APIs to integrate with financial institutions and develop cross-border solutions for payments, identity verification, risk assessment, and financial management.
With products like real-time balance consolidation, account verification, and transaction reconciliation, Prometeo helps businesses simplify financial operations and improve efficiency.
Founded in 2018 by Co-CEOs Ximena Alemán and Rodrigo Tumaian, and CTO Eduardo Veiga, Prometeo offers over 1500 API connections to more than 1200 financial institutions across 11 countries.
Prometeo has raised over $13M in funding from investors including Magma Partners, Cometa, Antler Elevate, and PayPal Ventures.
4. Nocnoc
Nocnoc is a B2B SaaS platform that enables global e-commerce sellers to list their products on 15 major Latin American marketplaces, including Amazon and MercadoLibre, through a single interface. Within 48 hours, sellers can start shipping items from Nocnoc’s warehouses in the U.S. and China while avoiding the hassle of registering separately on each marketplace or manually reconciling inventory.
Nocnoc also manages international shipping, customs, taxes, returns, and customer support, allowing sellers to expand into new markets with minimal operational complexity.
Founded in 2019 by dLocal founding team members Ilan Bajarlia (CEO), Joaquin Colella (COO), and Diego Szilagyi (CCO), Nocnoc has raised over $22M in funding, including a $14M Series A in January 2023 from Mouro Capital, Quona Capital, Caravela Capital, Broadhaven, and Ignia.
5. Terraflos
Terraflos is a biotechnology company developing sustainable health and wellness products with plant-based ingredients. Initially focused on cannabis, Terraflos has expanded to plants like calendula, valeriana, and moringa, using genetic insights and plant stem cells to create high-value active ingredients for cosmetics, dietary supplements, food, and pharmaceutical products.
Founded in 2021 by CEO Facundo Garreton, Terraflos operates several subsidiaries, including Dr. Gea, Nutripharma, and Blueberries Medical Corp. In July 2024, Terraflos invested $2M in the Peruvian plant-based food producer Nutri Co to expand into Argentina and Colombia.
To date, Terraflos has secured over $8M in funding from investors like FLA Ventures and Yaax Capital.
6. Strike
Strike is a self-service cybersecurity platform that helps companies find and fix vulnerabilities in web apps, APIs, and cloud environments. Businesses can configure and run penetration tests, or pentests, to simulate attacks and identify weaknesses in their systems before they can be exploited.
Strike’s network of ethical hackers pinpoints vulnerabilities within hours, delivering real-time reports–unlike traditional external penetration tests, which can cost up to $30K and take three months to complete.
Founded in 2021 by CEO Santiago Rosenblatt, Strike serves clients like Bancolombia, Globant, Mercado Libre, Clip, and Banco Santander.
Strike has raised over $5.4M in funding from investors like Magma Partners, Greyhound Capital, FJ Labs, Canary, NXTP, VentureFriends, Latitud, and Orok Ventures.
7. Brinta
Brinta is a SaaS tax compliance platform designed for Latin America, automating tax calculations, reporting, filing, and remittance to reduce the complexity of tax management.
Through a single API, Brinta delivers real-time tax calculations across multiple countries, validates customer tax IDs, and generates customizable reports with advanced analytics.
Founded in 2022 by CEO Michel Golffed and COO Rodrigo Sánchez Prandi, Brinta manages taxes across 19 countries and over 6,000 jurisdictions.
Brinta has secured over $5M in funding from investors like Kaszek, DST Global Partners, 17Sigma, Broadhaven, Latitud, and Gilgamesh Ventures.
8. Datanomik
Datanomik is a B2B open banking platform that simplifies access to financial data for businesses in Latin America. Through a single API, it aggregates information from multiple banks, payment service providers, and e-commerce platforms, helping businesses manage bank accounts across multiple countries and simplify treasury operations.
Founded in 2022 by dLocal founders Gonzalo Strauss (CEO) and Sergio Fogel (CSO), Datanomik’s client list includes companies like Peugeot, Unimed, Magalu, and Flamengo.
Datanomik has raised over $6M in funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Canary, Nazca, and Latitud.
Know another startup shaping Uruguay’s tech ecosystem? Let us know in the comments—your insights help create a fuller picture of Uruguay’s entrepreneurial scene.
