Latin American Leaders Awards

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Aqui compartimos noticias, análisis e historias de negocios, liderazgo y geopolítica de América Latina.

También encontrarás eventos, convocatorias y nuestros ya famosos premios Latin American Leaders Awards , el reconocimiento más importante en Europa para Líderes Latinoamericanos.

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Latin America is running two completely different economies at the same time, and the first half of 2026 proves it 📊

The gap between the region's highest and lowest inflation is 129.72 percentage points. That is not a rounding difference, that is two different planets sharing one continent.

Where prices are burning 🔥
🇻🇪 Venezuela 129.80 percent in six months
🇦🇷 Argentina 16.80 percent
🇨🇺 Cuba 12.24 percent
🇧🇴 Bolivia 4.82 percent
🇨🇴 Colombia 4.77 percent

Where prices barely moved ❄️
🇨🇷 Costa Rica 0.08 percent, the calmest in the region
🇵🇦 Panama 1.10 percent
🇪🇨 Ecuador 1.39 percent
🇲🇽 Mexico 1.50 percent
🇬🇹 Guatemala 1.67 percent

The nuance most headlines miss 🧠

Argentina is still second in the region, but the trend is bending. June came in at 1.9 percent monthly, the lowest reading in ten months, with 33.5 percent year on year.

Costa Rica closed the semester at 0.08 percent. Read that again. Six months of almost perfectly flat prices in a dollarized trade economy.

Why this matters if you do business here 💼

Inflation is not just a macro number, it is your pricing power, your payroll cycle and your contract terms. In a 130 percent economy you reprice monthly. In a 0.08 percent economy you can sign three year deals and sleep.

What comes next 🔭

Economists surveyed by Argentina's central bank see the year closing near 30 percent inflation with about 3 percent growth. Globally the IMF lifted its 2026 inflation forecast to 4.7 percent after energy prices jumped 25 percent.

Translation: the world is getting slightly hotter while most of Latin America is cooling down. That inversion has not happened in years, and it changes where capital feels safe.

The region is no longer one inflation story. It is nineteen 🌎

Which number surprised you most 👇

Pro-Latam.org

Everyone talks about the two countries with runaway prices. Almost nobody talks about the sixteen that quietly got boring 📉

In the first half of 2026, sixteen of nineteen Latin American countries posted accumulated inflation below 5 percent. Boring is underrated. Boring is where capital goes.

The calmest economies in the region ✅
🇨🇷 Costa Rica 0.08 percent
🇵🇦 Panama 1.10 percent
🇪🇨 Ecuador 1.39 percent
🇲🇽 Mexico 1.50 percent
🇬🇹 Guatemala 1.67 percent

And right behind them 📋
🇵🇾 Paraguay 1.90 percent
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 2.02 percent
🇳🇮 Nicaragua 2.17 percent
🇸🇻 El Salvador 2.70 percent
🇨🇱 Chile 2.80 percent

The Mexico datapoint that changes the story 🇲🇽

Annual inflation slowed to 3.10 percent in early July, an eighth consecutive fortnight of deceleration. Core inflation returned to the central bank's target range at 3.95 percent. For the second largest economy in the region, that is a green light on cost predictability.

Now zoom out 🌍

The IMF raised its global inflation forecast for 2026 to 4.7 percent, pushed by a 25 percent jump in energy prices. Global trade growth is slowing to 3.5 percent from 5 percent last year.

So here is the plot twist. A large part of Latin America is now running cooler than the world average.

What this unlocks 🔑

🏗️ Longer contracts and multi year pricing
👷 Payroll planning without emergency adjustments
🏦 Room for central banks to ease instead of defend
📦 Nearshoring math that finally holds still long enough to model

The honest caveat ⚠️

Low inflation is not the same as high growth. The World Bank notes real income per person in the region has barely moved this year, with borrowing costs still blocking investment.

Stability is the foundation, not the building 🧱

Which of these markets are you watching 👇

Pro-Latam.org

The map of Latin American venture capital just moved, and it moved toward Mexico City 🚀

In the second quarter of 2026, Mexican startups raised 944 million dollars. Brazilian startups raised 350 million. That is nearly a three to one gap in the region's most watched rivalry.

The numbers 📊
🇲🇽 Mexico 944 million dollars, up 131 percent year on year
🇧🇷 Brazil 350 million dollars, down 11 percent year on year
🌎 Region total 1.36 billion dollars, up 47 percent
📈 Late stage and growth alone 991 million dollars, up 84 percent

Why this is not a fluke 🧠

This is the third quarter in the past year that Mexico has out raised Brazil. It happened once in 2025 and Brazil took the lead back quickly. Three times in twelve months looks less like an accident and more like a repricing of the region.

Mexico also grew 136 percent over its own first quarter. Momentum is compounding, not spiking.

Who is writing the checks 💰

Global funds are showing up in force. Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Allianz X, Sequoia Capital, Tencent and Goodwater Capital all backed rounds in the region this year. Three of the five nine figure deals of the quarter came from Mexico City companies.

The part nobody should skip ⚠️

Total investment in the region is still far below the 2021 peak and has returned to roughly 2019 levels in both capital deployed and deal volume. Angel, seed and early stage round counts fell both sequentially and year on year.

So the headline is real, and incomplete. Big money is back. Early money is not.

What comes next 🔭

If late stage keeps carrying the region while seed shrinks, LatAm gets a barbell ecosystem: a few giants raising global rounds and a thinner pipeline behind them. The next four quarters decide which shape wins.

Mexico has the lead. The question is who builds the pipeline 👇

Pro-Latam.org

Five deals. That is how many nine figure venture rounds all of Latin America produced last quarter. Three of them came from the same city 🇲🇽

Here is the entire top tier of the second quarter of 2026, and what each one tells you about where the region is heading.

The biggest rounds 💸
1️⃣ Clip, Mexico, 500 million dollars, a private equity deal at a valuation above 2.5 billion
2️⃣ Plata, Mexico, 405 million dollars Series C led by Bicycle Capital, valued at 5 billion
3️⃣ Kavak, Mexico, 300 million dollars Series F with WCM Investment Management and Andreessen Horowitz
4️⃣ Ualá, Argentina, 195 million dollars led by Allianz X, valued at 3.2 billion
5️⃣ Enter, Brazil, 100 million dollars Series B led by Founders Fund

What the list reveals 🧠

💳 Four of five are financial infrastructure. Payments, digital banking and consumer credit still absorb most of the capital in the region.
🚗 Kavak proves used car commerce is treated as fintech, not retail. It was Andreessen Horowitz's largest bet in Latin America and the first regional deal from its growth fund.
⚖️ Enter is the outlier and the signal. Legaltech reaching a 100 million dollar Series B says the software layer is widening beyond finance.

The concentration problem 📌

These five rounds account for 1.5 billion dollars of announced capital, while the region's seed through growth total for the quarter was 1.36 billion. A handful of companies now define the entire narrative.

Meanwhile early stage deal counts fell both quarter on quarter and year on year.

What to watch next 🔭

Late stage capital in the region grew 84 percent year on year while early stage shrank. If that split continues, the region ends up with a few global scale winners and a thinner bench behind them. Watch whether Mexico City converts three strong quarters into a deeper seed market.

Mega rounds are back. The pipeline is the real story 👇

Pro-Latam.org

Your passport is a business asset, and in Latin America its value varies by more than 120 destinations depending on where you were born ✈️

The July 2026 global mobility ranking is out. Here is how the region stacks up, measured in destinations you can enter without a prior visa.

The regional top ten 🛂
1️⃣ Chile 174 destinations, 14th in the world
2️⃣ Argentina 169, 16th globally
2️⃣ Brazil 169, 16th globally
4️⃣ Mexico 156, 22nd
4️⃣ Uruguay 156, 22nd
6️⃣ Costa Rica 148, 26th
7️⃣ Panama 147, 27th
8️⃣ Paraguay 145, 28th
9️⃣ Peru 141, 32nd
🔟 Guatemala 132, 36th

And the rest of the region 📋
🇸🇻 El Salvador 131, 🇨🇴 Colombia 130, 🇭🇳 Honduras 129, 🇳🇮 Nicaragua 124, 🇻🇪 Venezuela 116, 🇪🇨 Ecuador 92, 🇧🇴 Bolivia 77, 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 70, 🇨🇺 Cuba 57, 🇭🇹 Haiti 48

Why founders and executives should care 💼

Mobility is deal velocity. A Chilean founder can reach 174 markets without paperwork. A Bolivian founder reaches 77. Same pitch deck, radically different cost of showing up in the room.

For anyone hiring across the region, this is also a travel budget line and a sales cycle multiplier.

The numbers behind the ranking 📊

The index tracks 199 passports against 227 destinations using airline association data, and Chile remains the only Latin American passport inside the global top 20.

What comes next 🔭

Access is expanding everywhere. The average passport now opens 108 destinations, compared with 58 twenty years ago. At the same time the gap between the strongest and weakest passport has widened to a record 170 destinations.

The region's ceiling is rising. Its floor is not moving as fast 🧱

Where does your passport rank 👇

Twenty years ago the United States held the world's most powerful passport. Today it sits tenth, and Latin America has quietly climbed 🌎

The global mobility index just published its twentieth anniversary edition, and the long view is far more interesting than the annual headline.

The world leaders 🥇
1️⃣ Singapore 192 destinations
2️⃣ Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates 188
3️⃣ Sweden 187
6️⃣ United Kingdom 184
🔟 Iceland and the United States 180

Where Latin America sits 🛂
🇨🇱 Chile 14th with 174 destinations
🇦🇷 Argentina 16th with 169
🇧🇷 Brazil 16th with 169
🇲🇽 Mexico 22nd with 156
🇺🇾 Uruguay 22nd with 156
🇨🇷 Costa Rica 26th with 148

The two statistics everyone is sharing 📊

🔓 The average passport now opens 108 destinations without a prior visa. In 2006 that number was 58. Global mobility nearly doubled in a generation.
📉 Bolivia is the only passport in the world with a net loss over those twenty years, down six destinations.

The power shift 🔁

The United States fell from first to tenth and is now one of the few top ranked passports that still needs a visa for China. The United Kingdom slid from third to sixth. The United Arab Emirates added 153 visa free destinations, the largest gain recorded.

At the other end, Afghanistan closes the table with just 22 destinations.

Why this is a business story, not a travel story 💼

Visa friction is a tax on speed. It decides how fast you can close a client, inspect a factory, attend a signing or move a technical team.

What comes next 🔭

The gap between the strongest and weakest passport is now a record 170 destinations. Mobility is expanding and concentrating at the same time.

Chile is the region's benchmark. Who closes the gap next 👇

Pro-Latam.org

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Latin America is not waiting for “perfect conditions” to grow, it is already on the Financial Times scoreboard. 🚀🌎

The FT & Statista 2026 list of “The Americas’ Fastest‑Growing Companies” tracks 300 businesses across the entire continent based on audited compound annual revenue growth (CAGR) from 2021 to 2024.

At the very top of the ranking, we see a new growth trio:

1. Grow Therapy (US) – mental‑health platform, CAGR 538.8%

2. Clara (Brazil, originally Mexico) – B2B payments & spend management, CAGR 377.1%

3. Capricor Therapeutics (US) – biotech, CAGR 349.7%

Yet the most interesting story is how Latin America quietly steals the show inside this list. Brazil places 30 companies, Mexico adds 13, and Argentina and Colombia contribute standout names that grow faster than many North American peers.

LatAm hyper‑growth stars include:

1. Clara – born in Mexico, now headquartered in Brazil, ranked 2nd in the entire Americas and proving that LatAm fintech can scale at continental speed.

2. Grupo Ecipsa – from Argentina, ranked 4th overall with a 346.7% CAGR in real estate, showing that even “old” sectors can become new growth engines when tech and financing align.

3. Addi – a Colombian fintech highlighted by FT as a regional hyper‑growth case, with its exact position inside the 300‑company table remaining uncertain but clearly on the radar.

4. Luby – Brazilian IT & software player, proud to be 4th fastest‑growing Brazilian company, 1st in IT & Software in Brazil, Top 10 in Latin America and 2nd IT & Software firm in LatAm according to the ranking.

Sector‑wise, the 2026 table is dominated by IT & software (15% of companies, down from 22% in the 2025 edition), fintech/financial services/insurance (10.3%) and healthcare & life sciences (9.3%). These are exactly the sectors where Latin America is building its new wave of champions, from SaaS and payments to telehealth and tech‑enabled real estate. 💳💻🏙️

For investors and founders, the message is simple: this is not a “nice story”, it’s audited growth. These companies grew over several years, through volatility, and still landed on a continental scoreboard dominated by the US and Canada. If your strategy still looks only at North America, you are already missing part of the hyper‑growth club.

Save this ranking, share it with your team and ask a hard question: how many of these Latin American companies will you miss if you keep treating the region as “too risky” instead of “quietly scalable”? 📊🔥
Pro-Latam.org

Top 10 Largest Companies in Latin America 2026

Latin America’s corporate crown in 2026 doesn’t sit in Wall Street or São Paulo – it sits on an Argentinian head. 👑📈

According to 2026 market‑cap data, MercadoLibre is the most valuable company in Latin America, worth about USD 103.15 billion and beating oil, banks and telecom giants from Brazil and Mexico.

Here’s the current Top 10 by market capitalization in 2026:

1. MercadoLibre (Argentina) – USD 103.15B – E‑commerce / Fintech

2. Petrobras (Brazil) – USD 96.02B – Energy / Oil & Gas

3. Itaú Unibanco (Brazil) – USD 95.71B – Banking

4. BTG Pactual (Brazil) – USD 92.86B – Investment Banking & Wealth Management

5. Grupo México (Mexico) – USD 90.07B – Mining & Infrastructure

6. Nu Holdings – Nubank (Brazil) – USD 81.45B – Digital Banking

7. Vale (Brazil) – USD 69.49B – Mining

8. América Móvil (Mexico) – USD 64.09B – Telecommunications

9. Walmart de México (Walmex) – USD 56.24B – Retail

10. Banco Santander Brasil (Brazil) – USD 49.54B – Banking

Brazil and Mexico clearly dominate the list by number of giants: six Brazilian and three Mexican companies.

But the #1 spot is reserved for Argentina, and only through one company: MercadoLibre, that turned e‑commerce, digital payments and fintech rails into regional infrastructure across Brazil, Mexico and the wider Spanish‑speaking world.

If you’re looking for a “LatAm champion” to study, this is it. In this ranking, Argentina is not just competitive, it is literally on top – and the rest of Latin America should be learning from how MercadoLibre built scale, trust and tech across borders, even in the middle of volatility. 🇦🇷🚀

What does this mean in practice?

Corporate power is highly concentrated, and the stacked cards are stamped “Brazil”, “Mexico”… and one very powerful “Argentina” at the top.

“Old economy” sectors like oil, mining and retail still matter, but digital platforms and fintech are now strong enough to beat them on value.

If Latin America wants more champions, the lesson is clear: build regional platforms, not just local products. In this game, Argentina already showed that being “volatile” doesn’t stop you from being number one. 🏆🌎
Pro-Latam.org