Why LATAM Founders Are Betting on Europe for Growth

Jan de Vries · 2026-06-16

Europe is quickly becoming a magnet for founders from Latin America. According to the Spanish think tank Elcano Royal Institute, around 4.2 million LATAM immigrants now call Spain home, with another 3 million spread across the rest of the EU. Many of these immigrants aren’t just looking for a new place to live. They’re entrepreneurs, chasing venture capital and commercial partnerships that are much harder to find back home. The EU has rolled out the welcome mat, too. Programs like the one from ICEX, IDB Lab, and Endeavor actively recruit Latin American scale-ups to expand into Spain. Now in its fifth edition, this initiative connects startups with European institutions, VC funds, corporations, and other founders in the region. ### What’s Driving the Move? So, why are so many founders packing their bags? There are plenty of reasons, but the biggest one comes down to money. Europe’s tech ecosystem simply has more investment opportunities than LATAM, at least in terms of total capital available. Let’s look at the numbers. Market intelligence provider Cuantico VP reports that venture capital in Latin America hit $4.126 billion in 2025 across 681 funding rounds. That’s a 13.8% jump from 2024’s $3.627 billion. But compare that to Europe, where KPMG says VC investment reached a massive $85.3 billion across 8,626 deals in the same year. That’s a staggering gap. Sure, Latin America showed its potential back in 2021 with a peak of $17.381 billion. But for now, founders face a choice: compete for a smaller pool of deals in LATAM, or move to high-VC regions like the U.S. or Europe for a shot at bigger opportunities. Many are choosing the latter. ### A Real Journey: From Venezuela to Barcelona Take Stephany Oliveros, co-founder and CEO of SheAI, an EdTech platform that helps women access courses and training to close the gender gap in AI. She left Venezuela in 2017 and now lives in Barcelona. “Honestly, it was not one single decision,” she told EU-Startups. “Like many people from Venezuela, I did not leave by choice in the way that word is usually understood. I left because staying meant accepting a future that was not really there.” For Oliveros, Europe—and Spain in particular—offered something she desperately needed: stability, proximity to a Latin American community that understood her context, and a tech ecosystem that was growing fast but not yet saturated. “There is also something about Europe’s relationship with education and social policy that felt aligned with what I was trying to build,” she added. “The conversation here about digital inclusion, about who gets access to technology and on what terms, is more present than in other markets. That mattered to me.” Spain didn’t just give her access to funding. It provided real institutional support for social equity initiatives. “I have been able to access networks and conversations that would have been much harder to reach from Latin America,” she said. “That said, it is not without friction. As a Latina founder, you are often the only one in the room, and you spend energy navigating assumptions that your European counterparts do not have to think about.” ### What This Means for Founders If you’re a LATAM founder weighing your options, here’s the bottom line: - **Access to capital is the big draw.** Europe’s VC market dwarfs Latin America’s, offering more deals and larger checks. - **Institutional support exists.** Programs like the ICEX initiative can help you land on your feet with connections to investors and partners. - **Cultural fit matters.** Countries like Spain have large Latin American communities, making the transition easier. - **But challenges remain.** You’ll likely face biases and extra friction that local founders don’t. Today, Oliveros’s organization has built a broad network that includes the United Nations and other global institutions. Her story shows that while the move isn’t easy, the opportunities in Europe can be transformative.