Agtech startups: Key players in a new agrifood revolution

Agtech startups are expanding the range of technological solutions available to agrifood systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their development is supported by an ecosystem that connects entrepreneurship, research, financing and users. However, producing innovations does not guarantee that they will be widely used or that the ventures will become financially sustainable. Understanding how this ecosystem works, the progress it has made in the region and the constraints on scaling can help identify opportunities to strengthen its contribution to agrifood development.

New models of agricultural innovation

Technological innovation has played a central role in the recent evolution of agrifood systems. A significant share of the productivity gains observed in recent decades can be attributed to the adoption of new technologies and techniques (USDA 2026). These gains have helped meet growing demand. Looking ahead, technological innovation will become even more important, as the challenge will be not only to continue increasing productivity but also to ensure environmental sustainability, traceability and integration into commercial supply chains, among other priorities.

Technological innovation no longer takes place solely in research centers, large companies or public agencies. Today, a large share of frontier technologies—particularly digital and biological technologies—comes from entrepreneurial teams that turn innovative ideas, knowledge and foundational technologies into technological solutions, with the ambition of building businesses that operate at a regional or global scale (Birner, Daum and Pray 2020; Klerkx and Villalobos 2024). These are known as agtech startups. Despite their growing prominence, these startups do not operate in isolation, but as part of an ecosystem involving a range of actors.

The “agtech ecosystem”

The agtech ecosystem refers to the actors and relationships that shape much of agricultural innovation. As noted above, this ecosystem includes not only startups, but also other public and private actors that are essential to developing technological solutions (Figure 1): universities and research centers, incubators, accelerators, venture capital funds, large companies, national public agencies and even the users of the solutions themselves (Stam and Van de Ven 2021). Multilateral organizations providing technical cooperation and development financing are also beginning to play a very active role (Klerkx and Bert 2026).

The agtech ecosystem has at least three notable distinguishing features compared with the innovation models of previous technological revolutions. These features largely reflect the nature of the technological solutions driving the current revolution (digital and biological):

• A large number of developers (startups), reflecting low barriers to development.

• Agile developers with close ties to users, enabling solutions to be co-developed and better adapted to their context.

• Greater complementarity among actors, with startups playing a notable role in unlocking value from publicly generated assets and technologies (for example, satellite and weather data) through “last-mile” solutions.

Rapid development, difficult scaling

The barriers to developing a minimum viable product (MVP) for a digital solution are low and have fallen further as artificial intelligence (AI) has made software development easier (the barriers are higher when a solution involves hardware or biological manipulation). An MVP can also be put into use quickly, although it needs to be progressively refined. In addition, the diversity of processes within the agrifood system—production, commerce, logistics and others—creates a wide range of opportunities to develop technological solutions. These factors largely explain the rapid proliferation of agtech startups in recent years.

Although innovation has become easier, scaling solutions—understood as the growth of agtech ventures through widespread use of their products—remains very difficult. Scaling requires, among other things, that solutions be refined and have a clear value proposition, and that resources (funding) be available to develop commercialization strategies, technical assistance services and after-sales support, among other requirements. In addition, barriers specific to agriculture substantially constrain technology adoption, including the diversity of farmers and production systems, the biological cycles of agricultural activities, and connectivity limitations in rural areas. As a result, only a very small proportion of agtech startups have so far achieved significant scale and financially sustainable business operations (Navarro et al. 2024).

The agtech ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean

Against this backdrop, agricultural technological innovation has been accelerating in Latin America and the Caribbean. The development of agtech ecosystems in the region directly affects the availability of technological solutions for the agrifood sector and the creation of businesses in the knowledge economy. The following is a brief overview of the region’s agtech ecosystem:

Startups and the range of solutions available

The first edition (2026) of the Latin America and the Caribbean AgTech Radar¹ identified 2,653 agtech startups across 23 countries in the region. As a mapping exercise rather than a census, this count is not exhaustive, and the actual number is likely to be even higher. Of these startups, 62.6% (1,662) develop digital technology solutions, 26.5% (703) biological solutions, 25.5% (676) new materials and formulations, and 20% (530) mechatronic solutions (Figure 2).

The mapped startups develop solutions for 13 production chains. Most of these startups (1,438) offer solutions that cut across or apply to more than one chain, followed by those serving crop production (752) and, to a much lesser extent, livestock production (139) (Figure 3). Meanwhile, 67.4% of startups develop solutions for on-farm use, while the remainder is distributed in similar proportions between solutions for stages before on-farm production (for example, inputs and biotechnology) and after the farm (for example, online marketplaces, new foods and logistics). Finally, the primary impact of 65% of solutions is increased production and improved efficiency (a startup may belong to more than one domain).

Although this first edition of the Radar does not collect information on this subject, growth has been observed in the number of incubators and accelerators and in the presence or development of venture capital funds in the region.

Development of national ecosystems and the regional ecosystem

The number of startups mapped in the AgTech LAC Radar reflects the growing dynamism of agtech innovation in the region. However, there are currently substantial differences among countries in the development of their ecosystems. The Radar shows Brazil clearly in the lead, with 2,075 agtech companies (with the caveat that coverage in Brazil is more comprehensive because EMBRAPA has been conducting the mapping exercise since 2020), followed by Mexico and Argentina (both with more than 100), and then Chile, Colombia and Uruguay (Figure 4). However, when these numbers are considered relative to each country’s population (inhabitants per startup), Uruguay, Chile and Argentina rank highest, ranging from one startup per 48,000 inhabitants to one per 293,000.

Alongside this uneven progress, interaction and collaboration among actors from different countries within the region remain limited. Strengthening links and coordinating capabilities across countries are necessary to develop the regional ecosystem, with two objectives: (1) to foster innovation and the scaling of solutions within the region, and (2) to position the region as a globally significant hub of agrifood innovation. In recent years, IICA has promoted several initiatives in this direction.

Let’s talk about investment

Another distinctive feature of the new innovation models is the growing importance of private actors, not only in developing solutions but also in financing their development and scaling (Klerkx and Villalobos 2024). In this context, organizations that commit capital at different stages of technological and business development have gained considerable importance, from programs that encourage idea generation and prototype development to venture investments that support the scaling of startups with an established market presence. Several international venture capital funds have begun operating in the region, while a number of local funds have also been created, in some cases by agricultural entrepreneurs.

The 2026 edition of AgFunder’s Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report² records global investment of USD 16.2 billion in AgFoodTech startups during 2025. This amount is similar to that of the previous two years, but well below the record USD 54.6 billion recorded in 2021. The two leading categories are “bioenergy and biomaterials” and “e-commerce.” Of the total USD 16.2 billion, the United States accounts for USD 5.9 billion. India follows with USD 2.2 billion, while no Latin American or Caribbean country ranks among the top ten, despite the region’s growing agtech dynamism. Vergara and Barrett (2026) document a positive investment trend in South America, led by Brazil and Argentina. These investments totaled USD 10 billion between 2007 and 2022.

What does the agtech phenomenon mean for Latin America and the Caribbean?

The new models of agricultural innovation and the growing dynamism of the agtech ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean have at least three implications for the region:

1. Developing the region’s agtech ecosystem will not only help expand the range of technologies available to improve productivity, sustainability and traceability, but will also position the region as a key player in global agrifood innovation. The region has world-class entrepreneurs and innovations.

2. The Radar data show considerable dynamism in the creation of technologies and startups. However, the scaling of these ventures remains very limited, and consequently the effective use of the available technologies is still very low. Actions involving public and private actors are needed to support scaling and to promote and facilitate technology adoption.

3. There is considerable scope to develop the regional agtech ecosystem. This requires, on the one hand, fostering its development in countries where agtech activity remains limited and, on the other, consolidating and positioning the regional ecosystem (the “LAC agtech ecosystem”). IICA has been promoting several initiatives—particularly Digital Agriculture Week and the development of national agendas for digital innovation and the use of technology—to contribute to both objectives.

Authors

Carlos Ruíz Macho

Specialist in IICA’s Directorate of Technical Cooperation.

He holds a degree in Economics and Business Studies, with a focus on International Trade, and a master’s degree in Strategies and Technologies for Development from the Polytechnic and Complutense universities of Madrid.

Alcântara Gomes Lima, Alice

Specialist in IICA’s Directorate of Technical Cooperation.

She holds a degree in International Relations and a master’s degree in Economic Development, with a focus on Agricultural Economics and the Environment, from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP, Brazil).

Caterina Dalmasso

Consultant in IICA’s Directorate of Technical Cooperation.

She holds a degree in Sociology, a master’s degree in Rural Development from the University of Buenos Aires, and a master’s degree in Digital Transformation of the Agrifood and Forestry Sector from the University of Córdoba, Spain.

Federico Bert

Specialist

Specialist in the Directorate of Technical Cooperation. He holds a degree in Agronomy and a doctorate in Agricultural Sciences, and has completed postdoctoral research in complex systems modeling. He was a researcher at CONICET (Argentina) and Research and Development Lead at CREA Argentina.

Note: This article was translated into English from the original Spanish with assistance from ChatGPT and underwent editorial review by the blog editor.