Ideas
LatAm fintech has wide-open markets.
In the U.S., fintech is crowded—competing to be the fifth provider for customers—while in Latin America incumbent banks serve only about 20% of the population, creating wide-open markets. Building fintech there is harder because licensing and infrastructure must be built from scratch, but that creates defensibility and deep local knowledge. a16z's first international check was Addi, which now serves a quarter of Colombia for banking and payments.
Addi serves quarter of Colombia.
Addi was a16z's first international check and now serves a quarter of the Colombian population for banking and payments. It benefits from the wide-open Latin American fintech market and deep local full-stack build, and its brand as the hottest company in Colombia helps attract international talent such as Capital One credit officers.
Taco cuts Brazilian bureaucracy.
a16z invested in Taco, which does payroll and HR workflows across Brazil with a mission to cut bureaucracy. It benefits from Brazilian founders returning from the U.S. who understand local bureaucratic problems and can now use AI and talent to solve them.
Government backing validates European AI champions.
In Europe, governments are supporting local AI champions, as seen with Poland's investment in ElevenLabs and Swedish government support for Lovable and Legora. This acts like an AI Olympics where national pride and government validation give these companies a jump start with large enterprise customers and ancillary markets.
International enterprises become early design partners.
Early-stage international startups can get large enterprises in Latin America and other regions to act as early design partners and convert them into multi-million dollar contracts. This is easier than in the U.S., where banks and insurers are reluctant to be first, and it helps startups build logos and revenue faster.
Factor Labs landed Slim conglomerate design partner.
a16z invested in Factor Labs, which started working with the largest conglomerate in Latin America, owned by the Slim family, as an early design partner. That relationship led to additional workflows and expansion within the corporation, demonstrating how LatAm enterprises can provide early design partners that convert into multi-million dollar contracts.
Supersonic turned Salesforce into customer.
Supersonic, founded by a Spanish founder, leveraged the diaspora network to connect with the former CRO of Salesforce, now COO. Salesforce became their first design partner and eventually a customer, showing how borderless founder networks can land major enterprise logos.
Jeeves enables compliant stablecoin cross-border payments.
Jeeves is building relationships with Brazil's central bank and helps corporations move money internationally via stablecoins. Its reputation as a trusted, compliant, and speedy cross-border payments provider attracts enterprise customers and talent, creating a compounding brand and talent flywheel.
Borderless founders have more growth levers.
Borderless founders have more levers to achieve preferential attachment: access to differentiated talent pools in their home countries, ability to land large enterprise design partners in other markets faster than in the U.S., and brand or government validation. These advantages help them attract talent and customers in a compounding flywheel.
Cognition used Brazil for early revenue.
Cognition, a hot Silicon Valley AI company, used Brazil as an early go-to-market because Brazilian enterprises were eager to adopt AI quickly and had fewer providers. Brazil represented a high share of early revenue and helped them build a strong network there.
Extraordinary simplifies founder visas.
a16z invested in Extraordinary, a visa company that helps international founders navigate the U.S. visa process, qualifications, and recommendation letters. As more borderless founders move to the U.S., demand for visa facilitation should grow.
International VC returns share to rise.
40% of a16z's investments were in international founders, half based in the U.S. and half abroad. Gabriel expects the share of venture capital returns from outside Silicon Valley to rise from around 10% to 20-30% because more diverse sets of minds build bigger companies. This supports increasing exposure to international and borderless venture opportunities.
This a16z video, published August 20, 2026,
features Angela Strange, Gabriel Vasquez
discussing Latin America fintech, ADDI, TACO, ElevenLabs, Lovable, LEGORA, Latin America enterprise AI, Factor Labs, Supersonic, Jeeves, Borderless founders, Cognition, Extraordinary, International venture capital.
12 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers:
Angela Strange,
Gabriel Vasquez
· Tickers:
Latin America fintech,
ADDI,
TACO,
ElevenLabs,
Lovable,
LEGORA,
Latin America enterprise AI,
Factor Labs,
Supersonic,
Jeeves,
Borderless founders,
Cognition,
Extraordinary,
International venture capital
