The 50 most influential angel investors in Latin America

An angel investor is one who approves an idea or an entrepreneur with the first check. “(An angel) comes to the entrepreneur at a stage where there are many things that are not yet concrete, where he is looking not only for money, but for extra support, which can give him advice in difficult times,” explains Daniel Ospina, co-founder and general partner of Pygma.

For his part, Andrés Cano, founder and general partner of Pygma, explains that, in addition to that seal of credibility, they are also “the first to take the risk (because) many of the startups in which they invest, if not the majority, are going to fail, it is something simply statistical, they are people who want to provide value, who want to open doors without expecting an immediate return.”

These investors have evolved over the years. A study by Pygma points out that there have been three key moments of angels in the region: the first is the emergence in 2010, which coincides with the boom of Airbnb, Uber, etc.; followed by a sustained rebound in 2021 and 2022 after the euphoria of the “Golden VC Days” (the golden era of Venture Capital), and a stabilization in 2023 and 2025.

This is a moment in the ecosystem that Andrés Cano describes as mature. “Before we were talking about only angels that acted independently. It is incredible to see all these networks of angels betting on affinities, on verticals, on appetite. Before we could talk that it was supremely horizontal. Today we can say that there are networks of angels even of universities, I believe that what we are showing in Latin America is a maturation of our ecosystem in a very positive way,” he mentions.

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Against this backdrop, Pygma and Forbes Mexico present for the first time the list of The 50 Most Influential Angel Investors in Latam which, in addition to making visible the role they play in the ecosystem, highlights their contributions beyond money, also through mentoring and access to contacts.

What is an angel investor like?

Andrés Cano explains that there are two types of angels, those who were entrepreneurs and want to contribute back to the ecosystem and the corporate ones, who did not start a business but seek to support, “they are evangelists within the corporations, they not only help with the check, but also look at how they can generate lines of business,” he explains.

Daniel Ospina highlights that an important key for angels is to have an investment thesis that allows them to know how strict or flexible they should be, what to invest in, how many resources to allocate and how, as well as considering diversity in terms of geographic location, industry or gender, the latter as a major pending within this sector.

Andrés Cano highlights that progress has been seen on this issue. “If you go back five years, investment in women represented less than 10%. The report we made shows that 72% of angels have invested in a woman who is a female founder and that is something very positive. There are things that could improve, but I believe that we have found equity where before we thought there was none,” she says.

According to the Pygma study, angels allocate 71% of their portfolios to mixed or female-led teams. However, only 6.7% of investors exceed 60% investment in female founders, which represents an opportunity to promote more aggressive equity policies.

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A moment of maturation

Although this stage that angel investors are experiencing is one of maturation, Daniel Ospina highlights some common mistakes within this sector: overinvesting; invest in what they do not understand, whether it is an industry or a startup; not diversify or invest in companies that are the same; focusing too much on traction or revenue and not on people, which are what move the needle in such early stages; and not follow intuition.

But beyond investment, Pygma highlights that of the sample, 55 investors offer mentoring, another 55 networking, and about 25 provide strategic advice; Only one provides direct legal support.

“It is also teaching the entrepreneur that an angel investor is more than just a check. The entrepreneur is the scarce asset, he is the person who is really challenging an industry, changing the status quo and the angel is often the lucky one to be allowed to enter the round. We must change the mentality of seeing the angel as the scarce asset, here the scarce asset is often the entrepreneur,” Ospina mentions.

For Andrés, the most important thing is to be able to build a long-term relationship. “The relationship that this angel investor is going to have with the entrepreneur can be seven to 10 years, so understand the entrepreneur, the business, learn to give the smart first and then the money, that is the challenge I see,” says Cano.

The future looks promising, as some of the trends that are noted are that, through Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies, entrepreneurs will not require as much capital, which could mean proof for angel investors to provide more value.

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The 50 most influential angel investors in Latin America

The methodology had two stages: a quantitative analysis and a qualitative one. The quantitative evaluated the experience of the angels (25%), the performance of their portfolio (25%), their profile as an investor (30%) and their efforts in equity and inclusion (20%). The qualitative was carried out by a committee of experts under the same structure and which made it possible to evaluate the reputation, validate the mentoring processes, participation in angel networks and their support policies for founders.

The sample included 75 angels from 18 countries, 13 of them are women (17%) and 61 are men (82%). Together, they have made 1,563 investments, deploying an accumulated capital of 51.05 million dollars. Around 30 act as co-investors, 22 did their “first check” in startups with no history, and around 45 define themselves as flexible investors, willing to continue leveraging companies beyond the first round.

Money Albarrán

Country of origin: Mexico

Total startups in which it has invested: 114

Notes: Due to confidentiality issues, only 50 of those 75 decided to appear on this list. The presentation of this list is in alphabetical order.