I recently returned from an Investor trip to Caracas, and the experience has stayed with me in a way I didn’t fully expect. Having worked in emerging markets since 2013, I’ve long believed that great businesses can be built anywhere.
Venezuela reaffirmed that belief; not in theory, but in practice, on the ground, in conversation with founders who are building despite everything.
That reminded me of something that I notice in more comfortable markets.
Coming from the UK, where institutions are stable and the basic systems of life more or less function without question, it’s easy to assume that entrepreneurship depends heavily on environment.
In London, New York, and San Francisco, it’s common to hear people say things would be better “if only” — if only regulations improved, if only funding loosened, if only someone else fixed something first.
Caracas felt like the opposite of that.
The founders there weren’t talking about what wasn’t working. They weren’t waiting for ideal conditions. The focus was on what could be built right now, with the reality in front of them. The conversations were grounded and matter-of-fact: here are our customers, here’s how we reach them, here’s what the market needs today.
It was refreshing — and instructive.
This trip brought back something I’ve written about before: mindset matters more than environment.
Venezuela has been through one of the most difficult twenty-year periods anywhere in the world: hyperinflation, currency collapse, political unrest, failing infrastructure, and the departure of close to nine million people. Yet the founders I met were not preoccupied with these conditions; they had simply adapted to them.
Their orientation was toward action, not explanation. In more comfortable markets, it’s surprisingly easy to rationalise inaction. In Venezuela, that luxury doesn’t exist and in a strange way, that creates clarity. You either build, or you don’t. And the people there are building.
I visited as part of the Startup Venezuela Summit, organised by a group of passionate Venezuelans who genuinely care about seeing their ecosystem grow. The event didn’t try to mimic Silicon Valley or other tech conferences. It didn’t need to. The strength of the summit came from the intent behind it — an honest desire to connect, share, and push the ecosystem forward.
The discussions were practical. People spoke about distribution challenges in a country where logistics can be unpredictable, about how to price products in a dollarized but still volatile economy, and about how to build trust with users in a context where institutions often haven’t earned it. It was one of the most grounded and honest founder gatherings I’ve attended.
Despite everything the country has endured, there is momentum building in certain corners. The market remains large, around thirty million people, and many essential services remain underdeveloped. When the need is obvious, adoption can move quickly. Founders have become highly resourceful out of necessity, and that shows in how they operate. Dollarisation, while not a solution to everything, has created enough day-to-day stability for businesses to plan with more confidence. And many Venezuelans abroad are starting to re-engage, whether as investors, advisors, or simply believers again.
These dynamics don’t eliminate the challenges. But they create room for progress, and the companies emerging from this environment reflect that.
Despite macro headwinds that would have crushed most ecosystems, Venezuela today is home to some breakout startups scaling at remarkable velocity.
In a country where formal credit infrastructure effectively collapsed, Cashea stepped in and rebuilt it through a modern BNPL model.
Founded in 2022
8.6M+ registered users — about 43% of Venezuela’s adult population
Processing US $300M+ per month in transactions
Represents ~3.5% of Venezuela’s GDP in annualised economic activity
Projecting US $200M in revenue in 2025
It’s hard enough to scale a consumer credit business in a stable market. Doing it in Venezuela makes Cashea one of the most extraordinary fintech stories in Latin America.
Founded in 2020, Yummy has grown into a multi-vertical platform spanning food delivery, grocery, mobility, and more.
Raised roughly US $60–70M
Yummy’s revenue in 2024 reached north of US $100 million.
Yummy claims to complete ~18 million transactions per year across food delivery and transport services in Venezuela.
Steadily expanding despite intense macro volatility
Yummy is a classic example of how technology fills systemic gaps when traditional services crumble. They’re proving that even in turbulent environments, demand for quality digital services is enormous.
Kurios is one of the more notable education-focused startups in Venezuela, working with schools across the country to integrate STEM and robotics into everyday learning at meaningful scale.
Reaches more than 78,000 students through 168 schools across 17 states.
Has been operating in the country for over five years, integrating STEM and robotics into regular school curricula.
Played a role in Venezuela’s recent participation at the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF), a first for the country.
It’s founders received a “Emerging Entrepreneurs of the Year” award from EY (LEI category) for their impact in education
The founders I met in Caracas embodied traits you often hear romanticised in Silicon Valley but rarely see at scale: grit, tenacity, resourcefulness, ambition, and a touch of delusion; the essential startup cocktail.
These traits weren’t aspirational. They were practical. When your country has given you every possible reason not to build, and you build anyway, you develop a certain clarity and resilience that no accelerator can teach.
This was brought home to me when listening to Pedro, the founder of Cashea, tell his very personal story of entrepreneurship. From moving his young family to multiple different countries trying to launch different business ventures, to the strain it put on his marriage and family relationships, before finally on the third or fourth attempt, he landed on the idea for Cashea. The rest as they say is history.
This very personal story reminded me of a simple truth: Mindset is the ultimate competitive advantage.
In developed markets, we often conflate comfort with progress. But comfort can create complacency. In Venezuela, there is no complacency, only urgency, creativity, and forward motion.
No one in Caracas is pretending that Venezuela’s challenges are over. But if the country does enter a more stable period over the coming years, even a modest one, the foundations being laid now could compound significantly.
A generation of founders is already building the infrastructure and services the country needs. Digital adoption is rising. Local success stories are emerging. And the desire to improve things is real.
It won’t transform overnight, but it’s not difficult to imagine the next decade looking materially different if this momentum continues.
Caracas was a reminder that talent appears everywhere, opportunity often hides in difficult places, and meaningful progress usually begins with people who decide not to wait for ideal conditions.
Venezuela has many of those people.
Until next time.
If you are interested in learning more about what we are building at Nascent, we would love to connect!
Archie@nascent.vc
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