Costa Rica
South America · Pop. 5.1M
Enterprise value · 2015–2025
Costa Rica grew 1.3× since 2015
Combined enterprise value of every tracked startup headquartered in Costa Rica that's still operating today — public and private companies combined, totalled by founding-year cohort.
Adjacent ecosystems by EV
Startup funnel
Costa Rica's power-law funnel
From the first cheque written to a $10B+ outcome. Each arrow shows what fraction of companies at one stage graduate to the next, tracked by founding cohort.
* C→Unicorn and Unicorn→Decacorn rates are derived from current counts (no founding-cohort data); the four mid-funnel rates use Dealroom's cohort tracking.
Academia
Costa Rica's academic flywheel
Companies founded by university alumni or spun out of research, plus the institutions producing the most founders tied to Costa Rica.
Vs. similarly-sized ecosystems
How Costa Rica stacks up
Peers chosen from the same South America cluster within ±70% of Costa Rica's combined EV. The scatter plots growth × current size for the wider continent — outliers in the upper-right are ecosystems compounding fastest.
Top overview
South America ecosystems — combined view
Top ecosystems in South America ranked by combined EV. Costa Rica's row is highlighted.
| # | Ecosystem | Combined EV | 5-yr EV growth | Unicorns | VC invested | Tracked startups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | $235B | 16.2× | 32 | $2B | 3,952 |
| 2 | Argentina | $141B | 7.1× | 9 | $150.9M | 767 |
| 3 | Mexico | $45.1B | 10.0× | 13 | $1.4B | 1,281 |
| 4 | Colombia | $21.1B | 16.5× | 2 | $207.1M | 680 |
| 5 | Chile | $17.8B | 12.3× | 3 | $189.9M | 850 |
| 6 | El Salvador | $12.6B | — | 1 | $72.8M | 34 |
| 7 | Cayman Islands | $10.7B | 150.5× | 4 | $184.5M | 108 |
| 8 | British Virgin Islands | $5.8B | 64.8× | 1 | $249.9M | 124 |
| 9 | Uruguay | $4.6B | 15.7× | 2 | $38.2M | 93 |
| 10 | Bermuda | $2.7B | 5.5× | 1 | $22M | 29 |
| 11 | Ecuador | $1.6B | — | 1 | $600K | 61 |
| 13 | Costa Rica | $1.5B | 1.3× | 0 | $13.5M | 71 |
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What we don't show on this page (yet)
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