Uruguay's Viatik raises $600K seed to chase Argentina's ride-share boom
What's the deal? ViatikDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Uruguayan intercity ride-sharing startup, has raised $600,000 in a seed round, above the $500,000 it initially sought. The round was backed by Silicon Valley's Plug and Play, Argentine accelerator PicanteDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Uruguay's National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), alongside angel investors.
Founded in 2022 by four students from Uruguay's interior who travelled often to Montevideo, Viatik connects drivers with passengers heading the same way, splitting fuel and toll costs. The round brings its total raised to about $850,000.
Who's backing it? The angels include Ruben SosenkeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, co-founder and former chief technology officer of PedidosYaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →; Alan Descoins, chief executive officer of TryolabsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →; and Mariano Otero, who led Uber in Argentina. ANII co-invested alongside them under its 1:1 matching scheme.
Where's the money going? Argentina. Viatik entered the country in January 2025 and now runs routes including Buenos Aires–Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires–Rosario, and Salta–Jujuy. The capital will fund new routes and automation.
Why now? Argentina generates nearly nine in 10 of Viatik's transactions, and volume there multiplied sixfold between June and September 2026. The startup says it sold more than 40,000 seats in 2026 — more than all previous years combined — and projects over 60,000 by year-end.
Speed is the pitch. "We managed to take routes from zero to a thousand seats per month in weeks," chief executive officer Renzo Costanzo said (translated from Spanish). The Salta–Jujuy route cleared 1,000 monthly seats in under three weeks; Buenos Aires–Mar del Plata took over a year.
What's the endgame? Costanzo wants Viatik to be the app where any intercity trip is planned, booked, and paid for — from shared cars to buses. "We want to operate at unicorn scale with a team that fits around one table," he said, crediting advances in AI models.
What could go wrong? Competition is arriving. BlaBlaCar announced its entry into Uruguay and other Latin American markets in May, bringing a global rival into a category Viatik has built locally. The reported traction is company-supplied and does not yet establish durable market leadership.
The signal: The round reflects public-private backing for Uruguayan startups with regional ambitions — ANII put roughly $920,000 into Viatik, TripWipDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and hiSofiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in August, matched by private capital. For Viatik, the bet is that an Argentina-led expansion, powered by lean automation, can scale a mobility category before deeper-pocketed rivals move in.
Read more: elpais.com.uy
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
