Brand Power: Startups’ Growth Lifeline amid VC Drought

2025 is shaping up to be a year in which VC investment funds in Latin America will continue to be cautious regarding investment rounds for startups. As the market awaits stabilization of valuation corrections, it's expected that the trends observed during 2024 will continue, where the main benefited verticals have been fintech (with the recent case of Plata Card as a new Mexican unicorn), data centers, and artificial intelligence.

In this context of restricted venture capital, entrepreneurs in the region face significant challenges, especially when closing seed and Series A rounds. What previously took three or four months can now extend for a full year, when they manage to materialize.

The situation is particularly challenging for women founders, who have historically had more difficulty obtaining funding from institutional funds. This reality is not new but intensifies in moments when capital becomes more selective and investment criteria stricter.

Statistics continue to show a significant disparity: founding teams composed exclusively of women receive a minimal fraction of the total invested capital, a gap that shows no signs of substantially reducing in the short term.

In short, 2025 is shaping up to be a year in which we're likely to see many closures and startups betting everything on organic growth.In short, 2025 is shaping up to be a year in which we're likely to see many closures and startups betting everything on organic growth.

The lesson winners never forget: always invest in brand building

Given the difficulty of leveraging growth through VC investment rounds, the path for Latin American startups in 2025 involves strengthening their brand awareness. Strategic investment in brand recognition and positioning becomes not just a marketing tool, but a fundamental asset for:

1. Improving negotiating position with potential investors: A brand recognized and valued by the market represents lower perceived risk and greater ease in justifying valuations.
    

2. Facilitating customer acquisition and retention: Solid brand equity reduces acquisition costs and improves retention rates, generating sustainable organic growth.
    

3. Attracting and retaining talent: In a competitive labor market, brands with greater recognition have significant advantages in attracting and retaining key professionals.
    

Strategies will put Brand Awareness back on the front page

Public relations and marketing efforts will gain unprecedented prominence in the growth strategies of Latin American startups during 2025. These activities will no longer be perceived as "expenses" but considered strategic investments with measurable returns:

• Generation of valuable content: Content marketing focused on educating the market and positioning founders as thought leaders in their respective industries.
   

• Strategic media management: Consistent and relevant presence in specialized media within the technology and innovation ecosystem, both regional and global.
   

• Community building: Development of proprietary audiences and communities of users or followers committed to the company's values and mission.
   

• Conversion-oriented metrics: Sophistication in measuring results, directly connecting marketing and PR actions with relevant business indicators.
   

Aligning Brand Equity With Priority Verticals

For startups focused on sectors attracting greater investor interest (fintech, AI, and data centers), brand positioning must be strategically articulated with the particularities of each vertical:

In fintech: Building narratives centered on financial inclusion, security, reliability, and superior user experience. The Plata Card case demonstrates that effectively communicating a differentiated value proposition remains a viable path to unicorn status.

In artificial intelligence: Storytelling should emphasize concrete use cases, verifiable results metrics, and ethical considerations. Purely technical or speculative narratives lose effectiveness compared to stories of real impact in specific industries.

In data centers: Communications must balance messages about technological robustness with sustainability and adaptation to local needs, differentiating from standardized global offerings.

The restriction in VC funding should not be interpreted solely as an obstacle. It also represents an opportunity to develop more sustainable business models and build brand assets that transcend investment cycles.

Latin American startups that strategically invest in their brand equity during 2025 will not only improve their chances of attracting capital when conditions become more favorable but will build lasting competitive advantages regardless of the investment environment.

For women founders, although the path presents additional challenges, the brand-building strategy can constitute a way to overcome systemic biases, demonstrating market value through concrete brand recognition metrics and customer loyalty.

Ultimately, 2025 will be a year where Latin American entrepreneurs who understand the strategic value of investing in their brand, beyond immediate financial indicators, will be laying solid foundations to lead the next cycle of technological expansion in the region.