Startups and Venture Capital in El Salvador

Regulated venture capital funds

The Investment Funds Law allows closed funds to invest outside the stock exchange in shares and debt of unlisted companies. These funds are authorised and supervised by the SSF, and their documents are published on the Bolsa de Valores de El Salvador website.^1,2

• Fondo de Inversión Cerrado de Capital de Riesgo Atlántida (FINCRA): managed by Atlántida Capital, operating since 18 August 2021, with a target size of USD 300 million in 12,000 units of USD 25,000. Its portfolio was USD 294.9 million at the end of 2025, concentrated in a small number of unlisted companies. It is a private equity style vehicle for investors with a horizon of at least five years.
• Atlántida Empresarial+: a closed venture capital fund of the same manager that invests in debt of unlisted companies.
• Atlántida InvesTech: a closed venture capital fund registered with the SSF to invest in unlisted technology companies, including cloud services, artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, cybersecurity, quantum computing, hardware, semiconductors, robotics and research and development.

Source: Pacific Credit Rating: Fondo de Inversión Cerrado de Capital de Riesgo Atlántida, December 2025 (BVES, PDF, in Spanish); Pacific Credit Rating: Fondo de Inversión Cerrado de Capital de Riesgo Atlántida, June 2025 (BVES, PDF, in Spanish); Atlántida InvesTech closed venture capital fund prospectus 2026 (BVES, PDF, in Spanish); Investment Funds Law, Decree No. 776 of 2014 (SSF, PDF, in Spanish)^2,3,10,1

Private funds and accelerators

• Innogen Capital: a Central American venture capital firm active for about five years. Its Delta I fund of USD 11 million has backing from the US government and IDB Lab, which contributed USD 2.5 million each, and invests USD 100,000 to USD 1 million per company.
• CoreNest Accelerator: a San Salvador accelerator backed by the USD 25 million CoreNest Capital fund, investing USD 125,000 in each selected startup. Startups must operate legally in El Salvador and hire local staff. Its first cohort of 10 startups is due to start in January 2027.
• Espaciotec: a startup competition founded by Banco Davivienda in 2018, which awards seed capital; it has reached more than 1,750 ventures, according to Diario El Mundo.
• Investment Readiness Lab: a programme of the US Embassy and Impact Hub San Salvador that trained 26 Salvadoran startups in 2026 to prepare for investors.

Source: La Prensa Gráfica: The capital behind the new wave of technology innovation; Diario El Mundo: CoreNest and Publimovil alliance for venture capital in the region; El Diario de Hoy: CoreNest and TCS to support startups from El Salvador; Diario El Mundo: El Salvador will bring positive surprises in the startup market; El Diario de Hoy: Salvadoran startups prepare to attract more investment^4,6,7,8,11

Recent deals

• Ábaco Technologies (digital factoring for small businesses, founded in El Salvador in 2023) announced in July 2026 a USD 53 million package combining venture capital and institutional debt, with investors including Accial Capital, Pomona Impact, Nazca Ventures and Innogen Capital.
• Hugo, a Salvadoran delivery app, was sold to Delivery Hero in 2021; La Prensa Gráfica puts the price at USD 150 million.

Source: Infobae: Ábaco Technologies raises USD 53 million (23 July 2026, in Spanish); La Prensa Gráfica: The capital behind the new wave of technology innovation^5,4

The legal toolkit for founders

• Company form: one shareholder can form an S.A.S. with capital from USD 1, using a Registry of Commerce form instead of a notarial deed.
• Tax: qualifying technology investments can be exempt from income tax for 15 years under the innovation and technology manufacturing law.
• Digital assets: tokenised raises go through the CNAD regime; see the digital assets rules.
• Foreign investors: register the investment with the National Investment Office (ONI) to document it.