Latin America's best-documented angels are founders who became investors, plus Brazil's organised angel network. No public source ranks individuals, so the names below, drawn from a December 2021 Contxto article and Brazilian and Mexican data, appear in no particular order. Check every date: most public figures are two to five years old.
Angel cheques are rarely announced anywhere, which makes "top angel" lists mostly guesswork. This one sticks to what a dated public page says. It names founders who have invested in other founders, sizes the angel market in Brazil, and shows where angels sit next to the region's venture funds.
Who are the founder-angels?
The clearest public snapshot is a Contxto article from December 2021. It opens by noting that it has become increasingly common for investors to be founders of successful companies, then names six. Alphabetically by surname:
Adalberto Flores of Kueski took part in the most recent round of the e-commerce company Quinio.
Carlos García Ottati of Kavak invested in Cargamos and in a Brazilian insurer the article calls Justos.
Brian Requarth of Viva-Real invested in La Haus.
Vélez, whom the article places in the "Nubank mafia", has a portfolio that includes La Haus, Justo, Favo and Nuvocargo. Sequoia's profile identifies David Vélez as the founder and CEO of Nubank.
Daniel Vogel of Bitso invested in Castor, an on-demand salary company.
Ricardo Weder, co-founder and CEO of the supermarket Jüsto, invested in Cargamos.
The article gives no cheque sizes and no quotes, and it is almost five years old. Use it as a map of who writes angel cheques, not as proof they still do. The overlap is the useful part: La Haus appears twice and Cargamos twice, which suggests founder-angels coinvest in the same small group of deals.
How big is organised angel investing in Brazil?
Brazil is the market with the most visible angel survey in these sources. Anjos do Brasil, a non-profit that connects entrepreneurs, angels and advisors, publishes it. Its 2023 survey, reported by Startups, found:
R$886 million invested in 2023, down 10% from 2022.
8,155 angel investors, up 2.4%.
An average ticket of R$108 thousand per investor, 12.2% below R$124 thousand in 2022.
19.6% of investors were women and 80% men.
Anjos do Brasil expected the total to grow at least 11% in 2024. It also reported 21 investments in the first seven months of 2024, a record for that period, while noting that cheques were getting smaller. Those 2023 numbers are the latest the source gives, so confirm whether a newer survey exists before quoting them.
For scale, the earliest cross-region count is much older. An IESE study from April 2013 counted more than 20 active angel networks in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 665 investors and 99 transactions. That is a different method from Anjos do Brasil's, but it shows how far the market has moved.
Where do angels fit next to Latin America's funds?
Early money in the region is shared between angels, accelerators and specialist funds, and the lines blur. Three public examples show how:
Angel Ventures. The Mexican firm says on its site that it was founded in 2008 and today is a leading Series Seed and Series A investor.
Kaszek. It describes itself as tech entrepreneurs partnering with founders, with early-stage funds that invest from pre-seed through Series B and offices in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montevideo and São Paulo. Its site lists 306 entrepreneurs, 132 ventures and nine funds.
Seed dealmakers. Crunchbase's January 2022 analysis of 2021 put Y Combinator, Bossa Nova Investimentos and DOMO Invest among the ten most active seed investors in South and Central America. It counted 35 new Bossa Nova portfolio additions for 2021.
At the early stage overall, LAVCA's 2026 Trends in Tech says VCs invested USD 2.2 billion across early-stage rounds in 2025, 52% of the total and the most since 2022, helped by strong participation from local investors. LAVCA's public summary does not break out angels, so it does not show how much of that money came from individuals.
What should a founder or foreign angel do with this?
If you are raising, pick founder-angels whose companies sit next to yours. Contxto's examples include founders backing companies in their own wider field, such as the Viva-Real founder backing the real-estate startup La Haus. Ask them for an intro to the people they co-invest with, and look for the same names in different rounds.
If you are a foreign angel, start with Brazil's networks, where there is a published survey. Angel investing in Latin America covers currency, structures and exits, and the best startup ecosystems in Latin America compares the cities. For group deals, see how to join an angel group or syndicate, and for cross-border mechanics the international angel investing guide. Founders raising abroad will want how to raise funding from international investors. More lists live in the angel investing section.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:Who is the most active angel investor in Latin America?
No public source ranks individuals. Crunchbase's January 2022 analysis ranked firms: Kaszek and Valor Capital Group topped early-stage leads, and Y Combinator, Bossa Nova and DOMO Invest were among the most active at seed.
Q:How many angel investors are there in Brazil?
Anjos do Brasil's survey counted 8,155 in 2023, up 2.4% on the year before. It is the latest figure in the sources used here, and the network's homepage gives no count.
Q:Are the founders in the Contxto article still investing?
The article is from December 2021 and does not say how long any of them kept investing. Check recent round announcements for each name before you approach them.
Q:What is a typical angel cheque in Brazil?
Anjos do Brasil's 2023 survey gives an average ticket of R$108 thousand per investor, down 12.2% from the year before. That is an average across investors, not a rule for a single deal.