Over three days, FoodRise brought together startups, corporations, the public sector, academia, and investors to analyze and debate innovation and food systems.

In this context, Eatable Adventures and BID Lab presented exclusive data from a report to be released in the coming weeks, revealing that the Southern Cone’s agrifoodtech ecosystem comprises 468 startups, with nearly 90% concentrated in Argentina and Chile — highlighting significant opportunities for regional development.

From April 21 to 23, Buenos Aires hosted the first edition of the Food Security Week, the annual gathering that brings together the leading actors of the Southern Cone’s agrifoodtech ecosystem with the goal of driving concrete solutions to food security challenges.

Nearly 200 people took part in workshops, panel discussions, collaborative sessions, startup pitches, and high-value networking spaces. The event was organized under FoodRise, a regional initiative led by Eatable Adventures — a global leader in Foodtech acceleration — with the support of BID Lab, the innovation and venture arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group.

The event featured the pre-launch of the report “The AgriFoodTech Ecosystem in the Southern Cone”, a study analyzing the state of agrifood innovation in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, with a focus on its potential to contribute to food security. The full report will be available in the coming weeks on the FoodRise website.

The study identifies 468 agrifoodtech startups across the region, with a strong concentration in Argentina (65.7%) and Chile (24.8%), while Uruguay (7.3%) and Paraguay (2.2%) are in earlier stages of consolidation. Together, nearly 90% of ventures are located in the first two countries.

In terms of composition, the ecosystem is heavily weighted toward food production and transformation solutions: 43.8% of startups focus on agritech and 36.7% on novel foods. The report notes that this development coexists with structural challenges — in Latin America, 38% of the population faces food insecurity and 7% suffers from hunger, revealing persistent gaps in food access.

The study also indicates that, while the Southern Cone benefits from favorable conditions — including a strong scientific and technological base and global-scale productive capacity — significant limitations remain. These include a lack of funding at scaling stages, weak coordination among actors, and difficulties in large-scale technology adoption.

On the investment front, the report notes that despite a global sector downturn (-37% in the first half of 2025), Latin America attracted USD 200 million during that period, primarily in technologies applied to the early stages of the agrifood value chain.

In this context, the report concludes that the Southern Cone has the potential to consolidate itself as an agrifoodtech innovation hub, though advancing greater coordination, financing, and regional alignment will be critical.

Innovating in the face of a structural challenge

Food Security Week is an initiative of FoodRise, the regional hub led by Eatable Adventures with the support of BID Lab, aimed at strengthening the agrifoodtech ecosystem across the Southern Cone. In its first acceleration program, FoodRise is supporting 12 startups from the region working toward a more secure and sustainable food system.

“The Southern Cone has tremendous potential to position itself as a relevant player in global food innovation. The challenge is to coordinate that potential and scale it — and gatherings like Food Security Week are key to making that happen. At Eatable Adventures, through initiatives like FoodRise, we are working precisely on that: activating this potential and turning it into real impact on food security across the region,” said Sergio Zúñiga, Regional VP Latam at Eatable Adventures.

This year, the event placed a central regional challenge on the agenda: although the Southern Cone produces food for millions of people, persistent gaps in access, quality, and food equity continue to affect vulnerable populations.

“Food security is one of the greatest development challenges in our region and requires accelerating applied innovation and collaboration between the public sector, private sector, academia, and investors. At BID Lab, we support initiatives like FoodRise because they strengthen the Southern Cone’s agrifoodtech ecosystem, connect entrepreneurs with capital and knowledge, and help scale solutions with real impact — so that more people can access quality food in a sustainable way,” said Erika Molina, Senior Specialist at BID Lab.

The event reaffirmed the need to move toward solutions built on innovation, technology, and cross-sector collaboration as the driving force for transforming food systems.