12 Startups in Mexico You Need to Follow

No one likes dedicating time and space to washing machines, which is where Lavadero comes in. This startup has been described as the Uber of laundries, as the simple to use app and website connects you with laundries in the area, who send bike messengers to both collect and then return your freshly washed clothes. All of this is achieved in under 24 hours, and although it’s currently only operating in certain areas of Mexico City, Lavadero is one to keep and eye on for the future.

Run by one of the top women entrepreneurs of Mexico to watch out for, Kichink is a startup that allows you to set up an online ‘store’ and sell your products, in a format not dissimilar to Carousel. Everything about the app is totally user-friendly and you can use it to sell literally anything – everyone from big businesses to small artisans are getting in on the Kichink act! Free to use and easy to connect to your website and social media, Kichink was named one of Google’s top startups at Demo Day for Entrepreneurs Women’s Edition.

Officially launched in 2014, Zaveapp is rapidly becoming one of the Mexican startups to keep your eye on. This well thought through app will help you save for that new car, pair of shoes, or even foreign holiday, by helping you manage your money effectively. It works by encouraging you to ‘round up’ any transactions made on the card you hook up to the app and that bit of change you’d have got if you paid cash gets put automatically into a savings account for you.

Selling a car is never easy and that’s where the startup Carmatch comes in. Only launched a year ago, this app helps out those who are clueless in the world of mechanics sell their car for a fair price and with as little hassle as possible. You simply register your vehicle with their website, arrange to see one of their team of mechanics and they can value the vehicle and pay upfront in less than an hour! They’re currently only operating in Mexico City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu-_Oo5BZ5U

TALLER NU was recently featured on a Buzzfeed article about Mexicans who are doing positive things both in and out of their country, and it’s easy to see why. TALLER NU was founded in 2012 after being funded by a Kickstarter campaign, and is an ethical social design company which brings together art and fashion, whilst providing employment and training for incarcerated citizens. This ultimately lowers the chance of reoffending and allows them to develop practicable and applicable skills to use upon their release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X92vxc2ogQs

Anyone who’s been to Mexico City will know how horrendous the traffic can be on a daily basis, but Econduce is trying to change that. By providing eco-friendly, electric scooter rental, chilangos can get around the city quicker, avoid the traffic and help reduce the pollution in the Mexican capital. But 7why rent from this startup instead of buying your own electric scooter? Well, as they point out, you don’t have to worry about the upkeep! Definitely a green startup to watch out for.

Founded by three Mexican entrepreneurs, Mayte Velázques, Daria Nikitina and Juan José Mora, four years ago now, Atlantia Search is the startup that will make your market research faster and simpler. This project aims to make specialised information easier to find through using a triple threat combo – technology, international experts and a network of so-called ‘collective intelligence’. Companies simply send their research needs to Atlantia Search, who use the aforementioned process to get them all the info they were looking for within 15 days.

Traditional Mexican crafting techniques and artisanal skills have been coming back to the forefront of the fashion world’s consciousness in recent years, with numerous companies partnering with local tradespeople to make Mexican fashion contemporary again. Take the startup Vaaiu, for example, which combines traditional products with contemporary designs, working with artisanal collectives in Tenancingo and incarcerated women along the way. They soon hope to start working with other communities.

Mexican’s love a good abarrotes, which is essentially like a corner shop that sells drinks, snacks and dried foods. Tenoli is the startup working to empower the abarrotes owners, many of whom struggle to compete against big stores and are working in the so-called ‘informal economy’. The aim is to get them to a stage where they can compete with these larger, more established stores and chains, by providing practical advice on which products to stock and how to successfully manage the day to day running of a business.

Selling shoes online doesn’t sound revolutionary, but in Mexico it really is and for a country with a growing online shopping market, this is definitely one startup to watch. Before Gaudena was launched in 2012, they discovered that only 1% of the millions of pairs of shoes sold in Mexico were bought online. That’s why they launched their startup online-only shoe business, later expanding to include clothes and accessories to broaden their appeal and they now offer various products and payment methods to their customers.

Launched in around about 2015, Capptu is a startup that allows both amateur and professional photographers to upload their photos online and earn some money for them. The CEO Manual Villegas wanted to connect locals with companies and users searching for stock photos and provide them with broader options for finding that ideal shot. Capptu also has a clever function that allows you to detail the kind of photo you need, so the photographers on the site can produce it for you.

Finally, we round off our guide to the Mexican startups to watch with Aliada, the innovative app and website that is helping to formalise the fairly informal Mexican world of household cleaning services. With Aliada, run by one more of our female Mexican entrepreneurs to watch, you can register as either a cleaner (‘Aliada’) or a user looking for reliable and trustworthy cleaning services. Given the scale of this market in Mexico, you can be sure this is a startup to keep an eye on.