Latin American Startup Ecosystem Development

The scientific report examines the theoretical aspects of the «startup ecosystem» concept and describes its main elements. It has been established that startup ecosystems, as hybrid structures and business ecosystems, have been formed within the framework of Industry 4.0 in countries with developed national innovation systems. The Latin American countries’ startup industry evolution is considered, the author’s classification of the startup ecosystem formation stages in the Latin American region is proposed, highlighting the country features of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina. The relationship between the Latin American countries’ position in the Global Startup Ecosystem Index and the countries’ positions in the Global Innovation Index and the International Competitiveness Ranking has been revealed. The analysis of the venture capital investments dynamics in the Latin American region has been carried out and the reasons for the present reduction in investment activity have been identified. Based on the analysis of the Latin American startup ecosystem effectiveness, it is concluded that regional startups lag behind the world leaders. It has been revealed that it is the imperfection of the regulatory framework, lack of necessary government startup support and incentives in a number of countries and the declining venture capital investment volume that are the main reasons for the lag.