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April 30th, 2025
Google for Startups Accelerator Alum Zapia Secures over $12M in Total Seed Funding to Scale AI Executive Assistant Across Latin America
Zapia, the leading WhatsApp-based AI executive assistant for Latin America, has just raised an additional $7.25M, bringing its total seed funding to $12.35M. Zapia, which is used by more than 3.5 million users across the region, is a free, all-in-one tool that helps people manage tasks, set reminders, summarize content, and more, all through a simple chat interface.
Latin America and other emerging markets are messaging-first, and users face unique challenges when interacting with businesses to ask questions, buy, or negotiate. Most medium and small businesses also have little online presence, unlike more developed markets. This means product and service discovery, scheduling and other tasks are very time-consuming, complex, and inefficient. The need for a localized AI solution that can help Latin Americans get more free time is clearly substantial. That’s why just 18 months after launching, Zapia has amassed over 3.5 million users, with the vast majority joining through word of mouth.
Today, the Google for Startups Accelerator alum announced an extra $7.25 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Prosus Ventures, one of the world's largest tech investors. Endeavor Catalyst (led by LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman), Anthos Capital, Factory HQ, and SnR also participated in the round. Zapia had previously secured $5.1 million, bringing its total seed funding to $12.35 million and is now one of the most funded AI startups based in Latin America.
"Our mission is to use AI to help Latin Americans save time, save money, and live better," explained Juan Pablo Pereira, CEO and Co-Founder of Zapia. "This funding enables us to accelerate this mission, expand our team and invest in our technology."
Zapia has partnered with Google since its inception, and it was part of the first AI cohort in the Google for Startups Accelerator. “We set up Google in our tech stack and Gemini Flash and Pro have quickly become our go-to models, handling well over 90% of our traffic due to their speed, price and accuracy. This has resulted in great performance and user satisfaction,” elaborated Nicolas Loeff, CTO of Zapia.
The company's initial viral growth came from its ability to answer almost any question and transcribe WhatsApp audio messages for free. Today, Zapia can navigate the web on the user’s behalf, interpret documents, set WhatsApp reminders, schedule WhatsApp messages and more. There is nothing to install; users simply start chatting with Zapia on WhatsApp to get things done. While WhatsApp remains the primary access point, the company has also launched iOS and Android apps, which have earned top ratings and over half a million downloads so far.
Zapia is introducing a groundbreaking new capability: an AI agent designed to automate real-world tasks directly through WhatsApp. These agents have the ability to chat with businesses to handle reservations, compare prices, and complete tasks independently on behalf of the user. Users can join the waitlist (available at zapia.com/waitlist) for users eager to gain early access. This innovation represents a significant step toward giving Latin Americans more control over their daily schedules, making everyday responsibilities simpler and less time-consuming. "It's like having a personal assistant that works for you while you do other things," Pereira explained.
Today, the Google for Startups Accelerator alum announced an extra $7.25 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Prosus Ventures, one of the world's largest tech investors. Endeavor Catalyst (led by LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman), Anthos Capital, Factory HQ, and SnR also participated in the round. Zapia had previously secured $5.1 million, bringing its total seed funding to $12.35 million and is now one of the most funded AI startups based in Latin America.
"Our mission is to use AI to help Latin Americans save time, save money, and live better," explained Juan Pablo Pereira, CEO and Co-Founder of Zapia. "This funding enables us to accelerate this mission, expand our team and invest in our technology."
Zapia has partnered with Google since its inception, and it was part of the first AI cohort in the Google for Startups Accelerator. “We set up Google in our tech stack and Gemini Flash and Pro have quickly become our go-to models, handling well over 90% of our traffic due to their speed, price and accuracy. This has resulted in great performance and user satisfaction,” elaborated Nicolas Loeff, CTO of Zapia.
The company's initial viral growth came from its ability to answer almost any question and transcribe WhatsApp audio messages for free. Today, Zapia can navigate the web on the user’s behalf, interpret documents, set WhatsApp reminders, schedule WhatsApp messages and more. There is nothing to install; users simply start chatting with Zapia on WhatsApp to get things done. While WhatsApp remains the primary access point, the company has also launched iOS and Android apps, which have earned top ratings and over half a million downloads so far.
Zapia is introducing a groundbreaking new capability: an AI agent designed to automate real-world tasks directly through WhatsApp. These agents have the ability to chat with businesses to handle reservations, compare prices, and complete tasks independently on behalf of the user. Users can join the waitlist (available at zapia.com/waitlist) for users eager to gain early access. This innovation represents a significant step toward giving Latin Americans more control over their daily schedules, making everyday responsibilities simpler and less time-consuming. "It's like having a personal assistant that works for you while you do other things," Pereira explained.
Behind Zapia is one of Latin America's most experienced AI teams.
- Nicolás Loeff (CTO), based in Silicon Valley, has a PhD in Machine Learning, is a Fulbright scholar, and previously led AI teams at Google. He has been working in AI and Machine Learning for the last 15 years.
- Juan Pablo Pereira (CEO) is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Tiendamia.com, the leading cross-border e-commerce company in LATAM, with 9-figure sales across 10 countries.
- MartĂn Alcalá RubĂ (who has been building AI companies like TryoLabs and MonkeyLearn for the last 15 years).
- Juan Olloniego (Msc in Machine Learning, previously at Landing AI and TryoLabs).
- Pablo RodrĂguez Bocca (PhD in Computer Science, previously at Antel) round out the leadership team with deep expertise in AI research and product execution.