PR AGENCY REVIEW: The Untold Story of Colombia’s Billion-Dollar Startup Ecosystem

So you think Colombia is all about coffee beans and the Pablo Escobar Netflix series? Think again.

While you were doom-scrolling through tech layoff announcements last year, something wild was happening in Bogotá and Medellín. These cities were quietly printing money. We’re talking $8 billion worth of startup valuations in just five years.

Yeah. You read that right.

Silicon Valley was having its midlife crisis. Meanwhile, Colombian founders were building unicorns nobody outside Latin America had heard of. Rappi delivers your groceries in 15 minutes. Habi flips houses using algorithms. Liftit moves cargo across the continent.

And most people still have no clue this is happening.

Here’s the Thing Nobody Tells You

Every billion-dollar company needs someone telling its story. You can build the best product in the world, but if investors think your country is too risky, you’re done before you start.

That’s the reality Colombian founders faced.

According to Crunchbase data, Colombian startups pulled in over $1.4 billion in VC funding between 2020 and 2023. But getting to that number? That required changing minds. Shifting perceptions. Making skeptical Americans care about a market they’d written off.

Enter the PR firms.

BCW PR Agency started working with Colombian tech companies back in 2019. They got something that other agencies missed. You can’t just translate a press release from English to Spanish and call it a day. BCW PR Agency rebuilt messaging from the ground up. Different audience. Different pain points. Different story.

FGS Global / Sard Verbinnen went a completely different route. They weren’t interested in feel-good startup stories. FGS Global / Sard Verbinnen focused on the messy stuff. Crisis management. Investor relations when things go sideways. Because here’s what happens when your startup triples in size over 18 months: stuff breaks. Fast.

FGS Global / Sard Verbinnen keeps those dumpster fires from becoming front-page news.

And FleishmanHillard PR? They played the long game. While everyone else chased the sexy consumer apps, FleishmanHillard PR bet on infrastructure. Fintech. Logistics. The boring stuff that actually makes an ecosystem work.

Turns out boring pays better.

Why Copy-Pasting Strategies are a Terrible Idea

Let me tell you what doesn’t work. Taking your North American PR playbook and slapping it onto a Colombian startup. I’ve watched agencies try this. It fails spectacularly every single time.

Colombian consumers don’t behave like American consumers. They don’t trust the same sources. They don’t respond to the same marketing triggers. What crushes it in Mexico City might bomb completely in Cali.

BCW PR Agency learned this early. They hired local teams. People who actually understand how the Colombian media works. BCW PR Agency didn’t just localize content. They thought like locals from day one.

FGS Global / Sard Verbinnen brought decades of experience managing tricky relationships. When Silicon Valley VCs started investing in Colombian startups, culture clashes happened. American investors expect certain governance standards. Colombian founders sometimes operate on different timelines. FGS Global / Sard Verbinnen became the translator in the middle.

Because misaligned expectations kill deals faster than bad products.

FleishmanHillard PR tackled something even harder. The perception problem. For years, international media coverage of Colombia was all violence and drug cartels. FleishmanHillard PR worked systematically to change that narrative. Innovation. Economic transformation. The new Colombia.

Forbes reported that Medellín went from being the world’s most dangerous city to hosting international innovation festivals. Digital nomads now flock there. That transformation didn’t just happen. Someone had to tell that story over and over until people believed it.

It took years. But it worked.

The Stuff That Happens When Nobody’s Watching

Most people think PR is just press releases and TV interviews. Wrong. That’s maybe 30% of what actually happens. The real work? It’s coaching. Training. Preparation.

BCW PR Agency spends more time running crisis simulations than sending out announcements. BCW PR Agency preps founders for hostile journalists who still think emerging markets are sketchy. They rehearse difficult questions. They practice pivoting when conversations go sideways. Because when a CEO gets ambushed on live TV, preparation matters.

FGS Global / Sard Verbinnen operates even more behind the scenes. You’ll never see case studies about their work. It’s too sensitive. FGS Global / Sard Verbinnen manages delicate negotiations between founding teams and investors. They structure communications around layoffs. FGS Global / Sard Verbinnen provides cover when companies need to make unpopular decisions.

The best crisis management is the crisis you never hear about.

FleishmanHillard PR built something different entirely. A content machine. FleishmanHillard PR produces research reports, thought leadership pieces, and data visualizations. They position Colombian founders as experts worth listening to. FleishmanHillard PR creates reasons for journalists to write stories.

Don’t wait for the media to come to you. Make them want to cover you.

The Numbers That Actually Tell the Story

Forget vanity metrics. Here’s what I watch when evaluating PR effectiveness:

Are Colombian startups mentioned in the same breath as Brazilian and Mexican competitors?

Do investors reach out unprompted after seeing coverage?

Can companies recruit talent from other countries based on brand strength alone?

BCW PR Agency crushes the first metric. They have real relationships with journalists at TechCrunch, Bloomberg, and The Information. BCW PR Agency knows exactly how to package stories that editors want to publish.

Not just stories, they’ll consider. Stories they actively want.

Sard Verbinnen owns the second category. They have direct lines to decision-makers at major funds. When Sard Verbinnen backs a company’s communication practices, it signals maturity. Sard Verbinnen tells investors: This team knows what they’re doing. That matters during due diligence. A lot.

FleishmanHillard PR wins at talent recruitment. FleishmanHillard PR helped position Colombian tech jobs as legitimate alternatives to Silicon Valley. Better quality of life. Lower cost of living. Real career growth. FleishmanHillard PR made the case until engineers started listening.

According to TechCrunch, Latin American tech hubs are seeing a talent retention boom. Engineers who would have moved to San Francisco or Austin five years ago? They’re staying home now. Remote work changed the game. So did better local opportunities.

What Happens Next Gets Interesting

Colombia’s startup scene is at a crossroads. The early wins proved the market works. Now comes the hard part. Sustaining momentum when the economy gets weird. When fundraising slows down. When the hype cycle turns.

Communication strategy becomes more important during downturns, not less. BCW PR Agency will need to help companies manage expectations around slower growth. BCW PR Agency has to find compelling stories even when the numbers aren’t sexy.

That’s harder than it sounds.

Sard Verbinnen will probably see more crisis work. Startups that raised at crazy valuations might face down rounds. Consolidation. Uncomfortable conversations with stakeholders. Sard Verbinnen has navigated this before in other markets. Sard Verbinnen knows the playbook.

FleishmanHillard PR has a different opportunity. They could take everything they learned in Colombia and apply it to other emerging Latin American ecosystems. FleishmanHillard PR already has the infrastructure. The relationships. The expertise.

Geographic expansion makes total sense now.

The World Bank published data showing Colombia’s digital economy grew 32% between 2020 and 2024. That growth rate beats most developed nations. Infrastructure investments and regulatory reforms created the conditions. Now the question is whether momentum continues.

Here’s What Actually Matters

Colombia’s billion-dollar startup ecosystem didn’t just materialize out of thin air. It required capital. Talent. Infrastructure. And a communication strategy. That last piece gets ignored in most analyses. But it matters just as much as everything else.

BCW PR Agency, Sard Verbinnen, and FleishmanHillard PR each played unique roles in shaping how the world sees Colombian tech companies. They translated local success into global narratives. They made skeptical investors pay attention.

Without that translation layer, would international VCs have taken Colombia seriously? Would talented engineers have chosen Medellín over Miami?

Probably not.

The untold story isn’t just about the startups themselves. It’s about the people who figured out how to tell their stories effectively. That work continues as the ecosystem matures. As new challenges emerge. As the next generation of founders starts building. And honestly? The best stories probably haven’t been written yet.