LATAM Market Pulse: October 2026
1,486,147 new businesses registered in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador in the latest 12 months (+18.2% year on year); Brazil alone 1,128,731 (+20.8%).
Openings by country
| Country | Latest month | Openings | YoY | 3 months | YoY | 12 months | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | September 2026 | 95,892 | +14.1% | 296,707 | +17.9% | 1,128,731 | +20.8% |
| Colombia | September 2026 | 8,654 | +7.9% | 24,147 | +1.9% | 91,762 | +4.5% |
| Chile | July 2026 | 17,380 | -1.6% | 52,429 | +9.9% | 201,872 | +15.4% |
| Argentina | June 2026 | 2,969 | +4.4% | 9,084 | +1.6% | 34,506 | +4.0% |
| Ecuador | September 2026 | 2,737 | +10.1% | 8,235 | +11.6% | 29,276 | +9.9% |
YoY = against the same period a year earlier. Each country ends at its latest complete month in the current registry release.
Brazil month by month
Brazil is 76% of the 12-month openings on this page.
Show the numbers
| Month | Openings |
|---|---|
| September 2026 | 95,892 |
| August 2026 | 99,849 |
| July 2026 | 100,966 |
| June 2026 | 94,475 |
| May 2026 | 91,695 |
| April 2026 | 97,537 |
| March 2026 | 116,965 |
| February 2026 | 100,109 |
| January 2026 | 96,782 |
| December 2025 | 73,505 |
| November 2025 | 73,900 |
| October 2025 | 87,056 |
| September 2025 | 84,074 |
| August 2025 | 80,208 |
| July 2025 | 87,382 |
| June 2025 | 75,303 |
| May 2025 | 77,770 |
| April 2025 | 79,272 |
| March 2025 | 79,118 |
| February 2025 | 90,310 |
| January 2025 | 89,457 |
| December 2024 | 57,628 |
| November 2024 | 62,759 |
| October 2024 | 71,472 |
New businesses per month, Brazil.
Fastest-growing segments
| Country | ISIC division | Prior 12 m | Latest 12 m | Growth | vs country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chile | 58 Publishing activities | 382 | 890 | +133.0% | +101.9% |
| Ecuador | 62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 471 | 954 | +102.5% | +84.3% |
| Colombia | 64 Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding | 493 | 728 | +47.7% | +41.4% |
| Colombia | 62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 2,881 | 4,190 | +45.4% | +39.2% |
| Chile | 62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 3,084 | 4,932 | +59.9% | +38.6% |
| Argentina | 62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 834 | 1,170 | +40.3% | +34.9% |
| Brazil | 64 Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding | 42,819 | 69,096 | +61.4% | +33.6% |
| Colombia | 63 Information service activities | 458 | 619 | +35.2% | +29.4% |
| Colombia | 59 Motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities | 388 | 519 | +33.8% | +28.1% |
| Argentina | 93 Sports activities and amusement and recreation activities | 483 | 632 | +30.8% | +25.8% |
| Brazil | 62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 36,179 | 54,595 | +50.9% | +25.0% |
| Brazil | 70 Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities | 19,956 | 30,047 | +50.6% | +24.7% |
Divisions with at least 300 openings in the prior 12 months. 'vs country' = growth relative to that country's overall openings growth, which strips most of the survivorship bias shared by all divisions.
Slowest segments
| Country | ISIC division | Prior 12 m | Latest 12 m | Growth | vs country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 80 Security and investigation activities | 1,805 | 1,314 | -27.2% | -39.7% |
| Ecuador | 93 Sports activities and amusement and recreation activities | 523 | 374 | -28.5% | -34.9% |
| Chile | 61 Telecommunications | 475 | 367 | -22.7% | -33.0% |
| Chile | 96 Other personal service activities | 2,601 | 2,164 | -16.8% | -27.9% |
| Chile | 70 Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities | 3,908 | 3,283 | -16.0% | -27.2% |
| Chile | 74 Other professional, scientific and technical activities | 1,595 | 1,346 | -15.6% | -26.9% |
Where companies are opening
| State / region | Country | Latest 12 m | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| São Paulo | Brazil | 368,368 | +25.1% |
| Minas Gerais | Brazil | 114,719 | +17.0% |
| Santiago Metropolitan Region | Chile | 95,070 | +14.5% |
| Paraná | Brazil | 94,874 | +23.8% |
| Santa Catarina | Brazil | 69,097 | +15.8% |
| Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | 69,091 | +10.9% |
| Rio Grande do Sul | Brazil | 62,646 | +19.1% |
| Goiás | Brazil | 44,813 | +18.2% |
| Bahia | Brazil | 43,414 | +12.8% |
| Ceará | Brazil | 35,932 | +22.6% |
| Bogotá | Colombia | 30,328 | +5.5% |
| Federal District (Brasília) | Brazil | 29,817 | +37.0% |
Fastest-growing regions
| State / region | Country | Latest 12 m | Growth | vs country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cesar | Colombia | 1,739 | +30.8% | +25.2% |
| Federal District (Brasília) | Brazil | 29,817 | +37.0% | +13.5% |
| Caldas | Colombia | 1,335 | +16.9% | +11.9% |
| Buenos Aires City | Argentina | 12,376 | +15.3% | +10.8% |
| Los Ríos | Chile | 4,035 | +26.4% | +9.5% |
| Mato Grosso do Sul | Brazil | 14,397 | +31.0% | +8.5% |
| Rondônia | Brazil | 6,699 | +28.7% | +6.6% |
| Córdoba | Argentina | 4,706 | +10.6% | +6.3% |
| Norte de Santander | Colombia | 1,568 | +10.5% | +5.8% |
| Atacama | Chile | 2,436 | +21.9% | +5.6% |
Regions with at least 1,000 openings in the prior 12 months, ranked by growth relative to their country.
Openings by sector and country
| ISIC section | Brazil | Colombia | Chile | Argentina | Ecuador |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GWholesale and retail | 256,770+17% | 21,094+5% | 45,678+3% | 9,359+2% | 6,071+4% |
| MProfessional services | 145,961+31% | 13,735+2% | 13,228-2% | 1,847+3% | 3,810+12% |
| QHealth and social care | 134,280+12% | 2,955-0% | 6,121+2% | 1,109-3% | 1,497+6% |
| NBusiness support services | 123,594+17% | 5,451+2% | 8,898+5% | 2,044-1% | 2,386+7% |
| KFinancial services | 83,065+54% | 1,627+14% | 5,559+13% | 475+1% | 1,622+31% |
| JICT and media | 72,493+41% | 6,146+37% | 7,381+46% | 1,455+27% | 1,566+51% |
| FConstruction | 57,266+7% | 9,151+5% | 13,839+11% | 2,666-7% | 3,271+3% |
| CManufacturing | 41,900+8% | 7,515-5% | 11,392+5% | 2,294-7% | 1,576+15% |
| IHospitality and food | 49,211+14% | 4,181+3% | 7,696+8% | 2,439+1% | 1,122+14% |
| LReal estate | 42,793+34% | 6,713+13% | 5,639+1% | 1,043-10% | 1,328+31% |
| HTransport and logistics | 31,892+18% | 3,770+16% | 10,937+7% | 1,594-5% | 1,085+1% |
| PEducation | 32,956+14% | 1,740-8% | 2,795-6% | 296-12% | 939+1% |
| SOther services | 21,430+19% | 1,062+12% | 2,342-18% | 265-2% | 271+5% |
| RArts and recreation | 19,453+15% | 1,786-8% | 2,298-13% | 923+20% | 536-22% |
| AAgriculture | 11,555+18% | 3,182-14% | 5,613+7% | 1,953+0% | 1,289+10% |
| EWater and waste | 1,897+12% | 664-19% | 669+24% | 79-25% | 352+12% |
| BMining | 1,190+16% | 527-5% | 572+44% | 207-8% | 209-1% |
| DEnergy and utilities | 1,025+3% | 427+2% | 311-11% | 50+32% | 346+9% |
Openings in the latest 12 months by ISIC section; small figure = change on the previous 12 months. Chile: about half of RUTs have no registered activity, so its section counts undercount.
Regulatory files: what moved
Solar (ANEEL distributed generation)
224,599 businesses own 17.0 GW of distributed generation. 24,916 connected their first unit in the 12 months to June 2026 (-4.8% year on year); the two latest months are still being reported (gold). Top states for new owners in the 12 months to August 2026: SP 4,251, MG 1,866, RS 1,774, BA 1,587, PR 1,387.
Broadband ISPs (Anatel)
9,509 providers serve 57,231,534 fixed-broadband subscriptions (reference 2026-08); they added 3,984,567 in 12 months. Among the 3,154 with 1,000+ subscriptions the median grew 12.3%, and 1,197 grew 20% or more. Net adds by state: SP 1.6M, MG 740k, BA 257k, RS 246k, PR 243k.
Fastest growers with 20,000+ subscriptions:
- Br Super (MG): 42,193 subscriptions, +296% in 12 months
- Nuvyon (SP): 23,797 subscriptions, +277% in 12 months
- Voo Telecom (CE): 24,785 subscriptions, +189% in 12 months
- Grupo Connect (BA): 106,039 subscriptions, +189% in 12 months
- NMULTIFIBRA TELECOMUNICACAO LTDA (SP): 26,592 subscriptions, +185% in 12 months
Medtech and pharma (ANVISA)
40,201 companies hold ANVISA operating authorisations (7,350 device importers, 2,524 device manufacturers). 3,662 received their first authorisation in the 12 months to September 2026 (+12.9%); 751 had a device registration published in the latest 90 days.
Environmental registrations (IBAMA CTF)
384,318 active companies are on IBAMA's federal technical register; 112,715 hold an active regularity certificate and 144,994 run a high-pollution activity. 18,673 opened their first registered activity in the 12 months to September 2026 (-9.9%); by segment: forest products 5,924, manufacturing 3,441, hazardous goods transport 2,522, fuel trade 2,322, chemicals trade storage 1,631.
How this is measured
- What counts as an opening. A head office of a private, non-sole-owner company registered in the month, outside public administration (O), households (T), extraterritorial bodies (U) and membership organisations (division 94: associations, unions, churches, parties, electoral campaigns). Date = the registry's own field: Brazil opening date (data de abertura); Colombia commercial registration date; Chile constitution date in the RES/SII records; Argentina contract date; Ecuador activity start date.
- Survivorship. The Brazilian release holds active establishments only, so a cohort from a year ago has already lost the companies that closed since; year-on-year growth for Brazil is an upper bound. Chile, Colombia, Argentina and Ecuador keep inactive rows, so the bias there is small. The 'vs country' columns compare segments within one country and cancel most of it.
- Lags. Argentina's series stops three months before the extraction because contract registrations keep arriving for about two months; Chile stops at the month before its SII cut-off. Mexico (DENUE dates by edition) and Peru (no registration date) are covered by stock, not by openings.
- Frozen editions. Each edition is computed once from the registry releases current at publication and is not rewritten; the next edition uses the next releases.