It’s no secret that Colombia’s startup ecosystem is booming. Over the past few years, the country has emerged as one of the leading business hubs in Latin America.
But where do women fit into the picture? According to KPMG’s latest annual tech report, one in five Colombian founders is a woman. The good news is that there’s a nationwide drive to close the gender gap in leadership, and the numbers are reflecting that: the number of women occupying C-suite roles jumped to 40% in 2025.
As momentum continues to move forward in Colombian entrepreneurship and innovation, here are the 2026 female tech leaders to watch.
Isabella Fernandez Abraham, Chief Revenue Officer at MiDi
Isabella is leading the charge to empower remote workers to gain access to U.S. financial infrastructure. In fact, Midi is the only fintech in Colombia to do so, removing payroll barriers for Colombian-based freelancers. With Colombia ranking among the world’s most prominent leaders for outsourcing talent, Midi’s offering is crucial. Moreover, the startup recently raised $10 million in a funding round, paving the way for accelerated growth.
And Isabella has helped people take leaps and bounds in other ways, too. In 2013, she founded Kangoo Jumps Colombia, where she opened and managed three boutiques in Bogota.
Florence French, Co-founder and COO, Leal 360
Florence is at the helm of transforming customer engagement across Latin America’s retail landscape. Founded in 2015, Leal 360 now boasts over seven million users and has established partnerships with one thousand brands across eight countries. Leal’s AI software helps businesses access and action powerful customer insights for optimal lifetime value.
In 2025, Leal 360 was recognized by Gartner’s Capterra for being the ‘best ease of use’ CRM platform. This is a testament to Florence and her team’s dedication to making customer engagement easier and smarter.
Valentina Valencia, CEO of Vaas
Having seen multiple sides of private debt, and how convoluted the process can be, Valentina set out to rectify the situation, which led to the founding of Vaas. At just 25 years old, she raised $5 million in seed funding and last year made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
At Vaas, Valentina is helping lead the charge to revolutionize financial infrastructure so it can keep pace with private credit growth. She comes with more than eight years of fintech experience in Latin America, which includes overseeing the financing of 250,000 devices and managing $150 million across top-tier fintechs.
Zaira Hurtado, Founder of Daxus LATAM
Zaira’s passion for data inspired her to make analytics accessible to everyone—hence, she brought Daxus LATAM to life. Data knowledge has fast become a core skill that’s redefining the future of the workplace. In the span of just three years, Zaira now has 30,000 alumni who have built their knowledge on data and analysis principles via the Daxus learning platform.
She’s also a founding member and principal CEO of Zakidata, helping individuals translate data into powerfully actionable insights. Throughout her career, Zaira has impacted over a million minds to build their data and analytics capabilities.
Gabriela Tafur, CEO of Idilio TV
From law to pageantry to authoring a book to becoming a well-known national TV host, Gabriela’s journey to becoming a tech founder is uniquely impressive. She’s now shifted her focus to behind the camera as the founder and CEO of Idilio TV, Colombia’s first vertical screening platform.
Upon her return to Colombia after completing her MBA at Stanford University, Gabriela quickly realized a massive yet untapped opportunity in Latin America: streaming short-form novelas. All around her, people were streaming Spanish-dubbed Asian micro-dramas. The demand was there, but the natively Spanish supply wasn’t. At Idilio TV, Garbiela and her team are on a mission to create original and entertaining micro-dramas—all in Spanish, and all available from the comfort of your smartphone.
Valentina Agudelo, Founder and CEO at Salva Health
Valentina’s mission is clear: democratize the early detection of breast cancer. One of the world’s deadliest diseases, breast cancer accounts for 27% of cancer cases in Latin America. However, early-stage detection remains elusive for the majority of individuals.
Valentina and the team at Salva Health are changing that with their cutting-edge technology, Julieta, which uses electrical bioimpedance technology to assess how breast tissue responds to small, safe, and painless currents.
Manuela Gutierrez, Project Director at 360 Health Data
Manuela has forged a strong career, helping international entrepreneurs create and refine their offerings through her expertise in visual design and UI/UX. Now, she’s running projects at Source Meridian, a Medellin-based healthcare software innovator, and 360 Health Data, a startup transforming medical knowledge in Latin America. Manuela’s leadership at the two companies not only enables her to propel tech innovation in Colombia but also directly impacts local communities to access better health opportunities.
Estefania Molina Ulgar, General Council, Addi
Legal frameworks matter just as much as technical ones in startups, and Estefania has built and scaled Addi’s legal and compliance function from the ground up. With 15 years of experience, she’s no stranger to the legal intricacies of fintech and the financial world. Her background includes working in the Colombian Securities Exchange and the Colombian Financial Regulator.
Estefania has guided Addi, one of Colombia’s biggest payment apps, through complex equity raises, debt transactions, and the process of becoming a regulated financial institution.
Daniela Lopera Hernández, Legal Director at VaxThera
Daniela spent almost a decade managing the legal side of SURA before she moved to VaxThera, a leading biotechnology provider in Colombia. Since joining the company, Daniela has established an important role in ensuring VaxThera’s innovations can reach the public.
Just last year, VaxThera announced a partnership with the Colombian Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health to strengthen health sovereignty across the nation. VaxThera also announced its partnership with Seguros SURA to launch the region’s largest HPV program in the bid to prevent cervical cancer.
Paula Andrea Ruiz, Head of Culture at Somos Internet
Innovation needs talent to thrive, and Paula is ensuring this need is constantly met so Somos Internet can continue to scale its software and services in more than 50,000 Colombian households.
Late last year, Somos Internet raised $18 million in Series A funding, a significant chunk of which will go to strengthening the company’s engineering and operations teams. As the head of culture and recruitment, Paula has a major role to play in ensuring talent continues to be nurtured and innovation propelled.
Whether founders, CEO, or heads of departments, Colombian women have carved a firm place in the country’s tech landscape. As 2026 unfolds, keep a pulse on these powerhouses and how they’re helping amplify innovation opportunities for women and men alike.
