Startup Failures in Costa Rica

Costa Rican lending app survived COVID only to be destroyed by inflation and a regulatory probe.

Costa Rica proptech pivoted from rentals to vacation stays and got killed by a 13% tax overnight.

Costa Rica's leading food delivery app sold for under $200K after dominating the market for three years.

Costa Rica's mobile payment hopeful died waiting for a license that never came in time.

Costa Rica's EV taxi startup ran out of charging stations before it ran out of enthusiasm.

San José electric bike sharing raised $400K — COVID eliminated downtown office workers, MOPT regulated e-bike speed to 25km/h with special registration, bike theft in peripheral zones, monthly subscription model collapsed

Costa Rica's sustainability platform for companies whose ESG was already handled by their parent companies

Costa Rica cybersecurity startup during the Conti ransomware attack — the government used US CISA assistance and enterprises used US parent cybersecurity

Costa Rica biotech where CONIS takes 24 months for trial approval, CCSS only buys from approved international pharma, and Medtronic/Boston Scientific use US regulatory pathways

Costa Rica's sustainable tourism platform annihilated by COVID before it could prove the model

Costa Rica fintech: SINPE Móvil (free government payment system, 60% adults) solved person-to-person payments before the company launched

Costa Rica's mental health app blocked by free CCSS therapy and global platforms

The blockchain supply chain startup that blockchain couldn't save

Costa Rica's plant-based food startup in a country where Gallo Pinto is a national religion

Costa Rica's B2B SaaS blocked by a market split between too-small SMEs and unreachable multinationals

Costa Rica's gaming platform that Twitch already served better than any local alternative could

Costa Rica's industrial IoT for factories whose OT specs came from Silicon Valley and Minnesota

Costa Rica's B2B AI that ran out of enterprises to sell to

Costa Rica carbon credit platform built on Verra REDD+ certification — 90%+ of Verra REDD+ credits invalidated in 2023 following journalism investigation

Costa Rican ecotourism booking platform unable to survive the COVID travel freeze

Costa Rica's electric shared scooter service was grounded by regulatory uncertainty and Uber's ride-hailing dominance

Costa Rica edtech second attempt confirming MEP covered public schools post-COVID, UCR had UCRVirtual, and 150 private schools already used Canvas/Google Classroom

Costa Rica's SME lender that SUGEF regulated like a bank before it had bank-scale capital

Costa Rica's esports league that couldn't generate enough sponsorship to pay competitive prize pools