Start-Up Chile Growth 2026 (BIG 13)

Relocation after selection: you can apply from India without a Chilean company, but if you are selected the Team Leader must move to Chile and work on the project there, full time, for the whole programme. Foreign Team Leaders must apply for a Chilean Temporary Residence Visa before the funding agreement is signed. The official pages do not say who pays for travel to Chile.

Start-Up Chile Growth is the scaling line of Start-Up Chile, the public accelerator run by Corfo, Chile's economic development agency. It offers startups that are already selling equity-free co-funding of CLP 75 million (about US$83,000, about ₹78.85 lakh) and a six-month programme to expand using Chile as a platform. Applications for the current generation, BIG 13, are open until 24 November 2026 at 1:00 PM Chile time (GMT-3), which is 9:30 PM in India.

What the program offers

The BIG 13 brochure describes Growth as a six-month programme with eight months to spend the subsidy. Corfo co-finances up to 50% of the total project cost, capped at CLP 75 million. If the Team Leader is a woman, Corfo covers up to 60%. Start-Up Chile calls the money equity-free: it is a subsidy, and you keep all your shares. The rules add that Corfo may set a lower cap for a particular call, so check the figure shown on the application platform.

Besides funding, the programme gives board sessions, connections to corporate and investor networks, free co-working space and help with your visa. Start-Up Chile says the line is meant to help companies raise capital, open new markets and hire specialised talent.

The Growth web page describes the fund as approximately US$100,000, while the BIG 13 brochure gives about US$83,000 for the same CLP 75 million. This listing uses the brochure figure for the current call.

Who can apply

Start-Up Chile says it is agnostic to industry and nationality. Under the published Terms and Conditions, a Chilean or foreign person aged 18 or older can apply as an individual if they are a founder or partner of a technology-based global project that uses Chile as a platform. The whole business, in Chile and abroad, must show sales of at least 2,400 UF and at most 25,000 UF in the 12 months before the call opened. The UF (Unidad de Fomento) is a Chilean inflation-indexed unit, and the rules use its value on the opening date of the call.

For a founder in India this means you can apply without a Chilean company, on behalf of your existing company, provided the Team Leader holds at least 10% of the foreign company that owns the project from application until the project ends. Alternatively, a for-profit company incorporated in Chile can apply if it started tax activities there between 24 and 120 months before the call opened.

Growth suits revenue-stage companies that plan a real expansion into Chile and Latin America and can match the subsidy with their own money. It does not suit pre-revenue teams, or teams that cannot place a founder in Chile for the programme.

How to apply

You apply online through Start-Up Chile's application platform, linked from the Apply page. The form covers your business, your team and your sales. The site and its Terms and Conditions are available in English and Spanish. Foreign participants are identified by passport or national identity document.

How applications are judged and what happens next

After the deadline Corfo checks eligibility against the Terms and Conditions, including the sales range. Expert judges and the Start-Up Chile team then score the forms, and some teams are invited to an interview. Team counts for 20% of the first-stage score and project value for 50%, which covers market opportunity, product, commercial traction and scalability. Committees make the final choice. The site does not publish a results date for BIG 13.

Selected teams sign a subsidy agreement with Corfo. A foreign Team Leader must first file a Temporary Residence Visa application for Chile; otherwise the agreement is not signed.

About Start-Up Chile

Start-Up Chile calls itself the first public accelerator in the world. It is part of Corfo, the Chilean government's development agency, and reports a portfolio of more than 3,000 startups and 6,000 founders from more than 85 countries. It runs three lines: Build, Ignite and Growth. The site says Growth takes between 10 and 15 startups per generation, with two generations a year.

Things to check before you apply

• Relocation is real. The Team Leader must take part in the programme in Chile, as a permanent base, for the whole execution period and work only on the project. Corfo allows exceptions only for specific, temporary activities it has approved in advance.
• Matching funds are large. You must contribute at least half of the project cost yourself, in cash or in kind.
• The amount is set in Chilean pesos, and the sales test is set in UF, so convert both carefully at the dates the rules name.
• The Terms and Conditions on the site are those of an earlier call (BIG 11). Read the rules shown on the application platform for BIG 13 before you submit.
• A practical tip: Indian founders receiving foreign money and living abroad for months should check tax and foreign-exchange treatment with an adviser.