Viatik closes $600k Series B to scale intercity routes across Argentina
Uruguayan intercity rideshare platform Viatik has closed a $600,000 Series B funding round, exceeding its initial $500,000 target. Silicon Valley fund Plug and Play led the round alongside Argentine accelerator Picante, with participation from Uruguay's National Research and Innovation Agency (ANII) and regional angel investors.
The angels include Rubén Sosenke, co-founder and former CTO of PedidosYa; Alan Descoins, CEO of Tryolabs and Chief AI Officer of Qubika; Federico Lavagna, co-founder of Sinergia and Viajero Hostels; Mariano Otero, who led Uber's operations in Argentina and Southern Cone expansion; and Iang Yim, co-founder and former CTO of Nearsure.
Founded in 2022 by four Uruguayan university students who regularly shared rides to Montevideo, Viatik has raised more than $850,000 since inception. The company operates with six employees.
All new capital targets Argentina, where Viatik launched in January 2025. Argentina now accounts for nearly 90% of platform transactions. Between June and September 2026, transaction volume multiplied sixfold.
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Route launches have accelerated sharply. [The Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata route, Viatik's first in Argentina, took more than a year to exceed 1,000 monthly seats. By contrast, the Salta to Jujuy route launched in early August 2026 hit that mark in under three weeks]().
Current routes include Buenos Aires to Rosario, Santiago del Estero to Tucumán, Río Cuarto to Córdoba, and Mendoza to San Juan. The platform formalizes existing practice in Argentina, where travelers coordinate intercity rides through informal WhatsApp and Facebook groups, by adding verified profiles, ratings, and in-app payments.
How lean AI operations reshape hiring expectations for LATAM mobility startups
Viatik's operational model stands out in Argentina's growing tech ecosystem. The company runs with six employees and a single developer, co-founder and CTO Gonzalo Aszyn, who directs and reviews work performed by AI agents handling application development.
AI also manages customer service through a WhatsApp agent and identifies content creators for new route launches. Aszyn noted that being the sole programmer no longer creates bottlenecks. The marketing team now builds and automates its own processes with AI, without waiting for engineering resources.
This structure challenges conventional assumptions about scaling high-growth startups. Traditional mobility platforms add engineers, customer support staff, and marketing specialists as transaction volume grows. Viatik is testing whether AI-driven development teams can defer or reduce those hires.
For employers and talent professionals tracking LATAM tech markets, the implications are concrete. If Viatik's approach proves sustainable at larger scale, demand may shift from generalist software engineers toward specialists who can architect, audit, and govern AI agent workflows. Customer service roles may consolidate into oversight and escalation functions rather than frontline response. Marketing execution could migrate toward prompt engineering and automation design.
Costanzo stated the goal is to operate at unicorn scale with a team that fits around a single table, an ambition that seemed implausible two years ago but becomes more feasible as AI models advance.
Whether this model holds as complexity increases remains uncertain. Regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, driver and passenger safety, and multi-country operations typically demand specialized human judgment. Viatik has not disclosed plans for legal, compliance, or safety roles as it scales.
Argentina's rideshare market signals emerging demand for distributed tech talent
Viatik expands route by route rather than launching nationwide simultaneously. The company opens individual city pairs, evaluates traction, and scales based on performance. This approach reduces upfront capital requirements and allows faster iteration on pricing, user acquisition, and supply-demand matching.
Argentina's intercity travel market offers structural advantages. Major population centers separated by long distances and limited affordable transport options create natural demand for shared mobility. Informal ridesharing networks already exist, reducing the need for extensive user education.
Viatik's ambition extends beyond carpooling. The company aims to become the platform where users plan, book, and pay for any intercity trip, from shared cars to buses and beyond. [Costanzo cited PedidosYa, the Uruguayan delivery platform that expanded progressively and now operates in 15 countries of Latin America, as a reference. CMO Renzo Battaglia stated the company wants to become the next PedidosYa, and even larger]().
For workforce planning, this trajectory suggests eventual demand for distributed operations talent across Argentine provinces and potentially other LATAM markets. Route launches require local market knowledge, driver partnerships, and region-specific marketing. If Viatik maintains its lean AI-augmented model while expanding geographically, it may prioritize regional business development and partnership roles over centralized engineering or operations teams.
The investor composition signals confidence in cross-border LATAM tech talent. With backing from Silicon Valley (Plug and Play), Argentina (Picante), and Uruguay (ANII), plus angels experienced in scaling platforms across the region, Viatik has access to networks spanning hiring markets, regulatory environments, and go-to-market strategies.
Execution will depend on whether AI-augmented lean operations can handle the complexity of multi-country mobility at scale, and whether six people can effectively govern systems serving thousands of daily trips across diverse regulatory and cultural contexts.