Fundraising Fox

Santiago Buenahora

Founder

CTO at Primero

Mexico City, Mexico

FoundedPrimero

Find your path to Santiago

282 people in our graph share verified history with Santiago — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Jan HammerunlockedSantiago: together at Robinhood (2019–2021)
×5Santiago: together at Robinhood
Santiago: together at Neo
×3Santiago: together at Affirm

About

Santiago Buenahora is a co-founder and the CTO of Primero, the Mexico City company building AI infrastructure for Latin America's largest enterprises, which raised a $12 million seed in August 2026 — among the largest seed rounds ever raised in Latin America — co-led by Kaszek and General Catalyst. A Colombian engineer who studied computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, he was a software engineer at Microsoft and on Robinhood's risk and fraud team, and earlier founded MarcoPolo — an "Alibaba for Latin America" sourcing marketplace connecting US buyers with Latin American manufacturers — which went through Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch out of Mexico City. He leads engineering at Primero, where roughly half the engineers have competed in the International Mathematical Olympiad, the International Olympiad in Informatics or the ICPC.

Beyond investing

Founded
Co-founded Primero in Mexico City with José Murillo and Andrés Rosales, and serves as CTO; the company launched publicly on 25 August 2026 with a $12 million seed round. Founded MarcoPolo, a B2B marketplace connecting US companies with Latin American manufacturers, which went through Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch from Mexico City.
More
Worked as a software engineer at Microsoft and on Robinhood's risk and fraud team before co-founding Primero. Studied computer science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mentioned above: the Y Combinator mafia → · the Robinhood mafia →

From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.

CTO at Primero

Intro paths

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Co-founders at Primero

Experience

  1. Primero AICo-Founder, CTOcurrent2025 — presentMexico City, Mexico
  2. NeoAccelerator Founder2022 — 2025
  3. MarcoPolo (YC W21)Founder2021Colombia / Mexico
  4. RobinhoodSoftware Engineer2019 — 2021San Francisco Bay Area
  5. treble.aiHelper2019
  6. Hack4ImpactExecutive Board | Technical Lead2016 — 2019Greater Philadelphia
  7. Affirm, Inc.Software Engineering2018San Francisco Bay Area
  8. MicrosoftSoftware Engineering2017Redmond
  9. University of PennsylvaniaInformation Technology Advisor2015 — 2017Greater Philadelphia
  10. University of PennsylvaniaTeaching Assistant2016
  11. MicrosoftSoftware Engineering2016Redmond, Washington
  12. MedialetsSoftware Engineering2015New York City Metropolitan Area

Skills & more

Software Engineering5Social Media4OCaml4Product ManagementCustomer Service1Leadership11Java14Python10Microsoft Office5JavaScript4Spanish4

Languages English · Spanish

From Santiago's professional profile.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Santiago Buenahora?
Santiago Buenahora is a co-founder and the CTO of Primero, the Mexico City company building AI infrastructure for Latin America's largest enterprises, which raised a $12 million seed in August 2026 — among the largest seed rounds ever raised in Latin America — co-led by Kaszek and General Catalyst. A Colombian engineer who studied computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, he was a software engineer at Microsoft and on Robinhood's risk and fraud team, and earlier founded MarcoPolo — an "Alibaba for Latin America" sourcing marketplace connecting US buyers with Latin American manufacturers — which went through Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch out of Mexico City. He leads engineering at Primero, where roughly half the engineers have competed in the International Mathematical Olympiad, the International Olympiad in Informatics or the ICPC.
Where does Santiago Buenahora work?
Santiago Buenahora is CTO of Primero.
What companies did Santiago Buenahora found?
Santiago Buenahora founded Primero.
Where did Santiago Buenahora go to school?
Santiago Buenahora studied at University of Pennsylvania (Computer Science); Y Combinator (W21).

Founder mafias

Y Combinator mafia10,230

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

+ 10,223 more

Robinhood mafia37

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

+ 30 more

Affirm mafia20

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

+ 13 more

Neo mafia13

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

+ 6 more

Medialets mafia2

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Same school

Shared employers