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.
Mentioned above: the Y Combinator mafia → · the University of Pennsylvania mafia → · the Robinhood mafia →
From Santiago's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
CTO at Primero
Intro paths
In turn, Santiago can intro founders to Primero's investors below.
Primero's investors · 5
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Co-founders at Primero
Experience
- Primero AICo-Founder, CTOcurrent2025 — presentMexico City, Mexico
- NeoAccelerator Founder2022 — 2025
- MarcoPolo (YC W21)Founder2021Colombia / Mexico
- RobinhoodSoftware Engineer2019 — 2021San Francisco Bay Area
- treble.aiHelper2019
- Hack4ImpactExecutive Board | Technical Lead2016 — 2019Greater Philadelphia
- Affirm, Inc.Software Engineering2018San Francisco Bay Area
- MicrosoftSoftware Engineering2017Redmond
- University of PennsylvaniaInformation Technology Advisor2015 — 2017Greater Philadelphia
- University of PennsylvaniaTeaching Assistant2016
- MicrosoftSoftware Engineering2016Redmond, Washington
- MedialetsSoftware Engineering2015New York City Metropolitan Area
Education
- University of PennsylvaniaComputer Science
- Y CombinatorW21
Skills & more
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 mafia4,716
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
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University of Pennsylvania mafia201
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
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Robinhood mafia28
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 21 more
Affirm mafia11
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 4 more
Same school
Also attended University of Pennsylvania770
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Shared employers
Also worked at Primero AI1
Also worked at Neo13
+ 7 more
Also worked at Robinhood73
+ 67 more
Also worked at Affirm, Inc.34
+ 28 more