Selva

Overview

Selva is a web-based map of Latin American startups, investors and funding activity. It suits people comparing companies or tracking regional funding, particularly when they need source-linked rounds and are willing to pay for financial details. Its tiered access makes basic mapping free, but the most decision-critical figures sit behind a $39 monthly plan.

Key features

Selva covers 21 markets and reports 4,374 startups and 4,662 investors; its company-record count is 4,479. It draws on 37 sources and parses articles in English, Portuguese and Spanish, linking each funding round to its source article. That multilingual, linked approach is useful for following activity across the region, though it does not remove the risk of gaps or errors.

Public access shows identities, descriptions and rolled-up totals. A free account adds round structure and dates, plus portfolio lists, but keeps amounts hidden. The paid tier adds exact amounts, valuations, revenue and check sizes. Selva also compares disclosed yearly totals with LAVCA benchmarks and publishes coverage comparisons, offering context for judging its reach rather than a guarantee that every company or round is captured.

Company corrections go through a domain-verified review limited to company employees, so the process is not open to arbitrary edits. Selva warns that data may be incomplete, outdated or inaccurate and is for informational and research purposes, not investment advice. Its terms prohibit scraping, crawling, harvesting and bulk downloading, and bar resale or redistribution except as expressly permitted; it is therefore not a fit for building a repackaged dataset.

Pricing

The two free tiers are useful for orientation and tracking round timing, but not for examining funding amounts. Premium is the relevant choice when valuation, revenue or check-size data matters; at $39 a month, it is a recurring paid step for those figures. No seat limits or usage quotas are stated.

Platforms

Selva is available on the web.

Who it's for

Selva fits founders, investors, analysts and others who need a regional startup and investor map, especially those tracing funding activity back to published coverage. It is less suitable when the task requires dependable completeness, investment advice, or bulk reuse of records.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Funding rounds link to source articles, helping readers inspect the published basis for a record.
• Pro: Free account access reveals round structure, dates and portfolio lists without a subscription.
• Pro: The paid tier exposes exact amounts, valuations, revenue and check sizes for deeper financial screening.
• Con: Amounts remain hidden on both free tiers, limiting funding comparisons unless users pay.
• Con: Selva acknowledges that records may be incomplete, outdated or inaccurate, so the map should not be treated as definitive.
• Con: Restrictions on scraping, bulk downloading and redistribution rule out many dataset-building workflows.

Alternatives

For a broader startup-database comparison, see Startup Databases.

Community Data is the better fit for a free, open-source database with a public GraphQL API. For free startup access, Dealflow.Africa offers a plan described as free forever for startups, while Europe Startup Database offers database browsing through a free account.

Discover Startups is worth considering if a dedicated startup profile visible to investors and media is the priority. FlareSight may suit broad company browsing: its free tier includes all search filters and 127,228+ companies, but limits profile views to five a day and watchlists to one view-only list. StartupDB is the alternative for free database access through an MCP server and REST API, without an account or API key, with 120 requests per minute per IP and no daily cap. The Venture Codex is another free-access option.

Verdict

Choose Selva if you need a source-linked view of Latin American startup and funding activity, and can use free access for mapping or justify Premium for financial detail. Its multilingual coverage and published comparisons are useful strengths, but acknowledged data uncertainty and the $39 monthly price for amounts and valuations make it a poor substitute for a definitive or freely reusable dataset.