GoFest 2025, Colombia’s entrepreneurship fair, comes to Bogota. Organized by the Chamber of Commerce of the capital, the festival brings together startups, investors, and corporate leaders from across Latin America under the slogan “Unlock your future.”
The event will feature 180 speakers and mentors, 250 startups on display, and more than 150 investors. Brazil will be the guest country, with participation from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, the United States, Spain, Costa Rica, and Germany, connecting to the global ecosystem.
GoFest seeks to energize entrepreneurship in Bogota and Colombia, showcasing solutions to global challenges and generating opportunities for networking, learning, and alliances for startups, corporations, young entrepreneurs, and people passionate about innovation.
GoFest 2025: Colombian entrepreneurship fair in Bogota
The Bogota Chamber of Commerce launched the 8th edition of GoFest, an event that, during the last week of August, aims to be the epicenter of innovation and entrepreneurship in Latin America, with partners such as Platzi and Genera Summit, as well as sponsors including Google and Cafam.
With an estimated attendance exceeding 25,000 people, the event will take place from Aug. 26 to 30. More than 250 participants and 280 investors are expected for these projects. The organization anticipates around 800 connections among different stakeholders from 25 countries.
The 2024 festival gathered about 20,000 attendees, and this new edition will once again bring together startups, investors, institutions, and ecosystem leaders with proposals focused on solving global challenges, under the motto it has promoted since its inception in 2018: “The future is now.”
“GoFest is the ideal platform to energize the ecosystem and promote the generation of knowledge and technology-based projects not only in Bogota but throughout Latin America, which ultimately brings us closer to our goal of making our capital the hub of innovation and entrepreneurship,” explained Ovidio Claros Polanco, president of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, the organizing entity.
Connecting key players in Colombian and global entrepreneurship
The venue for GoFest 2025 is the Agora Bogota Convention Center, designed to consolidate a “space for visibility, connection, and collaboration” among key players: from startups and corporations to academia, governments, and investors. According to the organizers, “here, the conversation goes beyond business to delve into co-creation and the building of the ecosystem that Colombia seeks.”
Through talks, dynamic panels, roundtables, and startup pitches that fuel the flow of opportunities, the event seeks to position the AgriFood sector as a vital driver of innovation, sustainability, and economic growth.
Among the international guests are Dan Tyre, founding member of HubSpot and leader of Tyre Angels; Pamela Hsieh, a key figure in Alibaba and Alipay’s expansion in Europe and LATAM; and Jonathan Greechan, CEO and cofounder of the Founder Institute, the world’s largest startup accelerator. Also participating will be leaders such as Moishe Mana, entrepreneur and urban developer promoting creative ecosystems in the United States.
“This year GoFest not only brings renowned speakers but also adds partners and experiences that raise the level of the ecosystem. For five days, Bogota will be the stage where high-impact opportunities are born and consolidated,” said Ovidio Claros.
GoFest 2025 will also be the stage for agreements aimed at transforming ways of doing business. Platzi, a benchmark in online education, joins as a strategic partner of the event, offering 1,000 free tickets for Platzi Conf, Latin America’s most important technology and education gathering, which kicks off next weekend in the Colombian capital.
In addition, Platzi will offer 1,000 scholarships to access its platform and a joint acceleration program that will culminate with five startups pitching during the festival’s Demo Days. Confirmed speakers at Platzi Conf include Simon Borrero, CEO and cofounder of the delivery company Rappi.
Entrepreneurship: a growing phenomenon as a source of opportunities in Colombia
Over the past decade, entrepreneurship in Colombia has undergone a remarkable transformation, establishing itself as a driver of innovation and economic development. What was once an incipient ecosystem is now a vibrant sector backed by public policies, accelerators, and growing interest from both national and international investors.
In 2012, the landscape was limited: few venture capital funds and little entrepreneurial culture. However, the creation of programs such as Apps.co by the Ministry of ICT and the push from entities like Innpulsa marked a turning point. These efforts fostered the emergence of startups in technology, e-commerce, and digital services, which found fertile ground to grow thanks to connectivity and young talent.
Success stories quickly followed. Rappi, the Colombian super app founded in 2015, reached unicorn status and expanded throughout Latin America, becoming a symbol of what a local startup can achieve. Other initiatives such as La Haus (proptech) and Platzi (edtech) also reflect the diversity and strength of the ecosystem.
Today, Bogota, Medellin, and Cali are epicenters of innovation, and Colombia has positioned itself as one of the leading countries for entrepreneurship in the region. The coming decade promises even greater growth, driven by the creativity and tenacity of its entrepreneurs.