Nico Camhi - CEO & Co-founder of Vambe
Podcast Notes, Episode 21 - Building and Scaling an AI Startup in LatAm
La Frontera 🌵 Podcast, Episode 21 - Building and Scaling an AI Startup in LatAm
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This episode of La Frontera is a masterclass in execution.
We sat down with Nico Camhi, CEO and co-founder of Vambe, to unpack one of the most compressed scaling stories we’ve featured on the podcast: raising roughly $20M and scaling to ~$6M ARR in less than 2 years as a first-time founder in Latin America. This episode comes on the back of a $14M Series A announced in December 2025, led by Monashees.
But this isn’t a victory-lap conversation.
It’s a deeply honest look at what it actually takes to build a company from scratch in LatAm today: building AI systems before the playbooks existed, hiring with intention, navigating culture across countries, raising capital through relationships, and grinding through the parts of entrepreneurship no one posts about.
If you’re building in AI in Latin America—or thinking about it—this episode is required listening.
Shout out to Lucia from NAZCA for the intro! We are now 3/3 on great episodes with Nicos! (Shout out to Nico Yeppes, Nico Estrada)
Episode 19 Summary
When AI Tackles Real Problems: How Vambe built AI-native agents that automate B2C commercial workflows—and why focusing on real pain unlocked explosive growth.
A First-Time Founder’s Path: Nico Camhi’s journey from Chile to Berkeley and back, and how two startup cultures shaped his approach to building and scaling.
Execution as a Competitive Advantage: Why discipline, fast decision-making, and a high-ownership team mattered more than perfect strategy.
Raising $20M Without the Hype: How Vambe earned investor trust and raised roughly $20M in ~18 months through relationships and consistent execution.
Why AI Has to Be Local: What Vambe learned about cultural nuance in AI—from prompting differences in Mexico vs. Chile to scaling across markets.
What Scaling Really Takes: From expanding into Mexico to managing AI in production, a candid look at the resilience required to build through the hard parts.
Vambe: revolutionizing businesses through AI
🚀 Founded: 2024 in Chile
📈 Stage: Series A
💰 Total Funding Raised: $18.5m
🤝 Investors: Monashees, Cathay Latam, Atlantico, NAZCA, and more
🎯 Mission: To help companies scale and grow sustainably in today’s chaotic conversational economy through exceptional service and powerful AI technology.
What Vambe Does
Vambe is an AI platform that helps B2C companies easily use AI in their sales, marketing, and support. With fully customizable, no-code AI agents, teams can automate and connect everything from ads and lead conversion to checkout and support.
Vambe works with existing systems and quickly becomes part of the core revenue engine, boosting conversions by 70%+ and cutting sales/support costs by 30%+ in just weeks.
In less than 2 years, Vambe has grown from $0 to $6M ARR, serving over 1,700 companies in LatAm.
Nico’s Entrepreneurial Journey: Chile → Berkeley → Back Home
Nico’s path to founding Vambe didn’t start in Silicon Valley—it started in Chile, in an ecosystem that’s small, scrappy, and still finding its footing.
Growing up, entrepreneurship wasn’t the default path. But Chile’s startup culture—shaped by programs like Start-Up Chile and a growing local founder community—made building feel possible, even if not obvious.
That curiosity eventually took Nico to UC Berkeley, where he was exposed to a very different startup culture: faster feedback loops, bigger ambition, and a much higher tolerance for risk.
“Berkeley really changes how you think about what’s possible. You’re surrounded by people who assume they’re going to build something big.”
But importantly, Nico didn’t stay in the U.S. He brought that mindset back to Latin America—where the problems were more acute, the infrastructure weaker, and the opportunity arguably larger.
Starting a Company in Chile
Starting Vambe in Chile came with real constraints: smaller local markets, fewer experienced operators, less capital density.
But those constraints didn’t slow Nico down. He used them to his advantage.
You have to be capital-efficient. You have to hire carefully. You have to sell early.
“You don’t get many free shots. If something doesn’t work, you feel it immediately.”
The benefits of starting a company in Chile include a developed economy, early adopters of technology, and honest feedback
That being said, scaling across LatAm with Mexico and/or Brazil on the horizon has to be the goal from the start.
Raising Money the Hard Way: Relationships Over Rounds
Vambe’s fundraising story isn’t about hype—it’s about relationships.
In under 2 years, Nico and his team raised almost $20M, building trust investor by investor, conversation by conversation. Early capital came from people who believed in Nico as much as the product.
“Fundraising wasn’t one moment. It was dozens of conversations over time.”
Nico emphasizes that fundraising is not a transactional process—especially in LatAm. It’s about consistency, transparency, and follow-through.
Investors watched how the team executed between meetings. How they hired. How they shipped. How they responded to setbacks.
Capital followed execution—not the other way around.
Execution as a Culture: The Four Traits Vambe Hires For
When it comes to building teams, Nico is opinionated.
Vambe looks for four core traits when hiring:
Raw intelligence
Hunger
Integrity
Team players
This hiring philosophy isn’t aspirational—it’s operational. At Vambe’s pace of growth, one mis-hire can slow everything down.
Why In-Person Still Matters
Despite building an AI company, Nico is clear about one thing: Vambe is an in-person culture.
Not because remote work doesn’t work—but because speed, trust, and learning compound faster when people are physically together, especially early on.
“When you’re building from zero to one, proximity matters a lot.”
Whiteboard sessions. Overheard conversations. Fast feedback loops. These things are hard to replicate on Slack.
For Vambe, being in-person wasn’t about control—it was about velocity. They’re working all day, 6 days a week, side by side.
AI Is Cultural: Prompting in Mexico ≠ Prompting in Chile
One of the most fascinating parts of the conversation is how AI behavior changes across cultures.
Vambe learned quickly that agents operating in Mexico behave differently than agents in Chile—not because the model changes, but because language, tone, and expectations do.
“The same prompt doesn’t work everywhere.”
In Mexico, formality matters. In Chile, directness is valued. Even subtle differences in phrasing can change outcomes.
This is a massive insight for anyone building AI in LatAm: localization isn’t a feature—it’s the product.
AI Adoption in Latin America: Faster Than You Think
Despite infrastructure challenges, Nico is bullish on AI adoption in LatAm.
Why? Because the pain is real.
Manual processes are everywhere. Talent is expensive. Efficiency gains are immediately visible.
“If something saves time or money, companies here adopt it very fast.”
Vambe isn’t fighting skepticism—they’re often fighting demand.
Building AI From Scratch (Before the Playbooks)
Vambe didn’t start with off-the-shelf solutions. They built much of their AI stack from scratch—learning in real time how to deploy, monitor, and improve agents in production.
This meant building internal tooling, setting guardrails, and constantly iterating.
“AI isn’t set-and-forget. You have to manage it like a team.”
That mindset—treating AI systems as evolving collaborators rather than static software—has been critical to Vambe’s success.
The Reality of Entrepreneurship: It’s Just Hard
Toward the end of the conversation, Nico gets real.
Entrepreneurship is exhausting. Progress is nonlinear. Wins are rare. Doubt is constant.
“There are days where everything feels broken.”
What keeps him going isn’t motivation—it’s commitment.
Showing up. Fixing the next problem. Trusting the process.
Closing: Execution Is the Only Thing That Compounds
This episode is a reminder that there is no shortcut.
Not in AI. Not in fundraising. Not in building teams. Not in scaling across Latin America.
Vambe’s story isn’t about luck—it’s about relentless execution, cultural awareness, and resilience.
If you’re building in LatAm, this one’s for you.
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