Cites
CITES is the corporate venture capital and deeptech incubator arm of Argentine insurer Grupo Sancor Seguros, investing from pre-idea through Series A in biotech, medtech, agtech, and deeptech startups across Latin America, with a 23-company portfolio and 95+ patents under management.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersSunchales, Argentina
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Cites does
CITES (Centro de Innovación Tecnológica, Empresarial y Social) is an Argentine venture capital firm and privately managed technology incubator founded in 2013 and headquartered in Sunchales, Santa Fe, with additional offices in Buenos Aires (CABA) and Bariloche. It is the corporate technology innovation arm of Grupo Sancor Seguros and is self-described as the first privately managed technology incubator in Latin America. CITES invests across five structured stages—from pre-idea through Series A—using a combination of SAFEs and equity instruments: Ideas ($25K SAFE), MVP ($150K SAFE), Pre-seed ($500K equity), Seed ($1.5M equity), and Series A ($0.5M–$1.5M equity). Its portfolio of 23 companies is concentrated in deeptech, biotech, medtech, agtech, and insurtech, and the firm manages 95+ patents across the portfolio with a linked network of more than 250 entrepreneurs and scientists.
CITES operates two flagship closed-end vehicles, CITES I and CITES II, and supplements capital deployment with program-based acceleration: DEEPTECH BOOST (regional deeptech bootcamps, including a Uruguayan edition in its second iteration in October 2025), CITES IDEAS (pre-idea acceleration, launched April 2025), BOOTCAMP PATAGONIA (location-specific acceleration), and CITES SUMMIT (annual ecosystem convening). In October 2025 the firm further launched Deeptech Insights, a newsletter for deeptech thought leadership. The core revenue model is conventional fund management economics (management fees and carried interest on CITES I and CITES II), underwritten by its corporate sponsor rather than external limited partners, and the firm supplements this with co-investments alongside strategic partners such as Fundación Barceló (CloverLife, September 2025). Standalone revenue, AUM, and management fee economics are not separately disclosed and are embedded within Grupo Sancor Seguros.
Cites firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cites
- Legal name
- Cites - Centro de Innovación Tecnológica, Empresarial y Social
- Website
- https://cites-gss.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- CITES is the corporate venture capital and deeptech incubator arm of Argentine insurer Grupo Sancor Seguros, investing from pre-idea through Series A in biotech, medtech, agtech, and deeptech startups across Latin America, with a 23-company portfolio and 95+ patents under management.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cites industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)
- SIC
- Investment Advice (6282), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Corporate Strategic Partnership & Ecosystem Investment Arms (FSANAHAF)
Keywords
Where Cites is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sunchales
- HQ country
- Argentina
- HQ region
- Latin America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Cites business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Venture Capital Returns on Portfolio Companies: CITES generates returns through equity ownership in portfolio startups. As an early-stage investor providing capital and active management support, CITES earns returns when portfolio companies achieve milestones, raise subsequent funding rounds, or exit via acquisition or IPO. The fund is managed as a venture capital vehicle associated with Grupo Sancor Seguros.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Ideas stage: 25K USD via SAFE |
| Other | Multi-year contract | MVP stage: 150K USD via SAFE |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Pre-seed: 500K USD via Equity |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Seed: 1.5M USD via Equity |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Series A: 0.5–1.5M USD via Equity |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Cites product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CITES is a venture capital fund and venture builder that invests in and co-creates deeptech startups originating from scientific research. It offers staged capital from the Ideas stage ($25K SAFE) through Series A ($1.5M equity), with total investment up to $3.5M per company, combined with active management, laboratory and co-working infrastructure, and access to global networks. Its portfolio of 23 companies spans biotech, medtech, pharma, agtech, AI, and robotics.
Product overview
CITES is a Venture Capital fund that fosters the development of scientific-technological deeptech startups, part of Grupo Sancor Seguros. The organization offers venture capital investment from Ideas to Series A stages (up to $3.5M total), combined with venture builder programs (DEEPTECH BOOST), incubation initiatives (CITES IDEAS), and access to physical infrastructure including fab-labs, wet-labs, and co-working spaces in Sunchales, CABA, and Bariloche. Their portfolio of 23 companies spans BioTech, HealthTech, AgTech, Smart City & Logistics, FoodTech, MedTech, Robotics, and AI sectors, with portfolio companies including CloverLife (mechanical heart valves), ViewMind (cognitive digital biomarkers via VR eye-tracking), Eolo Pharma (obesity treatments), Ergo Bioscience (animal protein from plant cells), and Stradot (robotic parking systems).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- DEEPTECH BOOST: Venture Builder program designed for scientists, entrepreneurs, and advanced students to transform scientific ideas into high-impact global businesses. Programs conducted in Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru.
- CITES IDEAS
- CITES SUMMIT
- Deeptech Insights
Products and services
- CITES IDEAS Early-stage program of CITES that supports deeptech founders at the ideation phase with capital (starting at $25K SAFE), infrastructure, and management support. Targeted at scientists, PhD researchers, and advanced students seeking to validate commercial potential of their research.
- DEEPTECH BOOST Virtual pre-acceleration program that provides equity-free funding and structured training to deeptech founders across Latin America to prepare them for venture builder admission.
- BOOTCAMP PATAGONIA Immersive bootcamp program for deeptech founders offering intensive engagement with the venture builder model, infrastructure access, and mentorship.
- CITES SUMMIT Annual summit event organized by CITES convening the deeptech ecosystem, including portfolio companies, investors, mentors, and ecosystem partners.
- CITES Venture Capital Fund (staged investment tickets) Core venture capital fund operation providing staged equity and SAFE investments to deeptech startups from the Ideas stage through Series A, with total tickets up to $3.5M per company. Investment stages include Ideas ($25K SAFE), MVP ($50K), Pre-seed ($250K), Seed ($700K), and Series A ($1.5M equity).
Quantifiable outcome
- 95+ patents managed across the portfolio
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Cites
Customer profileNamed customers16 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Cites technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Cites partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- UOVO (Terragene Group)coreCITES entered a strategic alliance with UOVO, the biotech company creation platform within the Terragene Group (founded by Esteban Lombardía and Adrián Rovetto), to jointly support and develop the Pepton startup focused on bactericides against antibiotic-resistant microorganisms.
- Hewlett Packard (HP)coreHewlett Packard partnered with ViewMind to supply the HP Omnicept Reverb G2 virtual reality headset with eye-tracking, connected to an HP laptop — the hardware platform for ViewMind's AI-powered cognitive digital biomarker diagnostics. HP provides the hardware infrastructure that powers ViewMind's patented eye-tracking analysis technology.
- Renault GroupcoreStradot, a CITES portfolio company, partnered with Renault Group for intensive testing of its robotic parking system at the manufacturer's Flins-sur-Seine site near Paris. The 3-week campaign tested the solution's ability to move vehicles in dense logistical areas and achieve 30–100% additional storage capacity.
- ANVISA (Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency)coreViewMind obtained regulatory approval from ANVISA (Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency), enabling commercialization in Brazil as a priority market following its US$6 million funding round.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Cites competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Kaszek Ventures: Latin America's largest venture capital firm, investing from seed to growth across the region. Comparable to CITES as a LatAm-focused VC manager backing early-stage tech and tech-enabled companies, though with materially larger AUM and broader sector focus.
- ALLVP: Mexico-based early-stage VC manager investing across Latin America in tech, healthcare, and consumer. Comparable to CITES as a regional early-stage VC with active portfolio support, though less deeptech-specialized.
- Mountain Nazca: Mexican early- and growth-stage VC manager investing in Latin American tech companies. Comparable to CITES as a regional VC manager targeting seed and Series A stages, though concentrated in Mexico City.
- Cometa: Mexico-based early-stage VC backing founders across Latin America. Comparable to CITES as a regional seed-stage investor with similar ticket sizes and active management approach.
- Magma Partners: Chile-anchored pan-LatAm early-stage VC manager with cross-border reach into the US. Comparable to CITES as a regional early-stage investor with similar focus on early tickets and follow-on support.
- NXTP Labs: Argentina-based early-stage VC and accelerator active across Latin America. Most directly comparable to CITES given shared Argentine base, similar ticket sizes, and early-stage tech focus.
- Wayra (Telefónica CVC): Corporate venture arm of Telefónica investing globally in early-stage startups. Comparable to CITES as a structured CVC arm of a large corporate parent, though with much larger geographic scope and capital base.
- Valor Capital Group: US-Brazil cross-border early- and growth-stage VC. Comparable to CITES in bridging Latin American founders to international capital, with deeper US-LP relationships.
Broad incumbents
- SOSV: Global venture capital firm and accelerator operator (parent of IndieBio, HAX, dlab) with a deeptech focus. Comparable to CITES as a deeptech-focused VC, but with much larger global footprint, multiple accelerator programs, and significantly more capital.
Emerging players
- IndieBio: SOSV's biotech accelerator program investing in early-stage life sciences and biotech startups globally. Comparable to CITES's biotech/medtech venture-building thesis, but with a focused accelerator model rather than a permanent in-house fund.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cites social profiles
Digital presenceCites financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cites leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Cites funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cites M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments19 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cites
What does Cites do?
CITES is a venture capital fund and venture builder that invests in and co-creates deeptech startups originating from scientific research. It offers staged capital from the Ideas stage ($25K SAFE) through Series A ($1.5M equity), with total investment up to $3.5M per company, combined with active management, laboratory and co-working infrastructure, and access to global networks. Its portfolio of 23 companies spans biotech, medtech, pharma, agtech, AI, and robotics.
Is Cites a public or private company?
Cites is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Cites founded?
Cites was founded in 2013. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Cites based?
Cites is headquartered in Sunchales, Argentina, in the Latin America region.
How does Cites make money?
One revenue line is on record: venture Capital Returns on Portfolio Companies.
Who are Cites's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Kaszek Ventures, ALLVP, Mountain Nazca, Cometa, Magma Partners, NXTP Labs, Wayra (Telefónica CVC) and Valor Capital Group. SOSV is listed as a broad incumbent. IndieBio is listed as an emerging player.
Does Cites have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cites.
What industry is Cites in?
Cites's product category is Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAHAF, Corporate Strategic Partnership & Ecosystem Investment Arms. Its NAICS code is 5259 and its SIC code is 6282.