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Chile · Start-Up Chile · Startup · apply online
CORFO accelerator for technology startups that use Chile as a platform. Chilean and foreign founders aged 18 or older can apply. A foreign team leader must obtain temporary residence, using the acceptance letter, before the subsidy agreement is signed and before arriving. The BIG 12 brochure describes that permit as a two-year work visa. Equity-free CORFO cofinancing is capped at CLP 15 million (Build), CLP 30 million (Ignite) or CLP 75 million (Growth).
Resolución Exenta 1.457 of 2025 is the current bases. Build runs for 4 months and may be extended once by 1 month. Ignite runs for up to 6 months and may be extended once by 1 month. Growth runs for up to 8 months and may be extended once by 2 months. The team leader must be in Chile for the whole execution, full time on the project, and must hold at least 10 percent of the beneficiary company, or of the foreign company when applying as a natural person. Until that person can enter, a representative in Chile can be named and the leader joins remotely. CORFO will not sign the subsidy until a foreign leader has filed for temporary residence, and it will not release funds until the visa is held. The acceptance letter is required for that visa. Visa paperwork is an eligible project cost. The bases do not set a 15-day process or a 24-month passport rule. Build cofinances up to 90 percent, capped at CLP 15,000,000. The company, if already formed in Chile, must have started tax activities no more than 12 months before the call opens. Ignite cofinances up to 80 percent, or 90 percent when the project leader's registered sex is female, capped at CLP 30,000,000, and the Chilean company must be no more than 36 months from the start of tax activities. Growth cofinances up to 50 percent, or 60 percent for a female project leader, capped at CLP 75,000,000. Growth companies must have started tax activities at least 24 months and no more than 120 months before the call, with sales of 2,400 to 25,000 UF in the prior 12 months. At the SERMIG tariff dollar of CLP 969.70, those caps are about USD 15,469, USD 30,938 and USD 77,345. There is no single grant amount. The bases charge no application fee. The SERMIG visa fee is separate and depends on nationality. The May 2026 BIG 12 calls opened on 4 May and closed on 25 May. They are closed. The program is not. The brochure says two generations a year. A person who has already been a beneficiary, leader, executor, partner or founder must wait 24 months after that project's execution ends before applying again. Natural persons cannot also hold capital in a Chilean company that executes the same project. The two-year length and the right to extend it are the ordinary temporary-residence rules, which the brochure matches. The bases do not name the SERMIG subcategory. Permanent residence is available after 24 months when the subcategory allows it. Naturalisation is five years from the temporary-residence stamp, with no language exam on the official checklist. During the grant, exclusive dedication bars other work even though a temporary resident may otherwise work. The three-year Chilean-source tax rule in artículo 3 applies once the founder is domiciled or resident. It is not a Start-Up Chile tax regime.
Chile also offers a digital nomad visa for remote workers
Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Last changed Oct 10, 2026 Source
no language requirement for citizenship. The official nationality checklist has no language exam (https://serviciomigraciones.cl/nacionalidad/).
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