Spain is becoming more than a destination for Latin American investment. For many Latin American companies, it can be the first operating base from which they build a European business.

The case is supported by more than language and cultural proximity. Spain offers access to the EU single market, an established business connection with Latin America, a large domestic market, international infrastructure and a growing ecosystem for technology, services and investment.

But landing in Spain is not the same as becoming European. The companies that use Spain well are the ones that arrive with a clear commercial objective, a defined first customer segment and a plan for what happens after the first market is validated.

Latin American investment in Spain has become a structural trend

The latest Global LATAM 2025 report from ICEX and the Secretaría General Iberoamericana reports that accumulated investment by Latin American companies in Spain reached €66.844 billion, an increase of 103% since 2010.

The report positions Spain as the second-largest global destination for Latin American investment after the United States. It also records a business community of more than 600 Latin American companies and 44,000 direct jobs in Spain.

The investment is not concentrated in one traditional sector. Between 2020 and 2024, Latin American companies announced 360 greenfield projects in Spain. Software and ICT led the sector breakdown with 82 projects, followed by financial services with 45 and food and beverage with 34. The projects covered 25 sectors in total.

That matters because it changes the question. A Latin American company is not choosing between staying at home and opening a Spanish office. It is deciding whether Spain can help it access new customers, talent, partners, financing and the next stage of international growth.

Spain offers Latin American companies four practical advantages for a first European operation

1. One base can connect several growth conversations

Spain gives a company access to its own market and a platform for wider EU expansion. The European Commission describes the single market as an area where goods, services, capital and people can move more freely under common rules. The market includes 27 EU member states and around 450 million consumers.

Spain also gives Latin American companies something that a purely geographic analysis can miss: a business environment where Spanish language, existing corporate relationships and familiarity with Latin American markets can reduce the cost of the first commercial conversations.

That does not mean a Spanish launch automatically opens every European market. It means the first landing can begin from a position of greater familiarity.

2. Spanish and Latin American business networks already overlap

Spain’s role as a bridge between Latin America and Europe is visible in the companies, investors and institutions already operating across both regions. The ICEX report identifies Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay among the leading sources of accumulated Latin American investment in Spain.

For a company entering Europe, those networks can matter in practical ways:

• introductions to potential partners and clients;
• access to executives with experience in both regions;
• references from companies that have already expanded;
• opportunities to work with Spanish groups active in Latin America;
• and a stronger basis for building a regional team.

3. Spain has a diversified platform for growth

The investment data shows that Latin American companies are not coming to Spain only for real estate, banking or traditional infrastructure. The current project mix includes software and ICT, financial services, food and beverage, industrial activity, technology and other high-value sectors.

That diversity creates several possible entry models. A company may establish a commercial office, acquire a local business, launch a subsidiary, set up a technology or innovation team, appoint a local representative or use Spain as a base for a wider EU sales operation.

The right model depends on what the business needs to prove first. A company with a long enterprise sales cycle may need local business development before it needs a large operation. A regulated business may need local legal and compliance capacity before it can sell. A scale-up may need customers and investors before it hires a full team.

4. Spain can support a staged expansion

The strongest reason to choose Spain is not that it removes every European barrier. It is that it can support a staged expansion:

1. validate the offer with Spanish customers or partners;
2. build the local team and operating processes;
3. use the evidence from Spain to select the next European markets;
4. expand with a clearer proposition and a more credible reference base.

This sequence is more defensible than opening several European markets at once without knowing which customer segment, message or channel will work.

What Latin American companies need to solve before landing

The customer is more important than the country

A company should define its first customer segment before it chooses its office location. Is it selling to Spanish enterprises, Latin American groups with operations in Europe, public institutions, distributors, technology partners or consumers?

Each route requires a different go-to-market plan. A company that cannot name the first ten accounts or partner profiles it wants to approach is not ready to choose a location based on office prestige.

Language helps, but it does not replace local knowledge

Spanish can reduce friction in Spain and Latin America. It does not explain how European procurement works, how a sector is regulated, how long a sales cycle takes or why an offer loses to a local competitor.

The company must still adapt pricing, compliance, sales materials, references and decision-making processes to the market it wants to serve.

Spain is a base, not a shortcut around Europe

A Spanish operation does not remove the need to assess Germany, France, the Netherlands or other European markets. Customer demand, language, regulation and channel strategy still change from country to country.

The first Spanish operation should therefore produce useful evidence: which sectors respond, which partners add value, what customers need changed and which markets deserve the next investment.

What a practical landing plan for Latin American companies should include

A first European landing should connect four workstreams:

• Market intelligence: assess demand, competitors, regulations and customer segments.
• Commercial access: identify qualified clients, partners, distributors or institutional contacts.
• Local execution: assign people who can follow up, adapt the offer and move opportunities forward.
• Investment sequence: decide what to test first and what evidence justifies the next commitment.

Gedeth’s internationalization work follows this structure. Its published case of Synerjoy, a Colombian company, describes Spain as the first international market because of operational margins, service complementarity and cultural and linguistic alignment. Gedeth supported the project from market prospecting and commercial development through outsourcing to the establishment of a subsidiary and operational launch in Madrid. The company later moved into a second expansion phase focused on the United States.

Spain works best when the expansion has a second chapter

Latin American companies do not need to arrive in Spain with a pan-European operation already built. They do need to know what they want Spain to make possible.

For one company, that may be a first European customer. For another, it may be a regional sales team, a technology partnership, a base for EU procurement or a bridge to Spanish groups already active in Latin America.

The investment data shows that Latin American companies are already building a substantial presence in Spain. The commercial question now is how each company turns that presence into a repeatable route to European growth.