Santiago de Bedout

Yo, have you heard of Santiago de Bedout? The guy’s a total boss in the Latin American startup scene. He’s the CEO and founder of Selia, which is this killer digital health platform based in Bogotá. Basically, it connects folks with certified psychologists and psychiatrists for online therapy – super needed, especially in Latin America where mental health stigma and access are huge issues. He started Selia back in 2021, and they jumped into Y Combinator’s Winter 2022 batch – no small feat, right? That’s how you know he’s legit.

Before all this, Santiago was deep in the trenches at Rappi, one of Latin America’s biggest unicorns. He joined in 2016, was one of the early employees, and ran the liquor delivery arm. That was during Rappi’s insane hypergrowth phase, so he’s seen what scaling like a maniac looks like firsthand. He’s built and led teams across engineering, sales, growth, operations, the full stack. Dude knows what it takes to grow fast and keep things tight.

What’s wild is how he’s channeled that experience into Selia. He’s all about making mental health care accessible and legit in Latin America, which is a huge deal. His platform isn’t just B2C, serving everyday people, but also B2B – working with big names like Starbucks, Experian, Habi. That shows he’s got a vision for making mental health support a real part of mainstream life, not some niche thing.

What does this whole process say about Santiago? The guy’s the real deal. He’s not just building tech for the sake of it, he’s all about solving real problems, like making mental health more accessible. He jumped into the deep end to fix those issues. His time at Rappi gave him the hustle, the scale, the operational skills, and the confidence to create something that actually matters. And YC? That’s just the cherry on top. It proves that with hard work and a solid vision, you can crush it no matter where you come from.

Bottom line: Santiago de Bedout is a tech entrepreneur who’s not just riding the startup wave but shaping it. He’s leveraging his background in rapid scaling to tackle one of Latin America’s biggest issues, mental health, and doing it with style. The guy’s all about making a real impact, and you can tell he’s in it for the long haul. No Cap.