In 1999, when fewer than 3% of Argentines had internet access, a Stanford student named Marcos Galperin sketched a plan to bring e-commerce to Latin America. The garage startup he returned to Buenos Aires to found — MercadoLibre — is today one of the most valuable companies on the continent. Argentina has since built one of the world’s most admired tech ecosystems per capita. To talk about all of this confidently in English, you need a precise, up-to-date vocabulary. That is exactly what this lesson gives you.
Why C1 technology vocabulary matters
At B2 level, you can talk about apps, websites, and social media. At C1, you need the vocabulary to discuss the business and culture of technology: the investment behind it, the design choices that drive it, and the societal questions it raises. This vocabulary appears in newspapers, podcasts, academic journals, and job interviews — and it is notoriously full of traps for Spanish speakers.
The items below are organised into four clusters. For each word or phrase, pay attention to the collocation — the words that naturally travel with it. In C1 English, knowing a word is only half the job; knowing what it collocates with is the other half.
Cluster 1 — Describing companies and innovation
🚀 Startups & innovation
| Term | Meaning | Key collocations |
|---|---|---|
| disruptive adj | Describing a technology or company that fundamentally changes or overturns an existing industry | disruptive technology · disruptive innovation · disruptive startup |
| scalable adj | Able to grow rapidly in size or output without a proportional rise in cost or effort | a scalable model · highly scalable · scalable infrastructure |
| unicorn n | A privately held startup valued at over one billion US dollars | reach unicorn status · unicorn startup · become a unicorn |
| ecosystem n | The interconnected network of companies, investors, developers, and services in a sector | tech ecosystem · startup ecosystem · thriving ecosystem |
| pivot v / n | To make a significant strategic change in a product or business model | pivot to · strategic pivot · pivot away from |
Cluster 2 — Investment vocabulary
💰 Funding & valuation
| Term | Meaning | Key collocations |
|---|---|---|
| venture capital n | Investment provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential in exchange for equity | venture capital firm · VC-backed · attract venture capital |
| seed funding n | The earliest round of investment in a startup, used to develop the initial product or idea | secure seed funding · seed round · seed investors |
| valuation n | The estimated financial worth of a company at a particular point in time | reach a valuation of · pre-money valuation · inflated valuation |
| exit n | The moment early investors sell their stake in a company, typically through an IPO or acquisition | exit strategy · successful exit · exit via IPO |
Cluster 3 — Digital infrastructure
🖥️ Technology & systems
| Term | Meaning | Key collocations |
|---|---|---|
| algorithm n | A defined set of rules or instructions a computer follows to perform a task or solve a problem | proprietary algorithm · algorithm-driven · refine an algorithm |
| cloud-based adj | Stored, managed, or delivered over the internet rather than on a local device or server | cloud-based solution · migrate to the cloud · cloud infrastructure |
| cybersecurity n | The practice of protecting computer systems and networks from digital attacks and unauthorised access | cybersecurity breach · cybersecurity framework · robust cybersecurity |
| interoperability n | The ability of different digital systems or products to communicate and work together seamlessly | ensure interoperability · cross-platform interoperability · interoperability standards |
Cluster 4 — Product and growth language
📈 Product development & growth
| Term | Meaning | Key collocations |
|---|---|---|
| iterate / iteration v / n | To improve a product or process through repeated cycles of testing and refinement | iterate on a product · rapid iteration · design iteration |
| user experience (UX) n | The overall quality of a person’s interaction with a product, especially regarding how easy and enjoyable it is | enhance the UX · seamless user experience · UX design |
| gain traction v phr | To begin to attract users, customers, or popular support; to start to work or grow effectively | gain traction in the market · struggling to gain traction · quickly gaining traction |
| go viral v phr | To spread rapidly and widely across the internet, typically through sharing on social platforms | the video went viral · viral content · go viral overnight |
Argentina: The Silicon Pampas
Argentina is one of the most remarkable tech stories in the world — and its journey provides the perfect context for the vocabulary above.
🇦🇷 Five verified facts about Argentina’s tech world
More unicorns than almost any Latin American country. Argentina has produced around twelve unicorn startups — companies that have reached a valuation of over one billion dollars. These include MercadoLibre (e-commerce), Globant (software engineering services), Ualá (fintech), and Auth0, which was acquired by Okta in 2021 for $6.5 billion in what remains one of the largest exits in Latin American history. Only Brazil has produced more unicorns in the region.
90% internet penetration. As of early 2025, some 41.2 million Argentines use the internet, giving the country a penetration rate of approximately 90.1% — well above the Latin American average. Buenos Aires is sometimes described as the Silicon Valley of South America, home to over 1,200 tech companies and 115,000 software professionals.
A world-class tech workforce. Argentina has more than 120,000 software developers, with a high proportion of English speakers. The country exports knowledge-based services worth around $9.6 billion annually (2025 figures), making the tech sector one of its most important export industries alongside agriculture.
The fintech revolution. Argentina’s thriving ecosystem of over 340 fintech firms is the country’s most active startup sector. Companies like Ualá, which started as a mobile banking app, have built scalable platforms that now serve millions of users across Latin America — using algorithm-driven credit scoring to reach people who were previously excluded from the banking system.
MercadoLibre: born disruptive. When Marcos Galperin founded MercadoLibre in Buenos Aires in 1999, internet penetration in Argentina was around 3%. His model was disruptive — it fundamentally changed how people bought and sold goods. Today the company operates across 18 countries, its payments arm Mercado Pago serves 49 million users, and it was the first Latin American tech company to list on NASDAQ (2007).
Notice how naturally the vocabulary fits these real events. MercadoLibre’s story is one of disruptive technology, an early strategic pivot to digital payments, and decades of iteration that turned a startup into a continent-wide platform. When you read tech news in English, you will encounter all the terms above constantly.
⚠️ Common mistakes for Spanish speakers
1. “Actual” ≠ current
❌ The actual version of the app has a bug in the payment system.
✅ The current version of the app has a bug in the payment system.
This is the most common false friend in tech contexts. Actual in Spanish means current/present. In English, actual means real or genuine — it emphasises that something truly exists: “The actual cost was much higher than expected.” Use current or the latest when you mean actual in the Spanish sense.
2. “Informatics” is not natural in modern English
❌ She has a degree in informatics and works in cybersecurity.
✅ She has a degree in computer science and works in cybersecurity.
Informática is the standard Spanish word for the field, but its direct translation informatics is old-fashioned or overly technical in everyday English. Say computer science (academic), IT (information technology, professional), or simply tech in informal speech.
3. “Make” vs the correct verb for digital actions
❌ I need to make an update to the software before the launch.
✅ I need to run / install an update to the software before the launch.
Spanish speakers often calque hacer as make in technical contexts. In English, digital actions use specific verbs: you run or install an update; you upload or download a file (never “make an upload”); you run or execute an algorithm; you deploy code.
4. “Delete” vs “erase” vs “remove” — they are not interchangeable
❌ Please erase your account if you no longer want to use the platform.
✅ Please delete your account if you no longer want to use the platform.
Spanish borrar covers all three. In English: delete is the standard word for digital content (files, accounts, messages); remove means to move something away or uninstall (remove an app, remove a user from a group); erase is typically physical (erase a whiteboard) and sounds unusual in most digital contexts.
5. “Eventual” ≠ eventually
❌ The startup is struggling, but it will have an eventual exit through an IPO.
✅ The startup is struggling, but it will eventually exit through an IPO. / An IPO remains a possibility.
In Spanish, eventual means possible or occasional. In English, eventual means happening at some later point in time (with no sense of doubt): “their eventual success.” If you want to express possibility, use potential, possible, or a possible exit.
Example bank: 15 sentences in context
- MercadoLibre’s disruptive approach to commerce transformed how Latin Americans shop, long before most governments even had an e-commerce policy.
- Ualá built a scalable fintech platform in Argentina that could expand to Colombia and Mexico without completely rebuilding its core infrastructure.
- When Auth0 was acquired by Okta for $6.5 billion, it was one of the most celebrated exits in Argentine startup history.
- Buenos Aires has developed a thriving tech ecosystem with over 1,200 companies, world-class engineering talent, and a growing network of angel investors and accelerators.
- After struggling with its original delivery model, the logistics startup decided to pivot entirely to last-mile drone delivery — a bold but ultimately successful strategic pivot.
- The company secured $20 million in seed funding from a Buenos Aires-based venture capital firm before it had a single paying customer.
- Globant grew from a small Argentine software house into a global giant, reaching a valuation of several billion dollars through its scalable technology consulting model.
- MercadoLibre’s proprietary algorithm analyses millions of transactions per day to personalise product recommendations for each user across 18 countries.
- The startup moved its entire infrastructure to a cloud-based system in 2023, cutting operational costs by 40% and improving response times significantly.
- Argentina’s fintech firms have invested heavily in cybersecurity in recent years, especially after a major cybersecurity breach at a leading bank exposed the data of two million customers.
- One of the ongoing challenges for Argentine startups expanding abroad is ensuring interoperability between their platforms and the local payment systems of each new market.
- The team iterated on the app’s onboarding flow seventeen times before they were satisfied that the user experience was smooth enough to retain first-time visitors.
- The Buenos Aires-based health app struggled for two years before it finally started to gain traction among hospital administrators in the public health sector.
- A short documentary about the founder’s journey went viral in 2024, generating over five million views in 48 hours and doubling the startup’s sign-up rate.
- Argentina’s knowledge-based service exports exceeded $9.6 billion in 2025, demonstrating that a country’s tech ecosystem can become one of its most powerful economic engines.
Quick practice quiz
(disruptive / pivot / iterate)
(went viral / gained traction / became scalable)
(cybersecurity / valuation / interoperability)
(exit / iterate / pivot)
(a) unicorn status / (b) a unicorn value / (c) unicorn reach)
Answer key
Q1: pivot — “decided to pivot from… to…” is the natural construction.
Q2: went viral — a single tweet triggering massive spread is the classic “go viral” context.
Q3: cybersecurity — investor due diligence commonly examines how companies handle data protection.
Q4: iterate — iterating on a product in regular cycles is core Agile development vocabulary.
Q5: (a) unicorn status — the natural collocation is “reach unicorn status”, not “unicorn value” or “unicorn reach”.
DataReportal, Digital 2025: Argentina (internet penetration, user numbers) ·
Trade.gov Argentina Digital Economy guide ·
TechRound, “10 Unicorns from Argentina” ·
Marketing4eCommerce, “MercadoLibre: history and evolution” ·
Wilson Center, “Argentina’s Unicorns: Resilient or Endangered?” ·
AInvest, “Argentina’s Economic Turnaround and Emerging Innovation Potential” ·
BNamericas, “More Argentine firms become unicorns as tech industry shines”