Federico Malek, entrepreneur and founder of Groupon Argentina, Avenida.com, and current CEO of iúnigo.com, was born on August 5, 1985, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
During high school, he showed a strong interest in finance and the first wave of internet ventures in Argentina and Latin America, such as Patagon.com, MercadoLibre, Despegar, InvertirOnline, and Derremate.com, among others.
After finishing high school, Malek studied Economics at Universidad de San Andrés in Buenos Aires, graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors. He immediately began working at IB Partners, an investment bank based in Santiago, Chile, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions. He actively participated in transactions across Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia, advising companies in the pharmaceutical and retail sectors.
In 2009, Malek received a scholarship from the Bunge and Born Foundation of Argentina to attend a Global Entrepreneurship program at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. During his time in the U.S., he encountered the Groupon business model and was inspired to launch a similar company back in Argentina.
Upon returning to Buenos Aires, he co-founded Walooz.com with Alan Kraus and two other partners. The startup was quickly acquired by Groupon Inc., making Malek CEO of Groupon Argentina and later Managing Director for the Southern Cone. Under his leadership, the company grew from its early stages to a team of over 300 people with six offices across three countries.
After Groupon: Avenida.com and iúnigo
Following Groupon’s regional success, Malek co-founded Avenida.com with Kraus—an integrated e-commerce platform that managed the customer experience from end to end. The venture attracted significant investment from global firms such as Tiger Global (investors in Despegar.com) and Naspers (investors in OLX). In 2016, Avenida.com underwent a restructuring and was eventually sold to a consortium of local entrepreneurs.
Currently, Federico Malek serves as CEO of iúnigo.com, an insurance startup aiming to revolutionize the industry in Argentina and Latin America through digital innovation and user-centric design.
Malek has been recognized as an Endeavor Entrepreneur since 2015 and was named one of Forbes’ most promising young entrepreneurs. In 2016, EY nominated him as Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.
Alongside Andy Freire and Santiago Bilinkis, Federico Malek is considered one of the leading figures in South America’s online entrepreneurial ecosystem.