Eight months after launching, Lotería Móvil has moved from a bold experiment to one of Puerto Rico’s fastest-growing tech startups.
The young company, founded by engineer Karlos Miranda and sociologist Julián Soto, has already processed more than a quarter million dollars in lottery plays and awarded over $112,000 in prizes, raised millions in private capital, and is preparing for a major expansion: a new research and development hub in Mayagüez, powered by engineering talent from the University of Puerto Rico.
This week, the founders will flip the switch on their first proprietary digital game, marking the company’s evolution from a lottery courier to a Puerto Rican gaming technology creator.
For Miranda and Soto, the milestone is a sign of things to come.
“We are a hyper-growth company, and we move super fast,” Miranda told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS in an exclusive interview. “In less than three months, we developed it. In less than five months, we had already raised” a significant undisclosed amount of capital.
With so much achieved since the app’s launch, they hope to become the first Puerto Rican unicorn, a privately held startup company with a valuation exceeding $1 billion.
The idea behind Lotería Móvil emerged from a simple observation: Puerto Rico is among the top U.S. jurisdictions for per capita lottery play, yet the experience remained stubbornly analog. To participate in the electronic lottery, including Powerball, Pega 3, and Pega 4, participants still needed to play the old-fashioned way..
“You have to have a physical ticket, go to a physical location in order to participate in the draw,” Soto explained. The founders saw an opportunity to modernize the experience without disrupting the cultural familiarity of the games.
Their solution: a mobile app, natively designed in Spanish, that mirrors the visual cues Puerto Ricans associate with lottery play, including the iconic orange Powerball panel found at gas stations. “A tailor-made solution was needed for Boricuas,” Miranda said.
The app allows users to deposit funds into a digital wallet, purchase electronic lottery tickets, and receive winnings automatically. More than $128,000 in prizes have already been deposited directly into users’ accounts. “They just got up, and it was already deposited.” Soto said.
One of the most striking findings from the company’s early data is the demographic spread. More than half of users are between 25 and 35, but the platform also attracts older players who traditionally relied on in-person vendors.
“We have people from all sectors, from all industries. This is a cultural game,” Miranda said.
The founders also discovered that Puerto Ricans overwhelmingly prefer the daily Pega games over Powerball.
“Puerto Ricans really like pegas. There is a lottery every day,” he noted. The app’s convenience has allowed professionals, often at work during daytime cutoffs, to participate in games they previously missed.
Retention is high, with superusers reportedly returning dozens of times. The reason, they say, is simple: “The ease of using the app. It is the key to retention.”
Despite Puerto Rico’s reputation for bureaucratic hurdles, the founders report a smooth regulatory process. As licensed couriers under the electronic lottery law, they met early with the agency’s leadership.
“We met with their executive director and she loved the excitement,” Soto said. The government saw the platform as a way to expand lottery participation, and therefore revenue, without altering the underlying system.
They also secured the Act 60 Young Entrepreneurs decree and worked closely with the Department of Economic Development. “The experience was very smooth. They welcomed us with open arms,” he added.
Five months after launch, Lotería Móvil closed its first private capital round, a multimillion-dollar raise that enabled the founders to relocate to Puerto Rico and begin building the long-term technology infrastructure.
From Aibonito to Mayagüez to the world
Their next step is a Research & Development office in Mayagüez, staffed by engineers from UPRM. The founders, both alumni of Puerto Rico’s public education system, see the west coast as the island’s untapped Silicon Valley.
“Mayagüez must be cultivated. Our talent is of a global caliber,” Miranda assured. “There’s nothing we can’t do from there.”
The new office will focus on automation, software development, hardware prototyping, and scaling the company’s systems to support higher volume and new products.
Operations will continue in Aibonito, where the company currently manages logistics and customer service.
This week, Lotería Móvil will launch its first proprietary digital game, a milestone that marks a shift from a facilitator of lottery play to a creator of a gaming experience.
The founders declined to disclose details but confirmed it is a number-based game with cash prizes funded directly by the company. “This is unique to us. We had to deal with a different kind of compliance,” Miranda said.
The founders envision Lotería Móvil becoming the standard method of playing lottery in Puerto Rico and a platform with export potential. “Five years from now we’re going to be the preferred method, the standard,” Miranda envisions.
They also see opportunities beyond lottery, including medical software, digital entertainment, and fintech products tailored to Puerto Rican consumers.
Their long-term goal: to build Puerto Rico’s first billion-dollar startup. With millions raised, thousands of users, and a new R&D hub in the works, Lotería Móvil is betting Puerto Rican innovation and a dose of luck can get it done, scaling far beyond the island’s shores.
