Sustainable Soy In The Cerrado Program announces winners for its Startup Finance Facility
Four startups will receive support to develop projects
Photo: AIBA’s collection
Bioflore, Green Bonds Brasil, Sintrópica Capital Natural, and Regrow are the four startups selected in the 4th cycle of the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program (PSSC) – a partnership between AgTech Garage, part of the PwC network, and the Land Innovation Fund, with strategic support from EMBRAPII and CPQD. They will be funded by the Startup Finance Facility (SFF), a unique initiative to manage and promote innovative solutions for a deforestation and conversion-free soy supply chain. The projects complement seven others selected in previous PSSC cycles to catalyze the design, development, and delivery of innovative solutions bringing intelligence, security, and sustainability to the Cerrado's soybean chain. In this cycle, in addition to SFF resources, Green Bonds Brazil and Sintrópica Capital Natural will also receive technical and financial support from the Center for Research and Development in Telecommunications (CPQD), as well as participation by Embrapii and Sebrae, to develop their solutions.
The startups were selected for SFF funding with proposals in monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of projects to generate carbon credits (Regrow), to create a chain of custody for carbon credits and environmental assets (Green Bonds Brazil), remote analysis of Cerrado soil physiognomy and credit through green CPR bonds (Sintrópica), and monitoring of carbon and floristic diversity in native vegetation (Bioflore). With the Startup Finance Facility's contribution of up to US$50,000 per project, these companies will enable innovative ideas for sustainable agribusiness ventures. "With the SFF, we offer startups a chance to fund groundbreaking projects, actions and initiatives for responsible agricultural development, stimulating the emergence of a whole portfolio of innovative and sustainable solutions for the market," explains Carlos E. Quintela, director of the Land Innovation Fund.
As one of the PSSC's strategic partners, together with EMBRAPII, the CPQD’s expertise in the Sustainable Soy Program identifies potential synergies among entrepreneurs, researchers, and the technology market. CPQD's technical and financial support for the PSSC comes through Match Connect AgTech ESG, an initiative by the research center and AgTech Garage to enhance conditions for developing minimum viable products (MVPs) by entrepreneurs whose solutions combine innovation and sustainability for agribusiness. The two startups selected by the institution – Sintrópica (through a formal contract) and Green Bonds Brasil – will have technological assets, human resources, and infrastructure supplied by CPQD, as well as extra financial support from EMBRAPII (of which CPQD is an accredited unit) and SEBRAE to implement their solutions.
"Strategic support from EMBRAPII and CPQD is another advantage of the PSSC. With its 360-degree scope, the program offers connections to the market, mentors, academics, experts, and farmers. This unprecedented intersection of modules – from For Farmers to the Cerrado Fellowship – along with funding by the Startup Finance Facility and the CPQD and EMBRAPII’s technical and financial support, puts Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado at the frontier of innovation in this entrepreneurial ecosystem," says José Tomé, CEO of AgTech Garage, and a PwC Brazil partner.
For CPQD, the PSSC underscores the importance of innovation to foster sustainable solutions for Brazilian agribusiness, while encouraging an exchange of knowledge among key players in the agricultural sector. "It was in this context that we held the Match Connect Agtech ESG, an open innovation initiative aimed directly at fast-tracking a portfolio of startups whose focus is socio-environmental sustainability for agribusiness, based on digital technologies," says Fabrício Lira Figueiredo, Business Development Manager in Smart Agribusiness at CPQD.
Startup Finance Facility resources are available for Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program (PSSC) participants seeking to remove barriers to innovation and new ideas for sustainable agribusiness. Startups can apply individually or in partnership with other Program participants for selection by a Technical Committee. Among the criteria considered are alignment with the PSSC program; the service or product’s innovative potential; the initiative's economic and financial viability; the composition, role, and relevance of each startup in the project (if more than one is involved); the proposal's technical knowledge and quality, among others. New partners can join the Startup Finance Facility by contributing technical and financial resources to the project and participating in the process of selecting new innovation solutions for the program.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SELECTED PROJECTS:
MRV on carbon balance and GHGs in the Cerrado, Regrow: The startup intends to develop a measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) model for farming conditions in the Brazilian Cerrado with support from ESALQ-USP, and farmers' contributions from the For Farmers Program and researchers at the Cerrado Fellowship Program. Regrow's proposal is to adapt and calibrate its DNDC (DeNitrification-DeComposition) model, which is used exclusively by the company in other biomes and crop scenarios abroad, to tropical soil, climate, and soy production conditions, focusing on the Matopiba and Mato Grosso regions.
To do so, the company intends to select 30 farms, in an area of about 30,000 hectares in the Brazilian Cerrado, to adopt sustainable, low-carbon agriculture techniques. The startup sees the SFF contribution bringing visibility and reach to the project: "Participating in the PSSC, and now in the SFF, is a watershed for Regrow in Latin America. The startup, founded in 2016 and now with more than 100 employees, is facing the great challenge of scaling up a new product in this region. Without the PSSC, it would be much more difficult to move forward," says Renato Rodrigues, Regrow's Region Leader for Latin America.
FloreViewer for the Cerrado, Bioflore: The startup Bioflore's project is to monitor carbon stock and the diversity of tree species in large areas, remotely, quickly, and accurately, on a digital platform that shares data interactively and with periodic updates, through artificial intelligence and remote sensing. The solution is structured in four stages – data collection in the field; organization and processing of information; generation of carbon and floristic diversity models; and hosting of results and models on the FloreViewer platform – allowing access, in simple and intuitive language, to measurements of carbon and biodiversity in forest conservation and restoration actions. As a finalist of the Conexões Onda Verde initiative, sponsored by Climate Ventures with support from the Land Innovation Fund, Bioflore will invest part of the prize it received to develop this solution for the PSSC. "I have no doubt that the PSSC has been a milestone for Bioflore. Throughout the program, we had the opportunity to connect and create partnerships with other startups, mature our business model, talk with farmers, expand our knowledge of the market, and receive financial support to develop a highly innovative project focused on conserving the Cerrado", says the startup's CEO, Heitor Filpi.
Chain of Custody for Carbon Credits and Environmental Assets, Green Bonds Brazil: This fintech intends to stimulate sustainable soy production in the Cerrado and increase forest stocks by creating a chain of custody for the grain in the region – from certification of origin to the traceability of the entire production chain, up to the sale of carbon credits in the voluntary market – ensuring that the product contains no contamination from dubious or illegal sourcing throughout the process.
The proposal is to create a chain of custody of environmental assets, using blockchain technology and decentralized digital identity. CPQD's strategic support enables the use of its own "Trace" technology and the CPQD ID platform to enable development of this solution. "The idea is to link the carbon credit to physical assets in the stock of native vegetation, with georeferencing and traceability," says Edson Toledo, forestry engineer and founding partner of Green Bonds.
Artificial Intelligence to generate green Rural-Product Bonds (CPRs), Sintrópica Capital Natural: With end-to-end solutions in payments for environmental services (PES), Sintrópica Capital Natural structures sustainable rural credit chains and enables resources for farmers and rural cooperatives to invest in sustainable management actions, conservation, and restoration of farms, generating income and benefits in ecosystem services.
Sintrópica's proposal is to use spatial intelligence to identify areas with low suitability for agriculture and a high potential for restoration on soy farms which need to be brought in line with the Forest Code in the Cerrado biome, in the state of São Paulo. CPQD's support will ensure the technology needed to develop the geoportal for registry data and environmental monitoring, a major component of Sintrópica's project. "We will be able to test our MVP with improvements to the geoportal, boosting the value of producers who adopt sustainable practices on their farms," says Fernando Sousa, Sintropica's founder.
THE SUSTAINABLE SOY IN THE CERRADO PROGRAM:
In its two years of existence, the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program has received applications from 200 startups and selected 21 for its portfolio of green businesses, with innovative solutions for responsible agriculture. Throughout the four cycles, the program has expanded the sharing of experiences and of technical-scientific support to build integrated solutions for today's agricultural sustainability agenda.
In addition to mentoring, connections with executives, exchange of experiences with entrepreneurs, thematic classes through the Experience Days, and technical-scientific support from a team of researchers at the Cerrado Fellowship, the startups in the portfolio can also connect directly with ten farmers selected into the For Farmers Program and apply for grants of up to US$50,000 to develop their initiatives through the Startup Finance Facility. Strategic support from CPQD and EMBRAPII also adds value to the program and reinforces our efforts to build an innovation landscape for sustainability in Brazil.