#Sementis: 9 news deals, investments in H1 2024, events and more

#16 - June in LATAM - Sementis

Jul 06, 2024

Holaaaa, Oláaaaa, Helloooo

What a month, captain!

So much happened in June that it almost didn't fit in the newsletter.

And wow, we’re already in half of the year. Don’t worry, you still have 6 months of opportunity to make your dreams come true this year.

In this edition, I’ll present how investments in agfood tech performed in the first half of the year, a wrap-up of the main international events in Brazil, new startup deals and much more!

I would like to remind you that the purpose of this newsletter is to show the world the full potential of ag, food and climate tech in Latin America.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own and don’t necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities I represent.

Let's go!

Topics we will cover:

🤝 New Startups Deals
🌱 Ag
🍇 Food
🌤️ Climate
💡 General News
👩🏻‍💻 Publications
🗓️ Events
💼 Job Openings
💬 Quote of the Month
👀 Before you go…

Startup Deals

General:

Highlights:

AgFunderNews - Agrifoodtech funding drops 12.5% YoY in H1 2024

“Agrifoodtech startups have raised $7 billion across 427 deals so far in 2024, according to preliminary data from AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder. This is down in both dollar amount and deal count compared to H1 2023, which saw $8 billion across 934 deals”.

Despite the drop, I don't think these figures are scary. Although the pace is slowing in Europe and the United States, there is a maturing of investments in Latin America, reflected in very strategic rounds of VCs and CVCs.

World Agri-Tech South America Summit

At the World Agri-Tech South America Summit, which took place in the capital of São Paulo on June 18 and 19, the event opened with a constructive provocation between the roles of the public and private sectors in unlocking innovation. The opening panel featured the following panelists:

Moderator: Renata Miranda, Secretary for Innovation, Sustainable Development, Irrigation and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture
Fabiana Alves, CEO Brazil and GM South America, Rabobank
Marcio Santos, CEO Brazil, Bayer
Michel Roy, Head of North Latin America, Louis Dreyfus Company
Edison Ticle, CFO, Minerva Foods

Unlike many panels that involve the two spheres at other events, there was no politicking, but rather a constructive discussion between the panelists, making clear the need for each and the importance of collaboration for important changes to problems that directly impact the sector, such as traceability and combating illegal deforestation.

I believe that this uplifting provocation that took place throughout the panel was the highlight of the event in terms of content, because the constructive criticism was pointed out with argument and diplomacy.

Even starting with the moderator. Renata opened the South American edition of the event by highlighting, in English, the importance of using innovation to break through and overcome the great paradoxes we have today in the region's food chain, such as:

Having superpowers in the global production of food available in the world, but facing high rates of hunger and structural poverty;

Having a strong agribusiness sector, but also low technification and high levels of functional illiteracy;

Being one of the world's leading food exporters, but facing frequent economic crises and currency devaluation.

Renata questioned why major powers in agrarian economies don't break out of this duality. And that the region needs to assume the geopolitical power that food brings.

"And that's why we have to speak in Portuguese," she argued in the local language of the event: Portuguese. As a constructive provocation, and breaking with the organization's protocol, which prioritizes panels being given in English, he argued politely, politely and with the courage to put into practice, in an analogous way, the stance that the region needs to take in terms of geopolitics. This is also innovation.

The panel continued in Portuguese and all the participants raised geopolitical problems, traceability and the importance of solving problems related to sustainability.

Fabiana (Rabobank) pointed out that illegal deforestation damages the country's image, shadows our efforts in innovation, sustainability and the whole positive agenda.

Edison (Minerva) reported on the pressure the industry faces from the financial market, importing countries and civil society in relation to traceability to combat illegal deforestation. However, he questioned the government for not giving access to GTAs, which would allow indirect suppliers to be traced, which is the meat industry's biggest difficulty in monitoring that these producers comply with socio-environmental legislation.

The company is partnering with universities and startups to use technologies such as georeferencing to monitor cattle. However, as these are indirect suppliers, it takes longer. And if the Ministry of Agriculture were to end this "information monopoly", it would be possible to achieve 100% traceability.

Event Main Topics:

In summary, the themes that were most mentioned at the events, in my perception, were: traceability (present in almost all the event panels), regenerative agriculture, carbon (with a little less focus compared to events in previous years), A.I. (increasingly focused on decision-making), inclusion of small and medium-sized producers and concern about the climate.

Event Highlights:

The event was great for meeting corporate innovation professionals and making new connections.

Also for Rural Ventures, I interviewed key players on the subject as our reader Mirella Lisboa, leader of BASF's Agribusiness open innovation ecosystem (AgroStart LatAm): watch the interview (Portuguese only).

Global Agribusiness Festival - GAFFFF

GAFFFF really was a huge event! Two intense days of lots of content and connections about technology in agriculture.

For Rural Ventures, we curated the agritechs for the startup space, which featured more than 50 startups, hubs and technology solutions companies. And at our stand, we had a studio where we recorded 7 podcast episodes on the spot with executives from the sector.

I was very happy to meet so many Sementis readers at the event! Thank you for your kindness!