Brazilian agtech boom produces 1.125 start-ups

Initiated by Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), SP Ventures and Homo Ludens, the detailed research points out the number of agtech start-ups in Brazil has more than tripled in just 1 year.

Major technical leaps forward

In the opinion of Cleber Soares, director of Innovation and Technology of Embrapa, agtech’s task is to “allow Brazilian agriculture to achieve further major technical leaps forward to be increasingly productive, efficient, sustainable and resilient in order to face the world´s scale challenge of providing farm products”.

“There are numerous opportunities for a rising entrepreneurial class in Brazil, which has a great capacity to mobilise talent. There is no better place to experience agtech’s vibe than the Brazilian agricultural environment”, says Soares.

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Factors that contribute to the agtech boom

Several factors have contributed to this agtech boom. Firstly, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations forecasts that the world demand for food between 2010 and 2050 will increase by 70% and this trend is already reflecting on international trade.

Secondly, Brazil is a “natural” provider of agricultural goods because of its large resources and its climate, and, moreover, its farming know-how . As a consequence, despite the instable domestic economy, Brazil´s agribusiness sector is keeping a “Chinese pace” of growing since the 1970´s.

Finally, Brazilian agribusiness is attracting special attention from entrepreneurs, researchers, investors and agtech companies aiming to make a digital transformation towards the future.

The “Radar” study helps to understand at what level agtech currently is in the country and which solutions it has provided. According to Francisco Jardim, director of SP Ventures, the main goal “is to join efforts for the sector’s development and support businesses with high potential solutions”.

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Luiz Sakuda (Homo Ludens) says Brazil is one of the main agtech markets. – Photo: Magda Cruciol (Embrapa)

Investments

For example, agtech start-ups received US$ 80 million in investments in 2018, against US$ 20 million in 2017. “The venture capital industry’s duty is not just to foster business, but to boost great leaps of humanity. The current context allows, for the first time, one of these transformations to have Brazil and its agriculture as epicentres”, says Cleber Soares.

According to Luiz Sakuda, founder of Homo Ludens Research and Consulting, the study shows Brazil as one of the main agtech markets in the world. In accordance with the AgFunder 2019 report, the others are the United States, China and India.

“Given the great representativeness and potential of the Brazilian agricultural sector, the market for technological solutions for agribusiness is very promising, throughout all stages of the chain”, says Sakuda.