Seven Startups Were Selected to Join Innovation for Ecosystem Restoration: LatAm 2023

Mexico City, (June 20, 2023)  – Village Capital, with support from Moody’s, announced that seven startups from LatAm have been selected to take part in Innovation for Ecosystem Restoration: LatAm 2023.

The open call focused on startups creating and expanding access to solutions around: land degradation, efficient waste management, and sustainable fisheries and forestry management, among others. 

Startups from 13 different countries applied to be a part of the accelerator. The final cohort is composed of seven startups from five countries, with 57% of the cohort headquartered outside of LatAm’s tech hubs, 57% led by a female founder or C-suite member. Over 30% of the applications we received were from startups focusing on Rewilding solutions, followed by Landscape Restoration.

Here are the seven selected startups contributing to ecosystem restoration in the region:

• Abonos Terrasur (Lima, Peru) sells and distributes processed laying hen manure, an animal waste-based fertilizer used to grow organic crops and regenerate the structure of the soils.
• ATLAS Florestal (Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil) plans, models, implements, and monitors productive forests, with a multidisciplinary technical council capable of developing regenerative and personalized actions. 
• Carbonof (Mexico City, Mexico) finances and develops projects in order to capture the value of local communities’ forest and mangrove restoration through carbon offsets generation. 
• Nativas (Rosario, Argentina) promotes ecosystem regeneration projects to heal the land, air, and water by developing a technological platform based on Blockchain that allows to assess regeneration’s benefits, as well as provide traceability and transparency to companies’ carbon and water compensation.
• Nucleário (Copacabana, Brazil) improves the tree planting and monitoring process through products that optimize seedling growth with minimal maintenance in the field. 
• PlantVerd Serviços Florestais (Indaiatuba, Brazil) recovers degraded areas by seeking efficiency through new technologies and recovering ecosystems and people. 
• RIO AZUL OPIA SAS (Salto, Uruguay) creates sustainable and accessible solutions to reduce the impact of water pollution. They design and build engineering systems to treat water waste in a sustainable way, by addressing environmental and sanitary issues in Latin America. 

Between June and July 2023, the selected startups will participate in three online workshops and will receive mentorship from potential strategic partners, investors, customers, and other founders in LatAm.

All selected startups will be invited to join Abaca, Village Capital’s online global network that helps entrepreneurs articulate how ready they are for investment or their next big expansion. The network provides a diagnostic tool and then matches them with relevant investors and resources. 

For more information, contact Sofía Cándano at Village Capital (sofia.candano@vilcap.com).

About Village Capital

Village Capital is reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Known for its groundbreaking approaches to supporting founders who are building solutions to emergent social, economic, and environmental challenges, VilCap unlocks critical social and financial capital for early-stage companies to maximize business and impact growth.
Village Capital has operated in Latin America since 2015 by running over 16 accelerator programs involving more than 19 countries in the region including Bolivia, Guatemala, and Paraguay. VilCap has supported more than 170 locally-based startups working in sectors such as economic mobility, financial health, and sustainable agriculture. Learn more at www.vilcap.com and follow @vilcap_latam.  

About Moody's Corporation

Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) is a global integrated risk assessment firm that empowers organizations to make better decisions. Its data, analytical solutions and insights help decision-makers identify opportunities and manage the risks of doing business with others. We believe that greater transparency, more informed decisions, and fair access to information open the door to shared progress. With approximately 14,000 employees in more than 40 countries, Moody’s combines international presence with local expertise and over a century of experience in financial markets. Learn more at moodys.com/about.