RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Founded in Bolivia more than a decade ago, Digital Farms, a precision agriculture agritech, will intensify its operations in Brazil, its founder Rafael Ghirelli Hungaro’s country of origin. Last year, the company monitored 70,000 hectares of land in Bolivia and 30,000 in Brazil.
Digital Farms is one of the examples of Latin American agribusiness startups that, with consistent trajectories in their countries of origin, have made Brazil one of their expansion platforms. Not infrequently, the Brazilian market has become the focus of growth for these companies.
Hungaro made the decision to expand operations in Brazil after setting up a consulting firm, a supplies store, and creating Digital Farms in the neighboring country. “Bolivia has 1.5 million hectares with the main agricultural crops and is expanding areas on the border with Brazilian Mato Grosso state. But despite all this, it is still a small market if compared to Brazil,” he says.
Digital Farms accounts for 10% of Hungaro Capital holding’s revenues of R$18.5 million in 2020. The agritech has developed its own methodology for soil collection – which, based on satellite image analysis, divides the client’s areas into irregular plots.
With this information, it generates fertility maps and recommendations for the application of correctives and fertilizers specific to each area. The solution has been marketed by its own team and also via resellers both in Brazil and Bolivia.
Argentine Eiwa has also turned to Brazil in its growth strategy. The startup, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to monitor seed and pesticide research trials for multinational companies, debuted in the Brazilian market in 2016, two years after it was created.
Today, Brazil already accounts for 30% of its revenue, behind only the United States (50%) and ahead of Argentina (20%). In all, there are about 2 million digitally monitored lands, according to Giovanni Arduini, who coordinates the operations in Brazil of the AgTech Garage innovation center in Piracicaba (SP) since 2019.
Besides size, the maturity of the Brazilian market is another attraction for agribusiness startups from neighboring countries. Matías Badano, director of Nanotica Agro, of nanotechnology inputs, says that the capacity of Brazilian producers to absorb new technologies and the technical framework available in the country were decisive for the planned arrival in 2020.
“At the moment, we are about to close a partnership deal and open a local joint-venture to produce, distribute, and commercialize our products, besides developing new ones,” he says.
For Franco Basaldella, CEO of Rubikia, which offers solutions for commodity buying and selling operations, entering Brazil in 2021 will be a big leap for the company, which initially launched its product in the Argentine commodity and capital market, six times smaller than the Brazilian one. “Now we consider ourselves ready to enter a higher volume and more professional market,” he says.
ZoomAgri, which operates in the seed quality analysis segment, highlights Brazil as a target for its growth, although it already operates in 14 Latin American countries, in addition to Europe and Asia. Last year, the startup installed its first equipment at clients in Guarapuava (PR) and Passo Fundo (RS).
“Brazil is a very complex market, besides being large for our industry, given the distances involved and climate issues, but one that we can’t stay out of,” says Fernando Martinez de Hoz, cofounder of ZoomAgri. Since 2018, the company has received US$3.4 million in investments, including from accelerator Global Managers and family offices.
The entry of Latin American agtechs into the Brazilian market usually gets a little easier when their home country borders Brazil. With operations in the South Region since 2018 and partner of the gaucho agtech ConnectFarm, Auravant considered only this year to set up an office in the country.
The platform monitors crops using satellite and drone images and makes agronomic recommendations. The startup has 17 thousand users in over 60 countries and monitors 6 million hectares, says Fernando Calo, Auravant’s marketing director.
Source: Valor