🎶 “Bate forte o tambor… Eu quero tic, tic, tic, tac…” (Beat the drum loudly… I want to tick, tick, tick, tock…) 🎶

A hit from the 90´s, the song, which launched the Amazonian band Carrapicho, from Manaus, Amazonas, nationally and internationally, still wins hearts and minds. But, beyond the catchy lyrics—which catch on incredibly easily, the secret, not only to the hit, but to the musical group, was the mix. Let me explain.

Between one “tick, tick, tock” and another, melodies from forró and boi bumbá (Brazilian rhythms) were meticulously blended. And to achieve stardom, a television music video filled with images of Amazon riverside dwellers, indigenous people, large boats, canoes, and speedboats, with Rio Negro, Igapós, and Igarapés as a backdrop. In other words, guaranteed success.

Caprichoso, Garantido… Got it, huh, huh?!?

Editor’s Note I: Igapós are typical Amazonian vegetation, characterized by being perpetually flooded. And Igarapés are the narrow paths generally used by small boats, such as canoes.

But it’s not just contagious rhythms or major events, like the Parintins Festival, with the Caprichoso and Garantido bois–bumbás, that establish the 21st-century Amazon. No. Quite the opposite.

Manaus, the state capital, for example, is ready and willing to create a new mix. Only now in the wonderful world of numbers, balance sheets, and investors.

One “tic” is responsible for the “green” label, while another is responsible for the “economy.” The “tac” takes on the role of “investor,” while the other “tic” is responsible for the “entrepreneurs.” In other words, those who truly hold Amazonian knowledge in the palm of their hands.

That’s precisely where the Bioeconomy Amazon Summit (BAS) comes in, beating the drum. A bioeconomy event organized by KPTL in partnership with the United Nations (UN) Global Pact – Rede Brasil, BAS registered around 1,000 registrants and brought together approximately 150 startups from a wide range of sectors, with emphasis on Forestry, Food and Beverage, Agribusiness, Phytopharmaceuticals, Cosmetics, and, Arts and Crafts.

It was intense two days of an event now in its second edition, which ended this Thursday in Manaus, but began yesterday, July 30th, at the Vasco Vasques Convention Center.

COP 30 is the 30th UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Belém, Pará, next November. A city that BAS knows well, as the first Summit was held there between July 31 and August 1, 2024.

Editor’s Note II: BAS’s hallmark is to bring together the entire innovation ecosystem linked to the bioeconomy, from public administration to investors, startups, non-governmental organizations, environmental leaders, and the community of the Amazon region and Northern Brazil.

Very well, Renato Ramalho, but enough blah blah blah, let’s get to the facts. Because life is full of promises. So, let’s land those investment theses? Lets goooooooo!

Belterra Agroflorestas

Founded in 2020, Belterra Agroflorestas is a company focused on transforming degraded areas, especially low-productivity cattle pastures, into productive and regenerative agroforestry systems. With initial support from Fundo Vale—a socio-environmental impact initiative created and maintained by the Brazilian mining company Vale—the startup operates in two strategic biomes: the Amazon (Pará, Rondônia, and Mato Grosso) and the Atlantic Forest (Bahia). It has a portfolio of contracted rural partnerships covering 4,000 hectares of agroforestry systems, primarily related to cocoa, bananas, and cassava, distributed across various projects at various stages of implementation.

Man holding a seed. (Photo: Belterra Socioenvironmental Impact Report 2020–2024)

Belterra recently changed its business model from a vertically integrated operation to a shared services platform, focusing on structuring new agroforestry projects. “This change allows for greater scalability, risk segmentation, and participation from a variety of investor profiles,” says Valmir Ortega, founder of Belterra.

In practice, the startup structures its projects in partnership with small and medium-sized rural producers through lease or agricultural partnership agreements, in which it assumes responsibility for productive activities, from land use planning to harvesting and marketing. “Productive restoration through agroforestry systems plays a strategic role for Brazil by combining environmental recovery with productive inclusion, especially in regions marked by pasture degradation and low land use efficiency,” says Ortega.

Genera Bioeconomia

The purpose of Genera, which began operations in the first half of 2024, is very clear. With a business-to-business model, the well-known B2B, the startup operates as a green infrastructure investment platform that restores degraded areas in the Amazon, thus seeking to scale the socio-bioeconomy in the region. The company’s operations and pilot project are located at Fazenda Calema, in Rio Preto da Eva, Amazonas, an hour and 40 minutes from Manaus (it was even possible to take a quick trip to BAS 😊).

In Rio Preto da Eva, the company is building a central, vertically integrated infrastructure that includes a clonal garden with over 100 native Amazonian species, prioritizing parent stock selected for their productivity, precocity, and resistance. You read that correctly: it’s a clone.

In this process, Genera creates both tangible assets (non-timber forestry inputs) and intangible assets (high-integrity carbon credits and tree tokens), mass-produced and competitively produced.

“Ultimately, our work is to transform degraded areas in the Amazon into productive and profitable forests. We do this through an innovative business model that structures different financial instruments to enable a capital-intensive business with significant economies of scale,” says the startup’s founder.

Café Apuí

Launched by Amazônia Agroflorestal, Café Apuí is grown in shaded areas of the Amazon rainforest, producing larger, sweeter fruits compared to other coffees. In other words, a much tastier cup of coffee, got it?

She explains that, in practice, the company implements agroforestry systems (AFS) in degraded areas in southern Amazonas, where coffee is grown alongside native Amazonian trees such as ingá, cocoa, jatobá, andiroba, mahogany, and rubber trees, among others. Through a partnership with the Amazon Conservation and Sustainable Development Institute (Idesam), the company offers seedlings and planting supplies, as well as technical assistance for family farmers. “This not only guarantees high-quality coffee production with a unique flavor, but also effectively promotes forest regeneration,” says Amazônia Agroflorestal’s CEO.

It’s not just water that’s turning into hot coffee in the pot! In the last three years, the company has grown from two to 19 people on its team, partnered with Idesam, and reached 130 partner farming families. Furthermore, it has achieved the milestone of recovering over 2.5 million square meters of land through the agroforestry coffee model and preserving over 100 million square meters of native forest through the carbon credit and payment for environmental services project. What a beautiful cup of coffee, isn’t it?!?

Ages Bioactive

Now, when we think about science in the forest, we think about Ages Bioactive. Founded in 2020, the startup is the first company in the country focused on health span—wait, let me repeat it calmly so you don’t choke: it’s h-e-a-l-t-h-s-p-a-n, also known in Faria Lima and in the best Brazilian families as “healthy lifespan.”

So, Ages‘ idea is to help people—including you—better cope with the passage of time, maintaining quality of life for many, many years. To this end, the startup produces natural bioactive compounds that come from the Amazon biome. These compounds help prevent problems arising from declining health.

The company’s pharmaceutical laboratory is located in Amapá, where about 60 researchers work. The rest are located in São Paulo (SP), in the Inova District, the innovation hub of the Hospital das Clínicas (HC).

But for all this to work under the microscope, the Amazon must, needs, demands—choose the verb—be preserved. “The Amazon biome is incredibly rich for the generation of new pharmaceuticals,” says Tavares, noting that strengthening the bioeconomy chain is essential. “We must think of the Amazon as a hotbed of opportunities for the generation of new pharmaceuticals,” he emphasizes.

Energy and Sustainability

The energy transition is urgent in the fight to curb climate change, putting the economy on the path to sustainability and low carbon. And how does Brazil appear in this picture? Well, we have the conditions to do well. Sun, wind, water, and agricultural land, for example… We have it all, explains Alfredo Renault, Director of the Center for Low Carbon Solutions at Coppe/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

The energy transition poses many technological challenges. Not only for the development of new processes, but also for the pursuit of the economic viability of already controlled processes.

The electrification of industrial sectors known as hard-to-abate—who?!?—along with the use of green hydrogen in some sectors and the circular economy, is a path already underway. “But these sectors will likely need to introduce carbon capture processes to achieve their decarbonization goals,” says Renault. “In transportation, we have several paths being implemented: hydrogen, biofuels, electrification, hybrid systems. We are, in most cases, at the stage of incremental advances in known technologies.”

Editor’s Note III: Hard-to-abate refers to sectors that are difficult to decarbonize. This term is used primarily in the context of climate change and energy transition. It refers to industrial and economic sectors in which it is especially difficult to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the nature of their production processes, technological limitations, or high costs.

On this journey, the balance between development and the environment is a constant challenge for the country. And that’s where the going gets tough… Because while technology, dialogue, technical environmental agencies, and democracy are necessary premises in the pursuit of this balance, real life shows that not everything are roses. “The polarized phase we’re experiencing, which includes this topic, hinders rational discussion, bringing negative consequences to the search for balance,” analyzes Alfredo Renault.

Jornada Amazônia

In the bioeconomy ecosystem, being connected is imperative. But it needs to be built. This is what Jornada Amazônia, a project led by Fundação Certi, does.

Created in 2018, the initiative fosters startups with a socio-environmental impact in the nine states of the Legal Amazon. And, of course, businesses that keep the forest standing.

The initiative’s entrepreneurship development front operates through four main programs, which offer support at all stages of an entrepreneurial journey: from fostering the culture of starting a business in the region through the Gênese program; to the origination of new operations with the Sinapse da Bioeconomia (Bioeconomy Synapse) program (SinapseBio); to strengthening startups with the Sinergia program; and to developing and preparing for investments with Sinergia Investimentos. By 2025, the project aims to achieve significant growth. Namely:

● More than 3,000 talents trained through the Genesis Program, which fosters a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation;

● Approximately 200 new businesses originated by Sinapse da Bioeconomia (Bioeconomy Synapse), a pre-incubation program that seeks to foster the creation of new impactful businesses focused on the bioeconomy and forest competitiveness;

● 100 advanced-stage startups qualified by Sinergia, a program that corresponds to the development stage and focuses on business competitiveness, promoting support and high-value connections with technology partners, large companies, and investors;

● 30 startups accelerated by Sinergia Investimentos, a program focused on attracting investment and combining an investment mechanism with business acceleration.

“All of these initiatives mentioned in this edition require technology in some way. And I’m talking about hardware, software, laboratories, and, above all, human capital. This is the role of Venture Capital, this is the role of KPTL: to invest in technology-based companies that meet the demands of these initiatives. Because only then, with ever-increasing technology, will we accelerate the climate agenda, reducing costs and providing the necessary scale,” says Ramalho.

Without a doubt, developing businesses in the Amazon region is a journey. A path of faith in humanity. In science. But fundamentally in the forest. Because knowledge emanates from there. And it needs to be alive. Standing tall!

“Nature has no copies. Preserve the original!”

Iasmin Boaventura Pedrozo

3 Questions for…

Denis Minev

An economist with a degree from Stanford University, he is the CEO of Bemol, the largest retailer in the Western Amazon, an investor in funds and startups, and a special envoy for the Amazon private sector at COP-30 in Belém.

Denis Minev, economist and CEO of Bemol. (Photo: Courtesy)

1) With a complex geopolitical environment, what are your expectations for COP-30? What can we expect from the conference?

I hope the conditions are created for sustainable activities to become the best choice for entrepreneurs in the Amazon. Currently, for a number of reasons ranging from financing to regulation, from knowledge to carbon pricing, it is not the best choice. And this has socioeconomic and environmental consequences.

2) What is the role of innovation – whether technological, financial, or management – in the development of the bioeconomy, especially in the Amazon?

For some, the bioeconomy is linked to primitive extraction. No society has prospered this way, and we will not be the first. In fact, through voting, I believe that the majority of Amazonians reject such models. The bioeconomy needs to be cross-pollinated with the productivity that comes from technological development, science, and innovation. Soy is productive – if we want the bioeconomy to be more attractive, it must be more productive than the alternatives. It is possible.

3) As a businessperson operating in the Amazon, you experience the region’s challenges and opportunities daily. How can companies operating in the Amazon, or aspiring to operate in the region, be key players in building this economy that keeps the forest standing and generates prosperity?

This economy is currently small and fragile. It’s no wonder we have the worst social indicators and environmental degradation. Solutions must be found, primarily linked to the knowledge economy. To do this, it’s important to understand the region’s problems, its strengths, and opportunities. For example, many companies purchase Amazonian inputs but do little to develop human capital there. The Amazon can, for example, be a supplier of skilled labor in various segments that we can operate remotely, including IT. But to understand and execute, it’s necessary to connect with local institutions. There’s a wealth of partially developed talent.