The Nature Investment Lab (NIL) has selected five companies from the 86 that applied to the public call for Nature-based Solutions businesses held earlier this year: Caaporã, Camocim Organic, INOCAS, Radix Florestal, and S.Oleum. Collectively seeking over US$73 million for their operations, they will receive comprehensive technical assistance in financing structuring. The goal is to empower them to attract the necessary investments and enable their projects, which are focused on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and are expected to benefit 15,000 families, remove 540 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and restore more than 126,000 hectares of vegetation by 2030.
Following a rigorous analysis process that included stages with 19 semi-finalist companies and ten finalists, the five selected stood out for their transformative potential. All operate in crucial segments with a focus on NbS, such as native vegetation restoration, bioeconomy (excluding monocultures), and regenerative agriculture.
“The Nature Investment Lab is an innovation lab focused on creating financial solutions for the market. With these five companies, and the joint potential of over US$73 million in investments, we are developing and validating innovative financing models with the potential to unlock the NbS market in Brazil. The objective is for these solutions to be scalable and replicable to boost the entire sector,” says Daniel Contrucci, Co-CEO of Climate Ventures.
The work with the companies will be divided into stages, with a planned duration until October. The first stage, planning, has already begun: it involves creating a plan and timeline for each phase. This will be followed by a diagnostic phase (business model, cash flow profile, main risks, investments, demands, and challenges to enable financing, in addition to the elaboration of the final version of the work plan and timeline), the design of solutions (discussion of possible solutions and financing instruments, formatting of ideal structures, and mapping of potential partners), and preparation for fundraising (elaboration or revision of the financial model, mapping of potential investors, and planning of the roadshow). Some of their stories will be transformed into case studies for presentation at COP30, in Belém, in November. The public call was carried out with the support of Pipe.Social, a socio-environmental impact business platform in Brazil.
Learn more about the selected companies:
Caaporã: An innovative model of low-carbon intensive livestock farming in silvopastoral systems, with enormous potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, serving as a possible reference model to be adopted in Brazil. It has farms in Tocantins, Bahia, and Mato Grosso.
Camocim Organic: The first specialty coffee farm and company in Brazil to obtain the Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC), with a commitment to preserving an ecological corridor of the Atlantic Forest. It is located in Pedra Azul, in Espírito Santo.
INOCAS: A pioneer in the development of the macauba production chain. INOCAS represents a sustainable alternative to soy and palm oil, leveraging the macauba chain to serve the biofuel, food and feed, cosmetics, and oleochemical markets. It operates in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Pará.
Radix Florestal: A pioneering startup in the democratization of forestry investments, Radix stands out for its innovative model of productive restoration on degraded lands in the Amazon, combining biodiverse silviculture with green finance. Through technology, financial structuring, and integration with local communities, it transforms unproductive areas into resilient forests, capable of generating predictable financial returns and positive, measurable, and scalable socio-environmental impact.
S.Oleum: S.Oleum is a Brazilian company dedicated to the development of biotechnologies and agro-industrial technologies for the domestication, cultivation, and industrialization of macauba. Its purpose is to produce sustainable and low-carbon raw materials on a large scale, contributing to the decarbonization of essential production chains such as food, chemicals, heavy transport, and energy.
About the Nature Investment Lab (NIL)
The Nature Investment Lab is a collaborative initiative led by the private sector, created to overcome legal and financial challenges, develop replicable business models, and create innovative financial structures for sustainable projects in Brazil. Its Strategic Committee includes institutions such as Banco do Brasil, BNDES, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), the Institute for Climate and Society (iCS), and the Itaúsa Institute. Climate Ventures serves as the secretariat, and Impacta – Sustainable Finance is the technical partner of the initiative.