Biodegradable plastics made from invasive sargassum. Seaweed-based biofibers to decarbonize global fashion. Water-insulated panels and nature-based construction materials.
Women-led companies from Mexico to Chile and Brazil are leveraging Latin America’s natural resources – and scientific know-how – to decarbonize supply chains for textiles, plastics, construction and other industries.
“We intend to revolutionize the plastics industry,” said Andrea Bonilla, the Mérida, Mexico-based founder of BioPlaster Research, which converts sargassum seaweed into biodegradable packaging. The invasive algae along the Caribbean coasts “is also an amazing biomass,” Bonilla, an Oxford PhD, told ImpactAlpha. “We can actually do so much with it. And that’s what we are doing.”
The innovation landed Bonilla this year’s Lotus Award for Latina climate entrepreneurs from Mexico City-based climate venture firm Savia Ventures.
Among the high-profile jury members: Carolina Schmidt (former minister of environment Chile), Alexandra Cousteau (founder of Oceans 2050) and Catherine Mckenna (former minister of environment Canada).
Bonilla will receive the award Thursday at Reassembly, Regeneration VC’s Climate Week event.
Stocking the pipeline
The region’s growing number of women-led climate startups remain vastly underfunded. Women-led companies receive just one-fifth of venture capital dollars deployed across Latin America. That’s slowing the development of needed climate solutions and leaving investors with a pipeline of male-dominated climate startups.
“Latin America is an underserved market. There’s an overabundance of talent. And that extends even further to female entrepreneurs,” Savia’s Andres Baehr told ImpactAlpha. Of the upstart VC’s five investments so far, none have been in women-led companies. The 10 finalists from among 65 applicants for the Lotus Award yielded at least five prospects.
“We need portfolio diversity to get the best results,” he said. “If you want the best climate innovation, you need diversity.”
The prize runners-up include Thamires Pontes of São Paulo-based Phycolabs, Loretxu Garcia of Santiago-based Nido Contech, Isabel Pulido of Nanofreeze in Bogotá, and Maria Isabel Gaviria of Medellín-based Fungi Life. All are leaning into some mix of biotech, science and manufacturing.
Latina climate entrepreneurs face an added layer of complexity in working with VCs that may not understand climate tech’, says Bonilla. VCs used to funding software “do not fully understand the capital-intensive nature of building infrastructure necessary for achieving substantial environmental impact,” she says.
Female founders
Bonilla raised a pre-seed round from Buenos Aires-based GridX, a biotech VC firm, and angel investors including Carl Page, the brother of Google cofounder, Larry Page. She has commitments from investors, including corporates with an interest in cleaning up Caribbean beaches, for more than half of the $1 million she’s raising to industrialize BioPlaster’s process. Bonilla has secured an annual $5 million letter of intent with Tianjin, China-based Great Packaging, along with LOIs from LatAm-based consumer-packaged goods companies, AbaMex and Refurbi.
In climate tech, women lead differently “by leveraging their intuition and embracing vulnerability to foster deeper connections with their teams and stakeholders,” says Gaviria of Fungi Life, which uses fungal biotechnology to replace polluting ingredients made with by-products of fossil fuels. The approach, she says, “enhances receptivity to change and promotes iterative processes, allowing for more adaptive and collaborative problem-solving.”
Challenges facing Latina climate entrepreneurs makes them uniquely positioned for success, says Pontes of São Paulo-based Phycolabs, a maker of textiles made from seaweed. Pontes, who grew up on the coast of northeastern Brazil, says, “When we decide to pursue entrepreneurship, we cannot take ‘no’ for anything or without trying again, without insisting and persisting.”
Being an outsider can be an edge, says Garcia of Nido, a producer of nature-based construction materials. She entered the male-dominated construction industry at a young age. “I think I overcame the barriers, precisely thanks to coming from the outside and having perspective on the problem.”
Climate + gender investing
The growing number of Latina climate founders is matched by a growing pool of Latina climate investors and fund managers in search of women-centered climate solutions.
Bogota and Washington, DC-based EcoEnterprises Fund is demonstrating that economic opportunity, livelihood security and care for the natural world are not only compatible, they’re good investments. The women-led fund manager has been investing in sustainable agriculture, agroforestry and ecotourism for 25 years. It’s upping the ante with its $150 million fourth fund.
Pro Mujer has increased its financial and technical support for women smallholder farmers practicing regenerative farming.
Sao Paulo-based Positive Ventures, led by Andrea Kestenbaum, invests in “planet positive” solutions supporting the low-carbon transition. Bogotá-based EWA Capital, led by Patricia Saenz, is deploying a gender-smart tech fund to address inequality in the region, including in climate-impact sectors of the economy. Mexico City-based Regenera Ventures, led by Stevie Smyth and Laura Ortiz, is providing equity to regenerate land and strengthen the communities that depend on it.
Fund managers from outside the region are also stepping in with new climate solutions that center women. Singapore-based Circulate Capital has rolled out a $66 million strategy in the region that integrates a gender lens in circular economy deals. Canada-based Deetken Impact is readying its sixth impact fund to advance gender equality and climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean.
