Innovation for Ecosystem Restoration: LatAm 2023

About the Program

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The Innovation for Ecosystem Restoration: LatAm 2023 will address some of the most pressing challenges facing ecosystem restoration entrepreneurs in LatAm, including support for developing ecosystem restoration and a lack of access to investment capital. Our goal is to deliver a catalytic accelerator for entrepreneurs championing ecosystem restoration throughout LatAm.

Eligibility

We are looking for (for-profit) startups building locally viable ecosystem restoration solutions. Eligibility requirements include:

• Have legal incorporation and operations as a for-profit entity in at least one Latin American country.

• Have a market-based solution that tackles ecosystem restoration challenges in Latin America.

• Have at least one full-time founder based in Latin America.

• Be in compliance with local fiscal and business law.

• Have a minimum viable product (MVP), and raised less than $1M in equity.

• Have meaningful customer or business validation (not limited to revenue, it can also be successful pilot studies, number of users, and/or strategic partnerships).

Ecosystem Degradation

• Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru are among the ten most biodiverse countries in the world, but these same countries are in the top fifteen whose fauna is highly threatened with extinction. Forest degradation represents a threat to biodiversity, local livelihoods, and a exacerbator of the impacts of global climate change.

• Although ecosystem degradation is increasingly recognized as a global challenge, LatAm is disproportionately at-risk in terms of regional negative externalities. Growing ecosystem risks, compounded by limited access to investment capital, have created a challenging environment for LatAm’s ecosystem restoration entrepreneurs.

• Roughly 1.7% of regional GDP is lost annually to natural disasters, and it's expected that up to 5.8M people in the region could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 due to climate-related natural hazards, which directly affect the region’s ecosystems.

• Equity must be a critical focus of the ecosystem restoration agenda to ensure solutions are representative of the people they aim to support and empower. Village Capital will work closely to ensure our efforts support entrepreneurs outside of major innovation hubs in order to better democratize access to entrepreneurship.