FoA 230: Agtech is Booming in Brazil with Francisco Jardim of SP Ventures

<p><strong><em>“We’re going to bring a lot of new, interesting, innovations leapfrogging across the world.” - Francisco Jardim</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today we explore an international agtech powerhouse, Brazil. And we have the perfect guest to talk about the developing agtech ecosystem in the country, Francisco Jardim. Francisco is the Founding Partner at SP Ventures which invests across multiple industries, but as you’ll hear, he has particular expertise in agtech. Francisco has been investing with SP Ventures for over 13 years, and focuses on Brazilian startups.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>“We’re leveraging technology, new digital technology, to be able to make less friction, less costs for farmers to be able to empower themselves through the use of their data and access more sophisticated financial services products.” - Francisco Jardim</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Historically, mainstream multinational ag companies have used fairs and large sales teams to expose farmers to new technologies. Francisco shares that by virtue of the spread of connectivity and digital technologies, farmers are more open to new technologies without following the formerly used labor intensive method of selling. Start up companies are poised to employ strategies that don’t involve a lot of people or a large marketing budget and that lend themselves to be more covid friendly. Preconceptions of farming operations being innately archaic and resistant to digital technology are quickly being proven wrong with ever-expanding digital connectivity.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>“We’re seeing the grandfather become a heavy smartphone user. We’re seeing the father become a very hardcore ambassador of new digital technologies and the son of course. What’s beautiful is these new technologies, they’re bridging the gap between the grandfather, the father and the son in the family business....it’s becoming transgenerational and even generational integrative as a fun