A black year. These are the words that sum up how 2022 was in the venture capital market. While 2021 presented a record investment, in 2022 there was a very significant slowdown.
For 2023, the scenario is one of great uncertainty, but it is believed that the expectation is of a subtle growth for venture capital that are hand-selecting startups.
And what I see is that in the face of a scenario in which investors are more discerning, a great door opens for agtechs.
Agtech’s turn
Agribusiness in Brazil draws attention. After all, this is a sector that represents up to 21% of the Brazilian GDP.
Therefore, it is a segment that has great potential, and in view of this, agtechs, which are startups that work in the union of technological resources to agribusiness, have become the goose that lays the golden eggs of investors.
They are going against the grain of the market. Just to exemplify, the innovation platform Distrito Agtech Digital Hub identified the growth of the total amount invested in agtechs in Brazil of more than R$ 193 billion in 2022.
This value is 111% higher than in 2021 and 25% higher in the number of offers. That is, despite the bad moment, the sector went completely against the grain.
The main trends of agtechs
In view of the promising scenario, many trends are being pointed out as a path for the so-called agtechs.
The central idea of these companies is to create technology that allows for greater optimization and a gain in productivity in the main crops in the field.
Agricultural monitoring sensors are in the sights of investors. In this case, the technology allows capturing and transmitting data to a central that registers, informs and makes decisions.
This data can be used, for example, to trigger irrigation only in a plot with a moisture deficit, or to indicate a demand for certain nutrients.
Drones in agriculture
Another type of agtech that is also expected to grow a lot are those that bet on the use of drones in rural properties.
They serve several purposes, the main one being inspection, monitoring of crop development and identification of stalks with symptoms of deficiencies.
In addition, image interpretation technology can facilitate decision-making, and data transmission can generate reports that allow for many hours of savings in the field.
The most promising sectors
In my view, among the segments that may emerge in agtechs are biotechnology and seeds; automation of agricultural machinery; environmental control; use of waste and energy alternatives.
I believe that by 2023, startups linked to agribusiness will be those that will show the greatest growth, and consequently will attract investments more easily. Do you agree?
