Barn Investment’s Greentech Latam Fund has been recognised for its impactful investments in Brazil’s food security, clean tech, energy efficiency, and transportation.
The fund invests in 'green technologies' that significantly improve efficiency, reduce waste, while contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation. So far, the fund has invested in financial solutions for small and mid-size farmers (including blockchain), electric vehicles, energy efficiency, and circular economy.
The winner of Environmental fund of the year, Latin America claims that the fund, which is the investment manager’s third in the vintage, is the first Latin American early-stage venture capital fund focussed on green technology.
The fund had its second closing in December 2021 and had deployed more than 90% of its capital. It follows two parent funds focussed on agriculture and green solutions, launched in 2013 and 2016 respectively. Barn is launching its fourth fund focusing on developing and scaling green technologies in LatAm.
EF Awards judges said the fund exhibited an “established track record, clear reporting, and good balance of impact and financial results”.
Portfolio companies include:
- Agritask, a technology provider for corporate farmers to optimise yield and harvest quality;
- Agrolend – a Brazilian lender to small and medium-sized farmers;
- AgroToken – a ‘tokenization platform’ that links cryptocurrency coins to agricultural commodities;
- Circular Brain – a ‘one-stop-shop’ for recycling e-waste;
- Grão Direto – a digital grain trading platform;
- Nextron – distributed solar energy platform
- Origem – an electric motorcycle start-up and recycler; and
- Rumina – an animal agriculture technology company for dairy farmers.
