Brainforest

Meet Fabiane Almeida, co-founder at Aqua Viridi, part of our 5th Venture Program cohort! 🌿 ➡️ Over the next weeks, we’re excited to introduce the founders and ventures joining our cohort, one by one. These teams are tackling the biodiversity and climate crisis with bold, entrepreneurial solutions! We are proud of working side-by-side with them to scale their business and impact. 📢 First up: Aqua Viridi Based in Manaus 🇧🇷, deep in the heart of the Amazon, Aqua Viridi uses Amazonian microalgae to create sustainable innovations for the agro-industry, with forest preservation at its core. We will be working intensively with Aqua Viridi for the next 8 weeks. Their mission and vision deeply align with ours → empowering local bioeconomies while keeping the forest standing. Why they’re excited to be part of the Brainforest program 💬: “Because it’s more than funding, it’s mentorship and empowerment to take Aqua Viridi to the next level!” If you’re curious to see what she and the rest of our cohort are building, join us in Zürich on June 13th for our final Pitch Event, where the ventures will pitch their venture! Thomas Elijah Leo Ben Gioia #brainforest

Are you in VC, passionate about impact, and heading to ChangeNOW in Paris? ➡️ Join the Junior Impact VC meetup! We’ve reserved a private cellar just a few steps away from the Grand Palais. Junior Impact VC is a grassroots community launched by the team at maze impact to bring together early-career VC professionals who care deeply about building a better future. 📅 Register here and join us on Thursday: https://lu.ma/u1coct7h P.S. Know others in VC who care about impact? Send this their way 🙌 the more, the merrier! Ben Leo Elijah Thomas Gioia Alice #changenow #changenow25 #changenow2025

Sometimes the best way to move forward is to pause together ☝️! Last week, the Brainforest team took a one-day retreat to rest the mind, reflect and reconnect. A day to align on sharing inspiration, and simply enjoy each other’s company outside of the usual work rhythm. Moments like this remind us how much we’ve grown as a team, both in how we collaborate and in the direction we’re heading together. 🫶 This week, just before the long weekend, we’ve kicked off the next round of our Venture Program with fresh energy and focus and we’re excited to announce the new cohort very soon. From all of us at Brainforest, we wish you a beautiful and restful long weekend. And if you happen to have a little extra time, feel free to explore our library for some weekend reading📚: ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eHqw69jy See you next week, energized and ready to grow!

Now is the time to put science center stage. We can’t out-argue rising temperatures. We can’t out-debate melting glaciers. We can’t out-vote extreme weather. The climate crisis won’t wait for consensus. We need: Bold action, grounded in science. Solutions built on evidence, not opinions. Progress measured in data, not headlines. It’s time to build, fund, and scale what works. From the lab to the field, from markets to ministries, science belongs everywhere decisions are made. That’s why, at Brainforest, we believe in the power of a platform where founders can work alongside researchers and impact is driven by verifiable and transparent data. Find our latest multistakeholder report about 'the Future of Biodiversity Investing & Innovation' with insights from many bright minds, here: https://lnkd.in/gUB749Mq ➡️ We are heading to the HackSummit on May 15-16, to join 850 ClimateTech founders, funders, and operators building what matters most. Let’s build what the future needs. Join us: https://www.hacksummit.co/ #NowIsTheTime #BuildFundScaleScience #HackSummit2025 Camille Accolas Ben O'Sullivan Elijah Kilzer Thomas Gmeiner Gioia Lelli

From world-class cacao to world-class traceability 🍫🌍 Orijin is tackling one of the toughest challenges in supply chains (and it all started with chocolate 😉). We’re proud to support Salla, Teemu Hurmeranta and the Orijin team on this journey.

As featured in our recently published Impact Report, we’re proud to have Muvuca Agroflorestal - Carlyle & Átila - as part of our Brainforest portfolio. That is why, this week, we want to shine a light on their work. 📸 Muvuca Agroflorestal is a Brazil-based venture that took on the fight of land degradation and farmer inequality. By supporting small family farmers in transitioning to agroforestry systems, Muvuca is building a healthier food system that restores ecosystems, improves soil health, and secures stable income for rural communities. 🌱Their impact speaks for itself: 📍 2 hectares of degraded land restored 📍 16 metric tons of CO₂ sequestered aunually 📍 4 pilot farms launched 📍 Farmers expected to triple their income within two years 📍 5 to 8 diversified crops per farm We’re excited to welcome the Muvuca team in May to Zurich, where they will join us as honored guests at our upcoming Brainforest Breakfast event. ☝️ If you would like to connect with the Muvuca team while joining the breakfast event, feel free to reach out to Ben O'Sullivan. Thomas Camille Gioia Elijah Leo

BioTara AG, one of our portfolio ventures, was recently featured in Forbes for its work in building a regenerative Amazonian bioeconomy! 🌿 BioTara is showing the world that rainforest conservation and economic development can go hand in hand 🤝. Led by entrepreneur John Goedschalk, BioTara empowers cosmetic brands to elevate quality and sustainability with their Amazonian Botanicals, which are ethically sourced from indigenous and forest-based communities in #Brazil and #Suriname. ☝️ Their model is already protecting over 600,000 hectares of rainforest and providing sustainable livelihoods for more than 3,000 families. Additionally, BioTara was also selected to join the 100+ Accelerator, a global program helping startups scale sustainable innovations by connecting them with leading corporate partners. As foreign aid to the Amazon is cut, John sees an opportunity: 🎙️“Are we going back or building something new? Even if you don’t believe in the Amazon or climate change, you’ll have no regrets investing in an economy that creates jobs, stabilizes communities, and builds resilience.” With #COP30 on the horizon, BioTara is a powerful example of how business, philanthropy, and community leadership can come together to regenerate ecosystems and economies alike. Milena Thomas Camille Elijah Ben

Our 2024 Impact Report is out, and it marks just the beginning of what we are building together 🤝 ! Our startups may still be early-stage, but their impact is real. Operating across 10+ countries, our portfolio of ventures is actively restoring ecosystems, building local economies, and reshaping how forests and biodiversity are valued. At Brainforest, our mission is clear: 🌱 Restore and protect biodiverse forests through scalable, market-based solutions. 🌱 Support entrepreneurs in bringing solutions to market that would otherwise struggle to scale. 🌱 Unlock capital for ventures that deliver both financial returns and positive environmental and social outcomes. Each year, we lose 10 million hectares of forest, and since 1970, wildlife populations have declined by 73%, impacting livelihoods, food systems, and climate stability. This is why, with Brainforest, we strive to make a difference. ☝️ We believe that entrepreneurship must be at the heart of reversing biodiversity loss and creating lasting solutions. Our Venture Platform is the first of its kind, focused exclusively on forests and biodiversity. Through it, we identify, fund, and scale entrepreneurial solutions that make forest conservation economically viable. Want to see what all that looks like in action? ➡️ Dive into the full Impact Report. As impact is a long-term and iterative process, we are always keen to receive questions and feedback on our reports. 👉 Reach out to our Senior Program Manager, Camille! Thomas Ben Elijah Leo Gioia #biodiversity #impactreport #ventureplatform #brainforest

No, this is not a 1st of April Fools’ joke 🤯 it’s the reality we are facing! This visually powerful video shared by Globaïa has been making the rounds, and it’s hard to look away. It shows our planet as it once was, covered in forests, compared to what remains today. In just a few generations, we have lost more than half of the world’s tropical forests and ecosystems that took millions of years to form. ⏳Facing this reality, it’s time to start acting for real. In our recently published Multistakeholder Report, we brought together perspectives from across the nature innovation ecosystem to understand how we can protect biodiversity. One of the many experts featured was Eva Jaag, Managing Director at Somaha Foundation, one of the first funders of Brainforest 🙏. Eva captured what is urgently needed in this space: “The best way to improve is by doing: Testing models, learning from them, and scaling what works.” This mindset drives our work at Brainforest, with our investments in early-stage startups through our Venture Program. ➡️ Coming back to our Venture Program: The applications have closed, and over the past weeks, we have reviewed many applicants. We are now in the process of interviewing founders to select the next cohort that will join us for our upcoming 8-week program. ☝️Soon, the selected startups will be announced. Missed the deadline? Join our waitlist for the next edition! Thomas Gmeiner Camille Accolas Elijah Kilzer Ben O'Sullivan Leo Caprez Gioia Lelli

It’s a challenge familiar to many entrepreneurs: you build something impactful, only to find there is no clear market for it. ☝️ Nature-based solutions are no exception. ➡️ That’s where BiodiversityStartups.com comes in. They've created a free network of sustainability and biodiversity professionals working at real companies, facing real-world challenges that need solutions. These professionals are open to speaking with you and offering feedback on your proposed solution. You can download the shortlist of experts to contact for feedback here: https://lnkd.in/e7gz26jz Thank you, BiodiversityStartups.com, for sharing your network with the nature-based ecosystem! 🙌 #network #biodiversity #naturebasedsolution Camille Accolas Sarah Cosgrove, PhD Manash Chatterjee Daniele Cesano David Jirout Ole Seidenberg Ryan Martin Emer Shovlin