Startups invade the Brazilian agribusiness

Sao Paulo-the investment in technology in the field is nothing new. Producers and companies are always looking for solutions to facilitate and improve the work. Now, in addition to the traditional startups companies also turn to the agribusiness sector with the best performance in the brazilian economy.
Only in the last five years, the expansion of agro startups, agrotech calls, was 70%. As the Coordinator of the Brazilian Association of Agrotech Committee Startups (ABStartups), Alexander Bio Veiga, investment in the primary sector have as main motivation the positive numbers. "The movement still is shy in Brazil, but the scenario is changing," Veiga.
The agrotechs, follow the same principles of other-innovative companies associated with the technology. Although they are risky investments, the companies have attracted young people with entrepreneurial and who seek autonomy. According to data from ABStartups, is 4,180 companies registered in the country, and 212 in Rio Grande do Sul, the 4th place in the national ranking. There are 23 companies in the agro, but there are other areas, such as environment (14), for example.
Unlike the products developed for the urban segment, in agribusiness creation is made from a specific demand. The Gaucho startup that developed Agro, a management software aimed at crops. The kickoff took place from the necessity of agronomist and company partner, Valmir Menezes. He needed a system that could replace the compiled data in Excel worksheets in information. To chat with the young Pedro Dusso, 28, Paulo Silvestrin, 27, Francisco Borja, 28, and Thomas Rodrigues, 27, decided to create the project.
"With our product, the customer has decreased the time of harvest planning. Before it would take two to three weeks. Now it takes only three days, "says Dusso, CEO of agro products.
As there were needs, have improved the system. Today, it is possible to register the productive area, the activities performed, the time for that and the comparison of the initial planning with the result, for example.
The solutions have led to being awarded by the Aegro SAP Hana 2016 Innovation Award, Florida, United States, one of the main worldwide. They were in second place in the category Next Generation Apps, overcoming major brands, such as Intel and Reuters.
But not everything is flowers in the world of startups. Although the market is growing, about 90% of the companies cease to exist until the second year of life.
"This is because the startup fails to prove that the business model is suitable for that audience and time," says Valli, ABStartups. The problem was faced by Checkplant, pellets. In 2003, when it was founded, the brand has developed software that tracked fruits from production, processing, out of the factory. Although prove the effectiveness, the locals were not attracted by the product, prepared by André Cantarelli and Alexandre Fachinelo. But the pair are not intimidated and set off in search of customers in other regions.
"We believe in the project and present to producers of Vale do São Francisco, in the city of Petrolina (PE), which had focused on table grape for exportation", details Cantarelli, Director General of the company.
The result was the creation of management software-named field notebook-and traceability and inventory-called checktracing. Customers in the region ended up hiring the two services. The experience motivated partners to develop other applications. The expectation is to expand the customer base between 100% and 150% this year and, to 2017, the goal is to double the results of 2016.
"Brazil is a power of agribusiness. Today, the farmer is a high tech guy, but still lacking of innovation of startups, "says Kaveh Schiessl, who coordinates the Agtech Committee of ABStartups.
One of the companies is the Agrosmart, who wants to use technology to improve the efficiency of irrigation-the promise is 60% water save up used today. To this end, the company uses smart sensors in the middle of plantations, weather and satellite imagery, says Mariana de Vasconcelos, founding partner of the company.
Daughter of corn producers in Itajubá (MG), Mariana realized the potential of your idea in September 2014, during the water crisis that struck the southeastern region.