Ahead of the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in Mexio City this month, five investors from IDB Invest, IFC, Co_Capital, The Yield Lab LATAM and SP Ventures share critical insights on the strategic partnerships and investment opportunities needed for a sustainable agri-food industry in Mexico.

Investors and entrepreneurs working together to attract more funding

Carlos Narvaez, Principal Investment Officer & Head of Agribusiness (A.I.), IDB INVEST: "Mexico is one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of agri-food products. However, it has not yet become a significant player in agtech entrepreneurship and investments. This gap presents a unique opportunity to create an enabling ecosystem that leverages Mexico’s competitive position in agri-food products and its strategic proximity to the United States. Investors and start-ups must work together to build a sustainable and innovative agtech ecosystem. This involves setting competitive advantages, sustainability, and innovation as the cornerstones. Key stakeholders, including the Mexican government and academia, should be involved to establish a scalable and sustainable ecosystem. This ecosystem should focus on developing innovative business models that capitalize on Mexico’s strengths in agri-food production while ensuring attractive returns and sustainable development. At IDB Invest, a member of the IDB Group, we are committed to transforming the agricultural and food landscape through agri-food tech and innovation. Our goal is to support entrepreneurs and catalyze new investments in the sector, prioritizing food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and gender, diversity, and inclusion. By fostering collaboration between investors, entrepreneurs, government, and academia, we can create a thriving agtech ecosystem in Mexico that drives sustainable growth and innovation."

Tomas Peña, Managing Partner, THE YIELD LAB LATAM: "Investors and entrepreneurs need to get together and focus their conversations on finding solutions to real pain points all over the value chain. That means helping global corporations, multilatinas, farmers in general (from corporate to smallholders), agronomists, vets, academics and local governments on how to create a strong ecosystem that seizes the opportunity that distributed innovation is bringing to the region. Value chain specialization will create more funding opportunities and accelerate traction."

Jose Luis Masjuan, Principal Investment Officer – Agribusiness Latin America, IFC: "Latin America is a major agricultural region globally, but it only captures 5% of all VC investments. Collaboration among multiple stakeholders is essential to mobilize private sector capital, de-risk investment, and develop new markets. IFC is interested in supporting innovative agtech solutions that can enhance productivity, reduce supply chain inefficiencies, and accelerate the transition towards climate-smart agri-food systems in Mexico. This includes areas such as regenerative agriculture, biologicals, digitalization, food waste reduction and bioenergy."

Directing capital towards a sustainable and environmental agriculture landscape

Alberto Gómez-Obregón, Managing Partner, CO_CAPITAL: "Fuelled by climate change and deepening inequality, our socioeconomic model is going through multiple systemic changes. A major one is the shift within our agri-food system. Mexico has a unique agricultural position due to its closeness to the US and the presence of local and multi-national corporates which interact with a wide range of producers, from smallholder farmers all the way to large-scale industrialized operations. As a growing percentage of these players encounter climate change or degraded soils, many are aiming to transition towards sustainable or regenerative systems. As impact investors, deeply mission-aligned, we can use our catalytic or patient capital to fund start-ups enabling this transition, by financing or providing technology to farmers, scaling transparency in supply chains or access to biological inputs or producing healthy products for human health. As these organizations grow, we continue to play a pivotal role in maintaining mission alignment, impact monitoring, and providing diverse pools of capital with more holistic objectives."

What lessons from Brazil’s successful agtech sector can be applied to replicate this success in Mexico?

Ariadne Caballero, Partner, SP VENTURES: "Mexico is already making big waves in AgTech, but the learnings from Brazil can definitely offer valuable insights. First, dialogue and collaboration are key! The Piracicaba Valley -Brazil’s own Silicon Valley for Ag, shows how tech companies, universities, and investors can team up to create big things, with places like AgTech Garage, now part of PwC, and the Raízen Innovation Center leading the charge. Another great example of collaboration is the Radar AgTech initiative, which we’re proud to co-lead with Embrapa, Brazil’s top agricultural research institution. It started by mapping 590 start-ups in 2019, and the latest version tracked over 1,700. By connecting key players in Mexico, like Tec de Monterrey, Chapingo, CPG companies, and investors, we can build something just as game-changing. The opening of SP Ventures’ new office in Mexico shows we’re all in, knowing that dialogue and collaboration are the keys to making it happen."

We look forward to hearing more from our investors on their panel sessions at the summit, book your place now to join them: www.worldagritechmexico.com/register Day 1: Investor Panel // Driving Investment into Mexican AgTech (In Spanish) Time: 16.40pm Moderator: Tomas Peña, Managing Partner, THE YIELD LAB LATAM Speakers: Alberto Gómez-Obregón, Managing Partner, CO_CAPITAL Bernardo Milesy, Managing Partner, GLOCAL LATAM Ariadne Caballero, Partner, SP VENTURES Armando Laborde, Partner, NEW VENTURES VIEW SESSION Day 2: Closing Panel // Innovation & Investment in Mexico: 2025 & Beyond Time: 15.40pm Moderator: Stuart M. Williams, Founder & Chairman, IN PLACE IMPACT Speakers: Carlos Eduardo Narvaez, Principal Officer and Head of Agribusiness, IDB INVEST Adrian Garcia Casarrubias, Head of Mexico Activities, THE KIRCHNER IMPACT FOUNDATION Ana Laura Fernandez, Vice President of Impact Investing, FONDO DE FONDOS Jose Luis Masjuan, Principal Investment Officer – Agribusiness Latin America, IFC Goldie Shturman, Managing Director, Latin America Investment Funds, U.S. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION VIEW SESSION