Event took place between March 20 and 24 in Porto Alegre, bringing together more than 3,000 startups 

Fundo Vale’s executive director, Patrícia Daros, participated in South Summit Brazil 2024, held from March 20 to 24 in Porto Alegre. Alongside Eduardo Lorea, CEO and founder of Numerik, and Jean Rodrigues Benevides, sustainability and innovation director at Caixa, Daros shared with the audience her organization’s experience in supporting social and environmental impact businesses in the Amazon and other Brazilian biomes and how these efforts represent a milestone for innovation in social and environmental impact. She also discussed the importance of public engagement for this agenda. 

Daros emphasized Vale’s commitment, through Fundo Vale, to offer technical and financial collaboration opportunities for startups, prioritizing ideas, partnerships and projects aligned with the company’s sustainability agenda. The aim is to boost forest recovery through nature-based solutions, with a focus on innovation and the social and environmental development of communities, in order to achieve Vale’s 2030 Forest Goal: to protect 400,000 hectares of forests and restore 100,000 hectares.  

Created in 2012 in Madrid, the South Summit is recognized as a leading platform in the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem of Southern Europe and Latin America. The event provides valuable networking opportunities, project presentations, debates and inspiring talks. At this year’s Brazilian edition, the event attracted around 23,500 participants from 55 countries, representatives of more than 3,000 startups, approximately 800 speakers, 900 investors and 130 investment funds with around US$213 billion under management.