Suzano's investment arm has upped its investment in Marvin as the climate crisis puts landowners at increased risk.
Suzano Ventures, the VC arm of Brazil-based pulp and paper producer Suzano, has closed a follow-on investment for AI-powered land use and supply chain management startup Marvin, as it seeks to protect its 27,000 square kilometres of farms and native forests from climate change impacts.
The two companies struck a multi-year commercial agreement that will see Suzano use Marvin’s geospatial technology for applications such as risk management, water resource, yield prediction, supply chain management, carbon measurement and forest certification.
For a large landowner like Suzano having tools that give it greater visibility into its available resources and climate vulnerability is critical as climate change puts its resources at increased risk. With its pulp production based a regenerative model for eucalyptus trees, staying ahead of climate threats is a strategic imperative.
The destructive force of the wildfires in Los Angeles, US, has highlighted how a changing climate, which is increasing the risk of drought, can create increased losses for businesses and insurance companies.
The size of the follow-on investment has not been disclosed but comes after Suzano Ventures made its initial entry to the cap table back in October 2023, after which it had carried out field trials across Suzano’s operations.
Founded in 2023, Marvin employs researchers and data scientists to develop a proprietary platform analysis of land use, combining the scientific research, geospatial and satellite data, and artificial intelligence. The startup targets companies that want to improve the efficiency and sustainability of their resources, and build resilience to the impacts of a changing climate.
“Before investing in Marvin, we carefully assessed a number of geospatial intelligence products available on the market that were potentially applicable to silviculture,” said Suzano Ventures senior manager Álvaro Gómez Rodríguez, in a release.
“We are confident that Marvin’s technology offers the most sophisticated tool for forest producers like Suzano, which we have now validated through trials in our own business. Marvin’s platform product will now be a key tool for us as we continue to work towards developing the world’s most sustainably produced eucalyptus.”
The Suzano Ventures’s focus areas include sustainable packaging, forestry technology, carbon removal and eucalyptus biomaterials between pre-seed and series A.
Suzano Ventures last year invested in another forestry tech startup, BemAgro, which uses AI and computer vision to process data from satellites, drones and tractors to help increase productivity and bring down costs.
Fernando Moncada Rivera
Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.
