Bernardita Araya, head at CMPC Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2026 Powerlist.
Bernardita Araya leads CMPC Ventures, the corporate VC unit of Empresas CMPC, one of Latin America’s leading pulp and paper companies.
A scientist with a PhD in biotechnology from the University of Cambridge, her background includes co-founding a nanotech startup, serving as research and development director at a pharmaceutical firm and working in life sciences venture capital. She was recognised as one of the top 50 Emerging Leaders in Global Corporate Venturing’s 2024 awards.
Launched in 2020, CMPC Ventures manages a $100m innovation fund dedicated to catalysing sustainable business models and disruptive technologies that align with CMPC’s 2030 strategy, with a particular emphasis on strengthening competitiveness and high-value uses for forest-based resources.
CMPC Ventures, therefore, is not trying to compete with mega CVC funds on volume. Instead, it has positioned itself at the intersection of industrial sustainability and deep tech, an area where its parent brings both credibility and real-world deployment capabilities.
Under Araya’s leadership, the unit has leaned into this advantage, prioritising startups that connect with CMPC’s value chain from the forest to next-generation packaging and engineered biomaterials.
Investments such as UK-based Pulpex, which develops fibre-based bottles to replace plastics, and Rubi Laboratories, which uses enzymes to produce cellulose for textiles, reinforce a clear thesis: the future of materials will be renewable, circular and scalable.
Meanwhile, companies like Strong by Form point to a longer-term bet on wood-based construction technologies, thereby expanding CMPC’s relevance beyond pulp and packaging into construction.
Beyond direct equity investment, CMPC Ventures takes a flexible approach, considering R&D partnerships for feedstock testing and supporting the venture client unit to bridge the gap between startups and corporate operations.
In the global CVC landscape, CMPC Ventures occupies a distinctive niche. It is one of the few Latin American corporate funds with credible access to global climate-tech ecosystems while retaining a strong industrial backbone in emerging markets. That combination is increasingly valuable as startups look for partners who can offer both capital and real-world scale.
The GCV Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
Here’s a snapshot of their recent deals:
