Scaling Nature: How ReForest Latam is Leveraging AI and Drones to Restore South America’s Biodiversity

In the race to combat climate change, the focus has often been on emissions reduction. However, a growing cohort of climatetech startups is shifting the narrative toward active ecosystem restoration. Among the most innovative of these is ReForest Latam, a Buenos Aires-based startup that has successfully synthesized advanced robotics, material science, and artificial intelligence to tackle one of the planet’s most daunting challenges: reforesting inaccessible, degraded landscapes.

ReForest Latam recently announced a strategic investment from Mercy Corps Ventures, the impact-focused investment arm of the global humanitarian organization Mercy Corps. This capital infusion serves as a critical milestone for the startup, providing the necessary runway to transition from pilot-stage experiments to large-scale, multi-year restoration contracts across South America.

The Technological Vanguard: Precision Reforestation

The core of ReForest Latam’s value proposition lies in its proprietary seed-delivery mechanism. Traditional manual reforestation is labor-intensive, slow, and often ineffective in remote, rugged terrains. ReForest has reimagined this process through the development of biodegradable seed capsules.

These capsules are not mere shells; they are sophisticated life-support systems. Each unit contains a carefully curated mix of native seeds, specialized microorganisms, and biostimulants. When dispersed via drones, these capsules provide a protective micro-environment that shields seeds from harsh soil conditions, predators, and unpredictable weather patterns.

By leveraging artificial intelligence, ReForest’s platform analyzes geographic and biological data to select the optimal cocktail of native plant species for any given site. This ensures that the reforestation efforts are not just aesthetically green, but ecologically resilient, mimicking the complex biodiversity of a primary forest rather than the monoculture plantations that have historically hampered conservation efforts.

A Chronology of Growth: From Pre-Seed to Strategic Scaling

ReForest Latam’s trajectory reflects the maturing appetite for nature-based solutions (NbS) among venture capitalists.

• 2020–2022: The Incubation Phase: The company spent its early years refining its drone technology and seed-coating science, establishing the foundational research necessary to prove that drone-based dispersal could yield survival rates comparable to manual planting.
• 2023: The $1 Million Pre-Seed Milestone: ReForest secured a $1 million round led by iThink VC and AgriFood Tech, with participation from Antom.la, BP Soluciones Eléctricas Confiables, and Amauta Inversiones Financieras. This capital enabled the team to expand its operational footprint.
• 2023–2024: Collaborative Expansion: The startup solidified its reputation by partnering with heavyweights in the conservation space, including The Nature Conservancy and the Land Innovation Fund. To date, the company has executed 14 distinct projects across the diverse biomes of Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil.
• 2024: The Mercy Corps Ventures Partnership: With the latest investment from Mercy Corps Ventures, the company is now positioning itself to pivot away from small-scale pilot projects toward long-term, landscape-scale ecological restoration contracts, signaling a shift toward commercial maturity.

Supporting Data: Why Latin America Needs Tech-Driven Restoration

Latin America contains some of the most critical carbon sinks on the planet, including the Amazon Basin and the Gran Chaco. However, these regions are under constant pressure from deforestation, cattle ranching, and industrial agriculture.

According to data from environmental NGOs, tens of millions of hectares in Latin America are currently classified as degraded. The cost of manual restoration—which requires thousands of man-hours and logistical support in roadless areas—is often prohibitive for local governments and NGOs.

ReForest Latam’s drone-led approach addresses the "scalability gap." By removing the need for human crews to navigate dangerous or remote terrain, the startup drastically reduces the cost per hectare. Moreover, the inclusion of biostimulants in their capsules addresses the issue of "biological failure," where traditional aerial seeding fails because seeds are eaten by birds or fail to anchor in nutrient-depleted soil. By ensuring a higher germination rate, ReForest makes the unit economics of restoration viable for carbon credit markets and environmental service payments.

Official Perspectives: Aligning Profit with Planet

The decision by Mercy Corps Ventures to back ReForest Latam is part of a broader strategy to support technologies that improve the resilience of vulnerable populations.

"We are building the technology to make restoration viable at scale—not just for carbon markets, but for the communities whose livelihoods depend on healthy ecosystems," said Damián Rivadeneira, a key leader at ReForest Latam. His statement underscores the company’s dual-purpose philosophy: environmental restoration is intrinsically linked to socio-economic stability. In many parts of rural Argentina and Brazil, healthy forests provide water filtration, soil stability, and non-timber forest products that are essential to local food security.

Mercy Corps Ventures, which has backed over 60 startups since its inception in 2015, views the investment as a strategic move to hedge against the climate-driven volatility facing the global south. As they raise their $50 million Resilient Future Fund, the firm is prioritizing "climate-smart" technologies—companies that don’t just reduce carbon, but actively adapt to the realities of a warming world.

Implications: The Future of Climatetech in the Global South

The ReForest Latam deal is part of a growing trend of "impact-first" venture capital in Latin America. The region is increasingly becoming a laboratory for high-tech, low-cost climate solutions.

The Rise of the "Climate-Smart" Portfolio

Mercy Corps Ventures’ recent portfolio activity illustrates a broader focus:

• Bio Natural Solutions: A Peruvian firm developing eco-friendly crop protection products from agricultural waste, effectively circularizing the food supply chain.
• Satellites on Fire: An Argentine startup that recently raised $2.7 million to deploy early-detection wildfire technology. By using satellite data to identify fires before they become uncontrollable, the company is saving both lives and billions of dollars in biodiversity loss.

These investments suggest that the "next wave" of Latin American climatetech is not focused on consumer apps, but on deep-tech infrastructure that solves fundamental problems in agriculture, forestry, and disaster mitigation.

Humanitarian Tech and the Path Ahead

Beyond direct investment, the broader context of Mercy Corps Ventures’ activities—such as testing stablecoin-based humanitarian aid and digital cash transfers in Haiti—points to a shift in how development aid is structured. By integrating venture-style investment with humanitarian programs, these organizations are creating a feedback loop where technology developed for a commercial market (like drone-based planting) can be applied to restore the land of subsistence farmers, effectively lifting communities out of poverty while sequestering carbon.

Conclusion: The Road to Scalable Restoration

The success of ReForest Latam will depend on its ability to execute large-scale contracts and prove that its "seed-capsule" technology can remain effective over multiple seasons and varying climate conditions. If successful, the company will have provided a blueprint for how to restore the planet’s lungs at a speed and cost that was previously considered impossible.

As climate change accelerates, the window to restore degraded ecosystems is narrowing. Companies like ReForest Latam, backed by institutional investors with a clear mission, are no longer just "nice-to-have" startups; they are becoming essential pillars of a new, restorative global economy. Whether they can scale their operations from thousands of hectares to millions remains the ultimate test, but with the support of the Mercy Corps ecosystem, the path toward a greener, more resilient South America has never been clearer.