Text: MaxiMedia
Photo: Courtesy of AmidoMato
A startup that develops derivatives of babassu flour was the only one selected in the 2025 Business Call, which concludes the cycle of the first investment fund from the largest impact business accelerator in the region.
AmidoMato, a startup dedicated to the standardization and development of babassu flour derivatives for the food industry, is the winner of the AMAZ 2025 Business Call and will now be part of the portfolio of the impact accelerator coordinated by Idesam.
This selection marks the end of a five-year cycle of investment and support for innovative ventures focused on the sustainable development of the Amazon. This year, the accelerator will not be launching a new Call for Businesses.
AMAZ's investment complements AmidoMato's seed funding round, aimed at consolidating its production process and expanding its customer base. Founded in 2024, the startup raised R$ 2 million in a round that brought together three important investors: Grão Venture Capital, a founding partner of the business; RG Futures, the food innovation investment arm of RG ThinkFood; and Abunã, the investment arm of entrepreneurs Ilana and Denis Minev focused on initiatives in the Amazon.
In addition to financial support, AmidoMato has strategic partners that strengthen its market presence. These include Griffith Foods, a multinational food company with which the startup signed its first major supply contract, and EBS, a company specializing in industrial technology for starches and flours.
The company was founded by Eduardo Roxo, a biologist with a master's degree in Ecology and Agribusiness and an entrepreneur with extensive experience in Amazonian socio-biodiversity businesses. Co-founder of Atina, Mombora and Painel da Floresta, Roxo has worked with the babassu supply chain since 2007, when he participated in the development of babassu mesocarp flour for application in the cosmetics industry.
AmidoMato aims to transform babassu mesocarp flour into a competitive ingredient against commodities widely used by the industry, such as wheat, corn, rice, and cassava. The proposal is to connect the abundant supply of raw materials existing in the Amazon and the Brazilian Mid-North to the growing global demand for flours, starches, and functional ingredients.
The startup directly addresses historical bottlenecks in the babassu production chain, a palm tree that occupies approximately 15 million hectares between Bolivia and Northeast Brazil. Traditionally focused on extracting oil from the kernels, the chain makes little use of the fruit's mesocarp, which tends to deteriorate rapidly after falling to the ground.
Among the main challenges faced by the sector are the irregular supply of raw materials, contamination resulting from traditional harvesting, and the lack of standardization of essential characteristics for the industry, such as particle size, color, fiber content, and technical performance.
“Our goal is to make babassu flour a safe, competitive, and readily available product, a new option in the world of flours that isn't limited to the niche of forest products,” says Eduardo Roxo, founder of AmidoMato. “We aim to deliver a standardized product with high nutritional quality to the industry.”
By integrating into AMAZ's portfolio, AmidoMato strengthens its growth strategy and expands its capacity to generate positive socio-environmental impact, contributing to the valorization of productive chains of Amazonian socio-biodiversity and to the creation of new economic opportunities from the standing forest.
The role of AMAZ in advancing impact investing in the Amazon.
In 2018, Idesam began working to strengthen impact businesses through its Acceleration Program. From 2018 to 2020, 30 businesses were accelerated and 12 received investments. With the maturation of the program came the accelerator; thus, in 2021, AMAZ was created and for the past five years has been dedicated to selecting and accelerating nascent businesses that provide impactful solutions for the Amazonian context.
Over the years, the accelerator has accumulated valuable experience and is now a benchmark in the impact investing ecosystem, with impressive numbers such as: 500 startups evaluated, 52 accelerated, and 29 invested in, of which 16 remain active in its business portfolio.
“In 2026 we will close the cycle of AMAZ's first fund. Our portfolio reflects the diversity of solutions needed for the Amazonian bioeconomy: forest restoration, innovation in ingredients and products, financial and logistical solutions. Over the next 5 years we will consolidate learnings, multiply support mechanisms and strengthen the businesses we invest in,” says Gabriela Souza, New Business Leader at Idesam and operations manager at AMAZ.
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