South Summit Brazil consolidates its growth in the global innovation ecosystem

The winners of the Startup Competition at South Summit Brazil. Credit: Thirty Seventeen | 3017 (@trintadezessete)

South Summit Brazil ends third edition in Porto Alegre and consolidates its growth in the global innovation ecosystem

Cais Mauá received 23,500 people, 900 investors and 3,000 startups from 55 countries over the three days of the program. Event in 2025 will take place in April.

The third edition of South Summit Brazil ended this Friday (22) in Porto Alegre with great success and with the feeling of mission accomplished in relation to one of its main purposes: generating high-value connections between startups, investors and corporations in Brazil and from abroad. The general numbers revealed at the closing ceremony proved the event’s growth in relation to 2023 in several aspects, and that South Summit Brazil has been gaining an increasing space within the global innovation ecosystem.

Over the three days of the event, 23,500 people from 55 countries passed through Cais Mauá, an increase of 1,500 compared to last year. South Summit Brazil 2024 also recorded growth in the number of investors present (900), investment funds (140), total value of funds under management (US$213 billion). The event welcomed a total of 3,000 startups and featured approximately 300 lectures and panels with the participation of 800 speakers.

“We have materialized here at South Summit Brazil something that we have always dreamed of. This event is made by the ecosystem for the ecosystem. We engaged several sectors to make all this happen. Important names from the public, private and academic areas were here, who collaborated to make this event go beyond barriers and also be an experience with social, cultural, gastronomic and entertainment actions. All of this here is a catalytic movement and an incomparable moment. Several people made South Summit Brazil happen, and I would like to thank each and every one of them”, he said José Renato Hopf, president of South Summit Brazil, in his speech at the closing ceremony at Cais Mauá.

The act that marked the end of the third edition of South Summit Brazil was attended by some of these names highlighted by José Renato Hopf. Authorities from the public sector took the stage at Arena Stage, such as the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, the mayor of Porto Alegre, Sebastião Melo, as well as María Benjumea, founder of South Summit in Spain in 2012. The State Government from Rio Grande do Sul is co-director of South Summit Brasil, alongside IE University.

At the end, some new features were presented to the public that filled the Arena Stage. One of them was the date of the fourth edition of South Summit Brazil. Next year, the event will take place on April 9th, 10th and 11th.

Another announcement made was that of the winners of the Startup Competition, one of the highlights in the entire South Summit Brazil program and which received registration from 2,050 startups from more than 80 countries. After a careful selection process by the committee of experts carried out over the last few weeks, and the presentation of the pitches of the 50 finalists this week at Cais Mauá, the five best were defined.

Among the Startup Competition champions, four are from Brazil, and one from Chile. CROMAI, which operates in the agricultural sector and is based in São Paulo, was the winner of the Highlight category. Also in the capital of São Paulo, B4Waste was voted Most Sustainable. From Porto Alegre (RS), healthtech Ostera won as Most Scalable. IBBX, from Capivari (SP), was chosen as Most Innovative. And PhageLab from Chile, also a healthtech, won in the Best Team category.

“Our assessment of South Summit Brazil 2024 is very positive. We worked hard for 12 months to plan all deliveries, and to work on the improvement opportunities we identified in relation to last year to offer a higher quality event. Our objective in 2024 was to hold a ‘more’ event, with more mobility, circulation, comfort and covered areas. We are very happy with this year’s edition, and with the expectation that South Summit Brasil 2025 will be even better”, said Thiago Ribeiro, CEO from South Summit Brazil.

Last day reserves presentations by Jeff Hoffman and innovation in favelas

The third and final day of South Summit Brazil also offered the public a rich journey of content and knowledge exchange. One of the highlights of the program was the presentation by North American Jeff Hoffman, founder of Priceline.com/Booking.com. The North American participated in two panels throughout the day, in which he spoke about his experience as a serial entrepreneur and his insights and vision of the global innovation scenario.

Jeff Hoffman performs at South Summit Brazil. Credit: Thirty Seventeen | 3017 (@trintadezessete)

Among the themes that stood out in the program, one of the main ones was innovation in the social area. CUFA (Central Única das Favelas) participated in two panels in which it addressed how projects are developed within Brazilian favelas. One of them is Favela Bank, a bank that will be created for residents of needy areas.

“Favela Bank will be born in the favela, it will be made for the people of the community, and it will have everything that other banks offer. It is a real possibility to transform people’s lives and bring a new perspective to the communities”, said Celso Athayde, founder from CUFA and Favela Holding.

José Renato Hopf, Preto Zezé and Celso Athayde participated in the panel “Favela Bank: the bank of favelas and peripheries”. Credit: Thirty Seventeen | 3017 (@trintadezessete)

Check out who the winners of the Startup Competition were:

Featured Category
CROMAI (Brazil) – São Paulo (SP)

Industry 5.0 category
Agricultural transformation with artificial intelligence, computer vision and multifactor image analysis.

More Scalable
Ostera (Brazil) – Porto Alegre (RS)

Health Category
OsteraTest uses artificial intelligence to predict the chances of an oocyte producing a healthy embryo, even before fertilization, non-invasively.

More Sustainable
B4Waste (Brazil) – São Paulo (SP)

Sustainability & ESG Category
Marketplace to connect products close to their expiration date with consumers who intend to consume them within the expiration date.

Most Innovative
IBBX (Brazil) – Capivari (SP)

Industry Category 5.0
A complete industrial IOT solution with devices that can measure almost any data in the field.

Best team
PhageLab (Chile)

Health Category
Global biotechnology company focused on tackling the antibiotic resistance crisis.

About South Summit Brazil

A global meeting point between investment funds, companies and startups, South Summit Brazil arrived in Porto Alegre in 2022. It emerged in Madrid 11 years ago and has already generated 13 USD Bi raised by startups throughout the Startup Competition. In the 2024 edition, the 38 thousand square meters of area welcomed 55 countries, 3 thousand startups, 800 speakers, 140 investment funds and around 900 investors, with USD 213 billion in funds under management. The South Summit Brazil is co-organized by the Government of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and IE University, and was held on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of March, at Cais Mauá.

https://www.southsummit.io/pt/brazil/