By Andrés Baehr
Latin America’s climate venture arena has a lot in common with the Freestyle Master Series (FMS), the world’s largest Spanish speaking rap battle league. Cut-throat competitiveness, sharp instincts, rapid adaptation, and one trait that dominates them all:
Both are overwhelmingly led by dudes.
In 2021, the FMS changed its beat: her name was Sara Socas, the first female rapper to enter the league. Her rhymes were disruptive, melodic and unique. Raw innovation from a new type of founder.
There was a common thread among commentators: the league is better with Sara’s talent in it.
Sara’s popularity and outspoken style placed her in the middle of the spotlight. Social media backlash was brutal. In 2023 Sara announced her retirement from freestyle battles.
Sara’s story mirrors what we see again and again in Latin America’s climate tech ecosystem.
We say we value diversity, and then turn the music off before female founders reach the chorus.
Why is this happening?
The answer is hidden behind a few songs.
“Despacito”, Luis Fonsi
Luis Fonsi ‘s 2017 hit is the current state of investing and supporting female climate founders in Latin America. A beat we all love, have heard a thousand times, but barely changes.
A year after Despacito’s release, BCG reportedthat women generate twice as much revenue per dollar invested, yet receive less than 4% of global VC funding.
Eight years later, according to regional ecosystem research, women-led startups still receive a low single-digit percentage of venture capital in Latin America.
“Pasito a pasito” isn’t progress. It’s stagnant.
“Royal”, Lorde
With Savia, our first challenge when investing in women founders was our pipeline. The hundreds of companies in our list reflected what most in Latin America’s venture community already know: startups across deep tech, heavy industry, hardware, and energy are led mostly by men.
We tried to manufacture a pipeline, as well as to shine a light on all the overlooked talent budding underwater. The Lotus Award was born. A first of its kind recognition for the best latina climate founder.
The first edition received 60+ applications from 10 countries. From a pool of top tier, science based solutions, Andrea Bonilla from Bioplaster, emerged as the winner. She received fundraising support and a cash grant. Andrea then went on to successfully raise her seed round.
Like panels and pitch competitions, we produced visibility. But visibility isn’t the same as investing or scaling.
Post award, we didn’t deliver the same structured and ongoing support we give to our portfolio companies. Without follow-on capacity, we had fallen into the one-off applause and marketing trap.
Jimena Pardo, Co-founder of Hi Ventures, eloquently posted:
“The Harsh Reality of Supporting Women in Tech and VC:
– Invest $1M in a single female VC or founder to make a meaningful difference.
– Or, invest $100K in hosting a large event for 100 women founders.
No wonder we see so many events instead of real investment. Nice pics though.”
In 2025 we shifted the Lotus from a grant into an angel investment. This way we could provide that year’s winner, Leni Redondo from Celeste, ongoing portfolio support.
This corrected one failure. Others remain.
Nevertheless, investing is only the opening riff of the song.
“It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World”, James Brown
When applied to Latin America, James Brown was spot-on when he said “This is a man’s world.”. The second half “but it would be nothing without a woman”still isn’t loud enough to register.
The Lotus Award aimed to also be a support community for all applicants. We offered workshops and asked for topics of interest. I expected the usual: fundraising, leadership, go-to-market.
One of the most voted topics: “Sexual harassment.”
A Lotus finalist told me: “After you raise that first check, the journey is a long corridor of male boards, male suppliers, male clients, and the worst animal in the zoo: male VCs.”
Regardless of gender, building a startup can be brutal. Scaling one under uneven baseline conditions is plain savage.
“Sexism, and related issues, are a distraction. Instead of having to prove our worth and capability, female founders and leaders could be using that time, the mental energy, on building and scaling.”
— Sherrell Dorsey, Host of TED Tech.
Focusing on gender investing without including safety systems in the conversation, is like financing a band to play at a stage blurred by noise.
As Anne French, climate investor, puts it:
“We don’t have a pipeline problem. We have a system design problem — and we need universities, family offices, corporates, VCs, and governments at the same table.”
What can we do as venture investors?
A minimum requirement is that firms have clear anti-harassment policies, including whistleblower channels. At Savia, we adhere to AMEXCAP’s ethics and whistleblower framework.
Then there’s a last and unwritten song that will hit louder than a thousand wordy VC blogs ever will.
“Money”, Pink Floyd
Latin America’s gender narrative will reset when a Latina female founder hits a unicorn exit.
Money is the loudest melody. Investors follow returns.
It is the same tune behind climate-tech investing. The first LatAm climate tech fund to deliver above market returns will move the needle more than an ocean of reports on the climate crisis.
The first female founder to cash in hundreds of millions will change more mindsets than ten more years of gender panel discussions.
“Ahora Me Quiero Más”, Sara Socas
In November 2025, Sara came back to the Freestyle Masters League.
She lost both battles, one of them against Mexico’s female rapper Azuki. The reaction was unanimous: despite her defeat, the league is better with her in it.
That contradiction is the point. Diversity doesn’t win immediately or easily. But it elevates the game of the entire ecosystem.
Latin America’s climate tech sector is no different. For the region to leapfrog, gender diversity isn’t optional, it’s structural.
Strategic capital, safety systems and a global hit: these are the key tones of a new song called “Gender Scaling”. There are others we haven’t named yet.
The question is still open.
For now, the results speak. Same beat. Same outcome.
