Successful trial of AI’s geospatial intelligence capabilities in forestry sector

The world’s largest pulp supplier, Suzano, announces a long-term commercial agreement with the AI-powered land use and supply chain management startup, Marvin. Alongside this, Suzano’s venture capital arm, Suzano Ventures, has completed a strategic follow-on investment into Marvin, following its initial investment in October 2023.

These two milestones follow the successful technical validation of Marvin’s platform product, through extensive and varied trials demonstrating applicability across Suzano’s operations. Suzano has now signed a multi-year contract to use Marvin’s land use geospatial intelligence products for strengthening its approach to yield prediction, water resource and risk management, carbon measurement and verification, forest certification, and supply chain optimization and traceability.

Founded in 2023, Marvin brings together leading researchers and data scientists to develop a proprietary platform analysis of land use, combining the latest scientific research, geospatial and satellite data, and artificial intelligence. By providing high-quality information on multiple areas of risk and opportunity, Marvin enables companies to better manage compliance, enhance resource efficiency and sustainability, and build resilience to the impacts of a changing climate.

The business has rapidly expanded through providing comprehensive and scalable applications for corporates and financial institutions with operations, supply chains, or investments in agriculture, forestry, biofuels, and mining. Marvin’s customer base also includes several government agencies and multinationals.

Ofer Judovits, co-founder and CEO at Marvin said, “We are excited to strengthen our partnership with Suzano, as both a strategic investor and a key customer for Marvin. It is very significant for us to receive validation of our platform product’s technical and economic value from a business with a well-earned reputation for excellence in its forest operations, that has been at the forefront of innovation and technology in the pulp and paper sector.”

“We recently opened an office in Brazil, because we believe it is important to be present in South America to strengthen our capabilities and accuracy in the complex and globally significant biomes in this region, as well as to meet the growing demand from regional businesses. We know that while some companies may initially come to us to because of regulatory requirements and sustainability due diligence concerns, such as the EU Deforestation Regulation, they quickly realise that our data and insights can provide a lot more than compliance benefits,” said Mr Judovits.

Yhasmin Paiva Rody, R&D Manager at Suzano said, “Our partnership with Marvin has been an enriching journey of learning and innovation. This validation reflects not only the capabilities of Marvin’s technology, but also our collaborative approach to innovation, driven by an in-depth technical understanding and the agile development of cutting-edge solutions. A standout achievement is the creation of a pioneering operational platform that, through remote sensing tools and ground-validated data, is able to measure water use and carbon sequestration and allows us to evaluate the impacts of climate change across Suzano’s 27,000 square kilometers of farms and native forest. The development of this platform is testament to the scale of innovation that can be achieved through deep, strategic partnerships between large corporates and startups, and demonstrates the potential for Marvin’s technology to transform land management practices across a wide range of sectors.”

Marvin’s product platform supports compliance with international sustainability certification schemes, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) and Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). The product platform also provides crucial data for accurate ESG reporting against various frameworks, including the GHG Protocol, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and EU Deforestation Regulation.