Conviction . Social & Environmental Impact
Botana AI
Our first Social & Environmental Impact investment. A farmer-first platform that helps growers manage their land like a portfolio and choose crops that survive a changing climate.
Why we backed Botana
The Mediterranean is Europe's climate frontline, and the farmers closest to it have the fewest tools to adapt. Botana turns a field into a portfolio: it reads soil, climate and market data and ranks the crops that pay and endure. We backed two founders who treat a grower's field with the seriousness most people reserve for a balance sheet. This is the first investment under a deliberate impact thesis, measured outcomes over slogans.
"Botana was born in Sicily, the same soil a generation of our families once left. Backing the company fighting to keep those fields alive is personal."
Antonino Sardegno, Managing Partner
The company at a glance
Profit-optimised crops
Ranked by profit, risk and the proprietary Botana Score.
The Botana Score
One sustainability metric for soil health, water use and planting method.
Smart weather alerts
Real-time warnings paired with field-level actions.
Live pilot
Active in Sicily, Europe's climate frontline.
The team
Hugo Bouet
Founder and CEO
INSEAD . ESSEC . ex-Google
Estrella Zuniga
Co-Founder
HEC Paris . ex-AXA Climate
Advisor: Dr. Francesca Marinangeli, agronomist, CREA and University of Perugia.
More than capital
We back founders the way we run fund infrastructure: structure first, then scale. For Botana that means clean instrument design through the GmbH to AG conversion, cross-border readiness as the pilot grows beyond Italy, and warm access to Swiss and European impact capital. Operational alpha is protecting good founders from avoidable, irreversible mistakes.
Recognised at venture 2026
venture is one of Switzerland's oldest and most respected startup competitions, run with ETH, EPFL, Innosuisse and McKinsey. Botana won the Social & Environmental Impact category in 2026, judged by a panel drawn from impact finance, conservation science and humanitarian outcomes. The category rewards measured impact, not ambition.
How we approach impact
One thesis, few names, deep involvement. We invest where a credible business model and a real-world outcome reinforce each other, and we stay close enough to be useful. Botana is the first. It will not be the last.
Its Managing Partner, Antonino Sardegno, is a registered client adviser under FinSA (register of BX Swiss AG, no. AS61372); the companies are not licensed by FINMA. This page is informational, describes a portfolio investment, and is not investment advice, an offer or a solicitation.