SUMAÚMA

What SUMAÚMA does

SUMAÚMA is a Brazilian non-profit independent journalism organization founded in September 2022 by journalist Eliane Brum and environmental reporter Jonathan Watts. It operates a WordPress-based digital news platform publishing investigative, opinion, photo essay, comics journalism, and video content focused on the Amazon biome, climate collapse, indigenous rights, and environmental politics. The site is available in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French via a qTranslate XT language switcher, giving it trilingual-plus reach aimed at both Brazilian and international audiences interested in Amazon coverage.

The organization runs the Micélio-SUMAÚMA program, launched in 2023, which co-forms forest journalists from indigenous and traditional Amazon communities through multi-month, trilingual journalism training. The first edition trained 14 young people in Médio Xingu, Altamira, three of whom were hired into SUMAÚMA's newsroom; a second edition launched in March 2025 with 11 participants selected from across the Legal Amazon. The stated long-term goal is a newsroom majority-composed of forest journalists within ten years of founding.

SUMAÚMA's revenue model is reader-supported: voluntary recurring donations flow through the 'Aliado' program on the Apoia.se platform, supplemented by institutional grants from foundations including Global Witness, Good Energies Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Instituto Clima e Sociedade, Instituto Galo da Manhã, Meraki Impact, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. It distributes content across its own website, newsletters (managed via Sendy), Twitter/X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, a WhatsApp Channel, and a Spotify-distributed podcast. The organization is registered in Brazil as ASSOCIAÇÃO SUMAÚMA ORGANIZAÇÃO DE COMUNICAÇÃO E PROJETOS SOCIAIS (CNPJ 47.438.859/0001-40), with legal headquarters in São Paulo, a primary newsroom in Altamira, and a COP30 reporting base in Belém.

Name

SUMAÚMA

Legal name

ASSOCIAÇÃO SUMAÚMA ORGANIZAÇÃO DE COMUNICAÇÃO E PROJETOS SOCIAIS

Website

https://sumauma.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SUMAÚMA is a Brazilian non-profit independent journalism organization founded in 2022 by Eliane Brum and Jonathan Watts. It publishes trilingual investigative and environmental coverage of the Amazon, trains forest journalists through its Micélio program, and funds operations via reader donations and foundation grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Independent Digital Journalism

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Periodical Publishers (513120), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAJADAF

Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/News Publishing (Newspapers, Digital Newsrooms, Wire Services)

SECONDARYMPAJADAG

Community, Ethnic & Multilingual News Publishers

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/News Publishing (Newspapers, Digital Newsrooms, Wire Services)

SECONDARYMPAJADAK

Data Journalism & News Intelligence Publishers (Indexes, Election/Market Data)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/News Publishing (Newspapers, Digital Newsrooms, Wire Services)

SECONDARYMPAJADAJ

Newsletters & Email-Based News Publishers (B2B/B2C)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/News Publishing (Newspapers, Digital Newsrooms, Wire Services)

Keywords

• Independent journalism
• Environmental reporting
• Investigative reporting
• Climate journalism
• Indigenous journalism

Headquarters

HQ city

Altamira

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Reader Donations / Aliado Program: Monthly donations from readers through the 'Aliado' (ally) program, where supporters contribute financially to sustain independent journalism focused on the Amazon and climate issues
2. Newsletter Subscriptions: Free and paid newsletter subscriptions distributed via email, with free access to basic content and premium newsletters for supporters

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

SUMAÚMA publishes original investigative and environmental journalism in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French from its newsrooms in Altamira, Belém, and São Paulo, focused on the Amazon, climate collapse, indigenous rights, and environmental politics. It offers a multilingual digital news platform with articles, photo essays, comics journalism, video reports, newsletters, a WhatsApp channel, the Micélio forest-journalist co-formation program, special digital magazines such as "Amazonizando a COP," and the "Guariba na COP" podcast series.

Product overview

SUMAÚMA is an independent Brazilian journalism organization operating a trilingual (Portuguese, Spanish, English) digital platform focused on the Amazon, climate collapse, Indigenous rights, and environmental politics. Its core product is the SUMAÚMA Website, which publishes articles, opinion pieces, photo essays, comics journalism, and video reports. Supporting products include Newsletters and a WhatsApp Channel for direct audience engagement, the Micélio-SUMAÚMA co-formation program for training forest journalists from Indigenous and traditional communities, and the Amazonizando a COP digital magazine documenting its COP30 coverage. Audio content is distributed via the Guariba na COP podcast series on Spotify. Revenue is generated through the SUMAÚMA Apoiadores donor program on Apoia.se. The company is committed to a ten-year goal (now seven years remaining) of having its newsroom composed predominantly of floresta journalists.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Micélio-SUMAÚMA: Trilingual journalism co-formation program for journalists from forest communities. The program trains Indigenous and traditional community members in journalism ethics and technique, with the goal of having the newsroom majoritarily composed of forest journalists within ten years.

Products and services

• SUMAÚMA Website (Multilingual Journalism Platform) Trilingual (Portuguese, Spanish, English, plus French sections) digital news platform covering the Amazon, climate collapse, indigenous rights, and environmental politics; serves general readers, researchers, and international audiences seeking independent journalism on Amazon and climate issues.
• SUMAÚMA Newsletters Subscription-based email newsletter service offering domestic and international editions with stories and exclusive content for subscribers; managed via Sendy and integrated with Facebook sign-up forms.
• SUMAÚMA WhatsApp Channel WhatsApp channel for direct audience engagement and real-time distribution of SUMAÚMA's journalism to subscribers and supporters.
• Micélio-SUMAÚMA Forest Journalist Co-formation Program Year-long trilingual journalism co-formation program that trains indigenous and traditional community members as forest journalists (jornalistas-floresta), combining traditional knowledge with professional journalism skills; funded by Global Witness, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Instituto Clima e Sociedade, and others.
• Amazonizando a COP (COP30 Digital Magazine) Special 148-page digital magazine documenting SUMAÚMA's COP30 coverage with reporting, articles, conversations, illustrations, and photographs on indigenous participation, climate science, and Amazon negotiations.
• Guariba na COP Podcast Series Audio podcast series covering COP30 from the perspective of two more-than-human characters from the Terra do Meio region; distributed via Spotify.

Quantifiable outcome

• 148-page special COP30 magazine 'Amazonizando a COP' produced and distributed
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• King's College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2024Partnership for investigative journalism on Belo Sun mining company. King's College London collaborated with SUMAÚMA on reporting about Canadian mining threats to the Xingu River region, combining academic research with independent journalism.
• InfoAmazoniacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Partnership for environmental journalism coverage. InfoAmazonia collaborated with SUMAÚMA on stories including the Rio Iriri investigation about cyanobacteria and indigenous communities, combining data journalism with on-the-ground reporting.
• Climate Tracker América LatinaminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024Climate Tracker provided support for journalism coverage of climate topics, including the article 'O caso das duas COPs para a mesma ameaça planetária' produced with their support.
• Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCIMI has accompanied and supported the Akroá Gamella people's land reclamation process since 2013, working alongside SUMAÚMA's Micélio program which trained journalist Énh Xym Akroá Gamella to tell the community's story.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Mongabay: Global nonprofit environmental news outlet with multilingual coverage (English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian) focused on forests, climate, and biodiversity. Closely comparable in thematic focus, multilingual reach, and nonprofit reader-funded model.
• De Correspondent: Dutch-origin member-funded independent journalism platform now expanded internationally (including Brazilian presence via The Correspondent). Comparable reader-supported, mission-driven journalism model with similar member/donor engagement mechanics.
• Mídia Ninja: Brazilian independent journalism collective using social media and a community-supported model, covering politics, environment, and social movements. Comparable as an independent, digitally-native Brazilian outlet with a community-led approach.
• The Intercept Brasil: Brazil-based nonprofit investigative journalism outlet operating in Portuguese with a similar reader-supported model and comparable focus on environment, indigenous rights, and political accountability. Most direct peer in scale, geography, and editorial posture.
• InfoAmazonia: Data-driven environmental journalism outlet covering the Amazon across multiple Latin American countries with a multilingual platform. Already a confirmed SUMAÚMA partner and most direct peer in data-journalism-meets-environmental-reporting.
• Repórter Brasil: Brazilian investigative nonprofit newsroom with grant-supported funding covering human rights, labor, and environmental issues. Comparable as a mission-driven investigative outlet with a similar donor/grant funding profile.
• Agência Pública: Brazilian investigative journalism nonprofit publishing in Portuguese with grant-supported funding and a focus on human rights, environment, and public interest reporting. Directly comparable as a São Paulo-based investigative nonprofit newsroom.

Broad incumbents

• ProPublica: U.S.-based investigative journalism nonprofit with a donor-supported model and rigorous environmental/indigenous reporting. Comparable as a structural model for nonprofit investigative funding, though operating at much larger scale.
• The Guardian Environment: Major English-language news outlet with extensive Amazon and climate coverage and a reader-supported funding model. Represents a broader incumbent competing for the same international climate-conscious readership.

Emerging players

• NACLA: Independent nonprofit media covering Latin America with thematic overlap on environment, indigenous movements, and extractive industries. Comparable as a smaller-scale, donor-supported outlet serving a Latin American–focused audience.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sumaumajournal
• Facebookfacebook.com/sumaumajornalismo
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sumauma-jornalismo
• Instagraminstagram.com/sumaumajornalismo
• TikToktiktok.com/@sumaumajornalismo?lang=pt-BR

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SUMAÚMA