Agri-food

The impact investor’s second fund focuses on early-stage companies that are trying to transform the food system from farm to fork, it says.

For the first time in history, farmed fish production has overtaken that of wild catch. That’s partly why impact investment fund Summa Equity is betting on the sustainable salmon sector to grow five-fold by 2040.

A programme aimed at cutting emissions from cotton farming is expanding its activities in core countries India and the US, with plans to reach over 90,000 farmers in coming years.

The Dutch pension fund of the Dutch-Belgian retail giant has set an impact mandate of €300m. Achmea IM will provide strategic advice, as well as select and monitor funds aligned with the pension fund’s impact themes of climate and nutrition.

The Business Investment Financing Track has been set up to accelerate financial support for smallholder farmers and MSMEs in the agri-food sector, and improve food security and agricultural development in low-income countries.

The tie-up aims to address a $74bn finance gap for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa as well as provide specialist support to develop commercially viable business practices.

Summa Equity has invested in Nutris, a Croatian factory developing sustainable protein sources from fava beans, through the €2.3bn Summa Equity Fund III.

The loan will help NMB Bank Zimbabwe support famers and exporters in a country feeling the brunt of climate change impacts.

The new fund is focused on emerging markets and made its first two investments into social enterprise One Acre Fund and into a blue bond issued by the International Bank of Ecuador.

Downforce Technologies, a global digital measurement, reporting and verification startup in soil organic carbon measurement and prediction, has closed a $4.2m funding round led by Equator VC.