Agri-food

A study published last week highlights the need for more blended finance strategies and creative approaches to meaningfully transform food systems and meet global social and environmental challenges

A consortium of development finance institutions including Norfund, Finnfund and British International Investment have joined forces with private equity firm Phatisa to back Lona Group, a South African citrus and fresh-produce business

Axa, Tikehau Capital and Unilever have joined forces to launch a new regenerative agriculture fund, showing increased interest in a sector which can play a major role in tackling both land degradation and climate change

The Landscape Resilience Fund and the IDH Farmfit Fund are investing in Swiss-Ghanaian cocoa social enterprise Koa to build new processing facilities and provide more income generating opportunities for farmers

Rabobank’s Acorn program aims to unlock the international carbon market for smallholder farmers in developing economies, with the use of agroforestry and the latest technologies for carbon sequestration monitoring

Protix, which produces commercially viable insect-based food ingredients, eyes internationally expansion after securing backing from new and existing impact investors in its latest fundraising round

Gresham House, one of London’s oldest asset managers, is betting big on vertical farming. Peter Bachmann, its head of sustainable infrastructure, believes this high-tech agriculture is at a “breakthrough point”.

Sustainable aquaculture investment fund Aqua-Spark has bought a 3.38% stake in Norwegian biotech company Hofseth Biocare ASA for €10mn.

Only 13% of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are registered for any digital service to boost production. The newly launched Digital Agri Hub is hoping to improve this statistic.

SilverStreet Capital, an investor in African agriculture, sees opportunities where others shy away from the high risks. “We are targeting the parts of the value chain that need fixing,” says founder Gary Vaughan-Smith.