ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week:
Agrifood investing. Arlington, Va.-based Area 2 Farms raised $9 million from Slow Ventures, Seven Seven Six and Animo to build high-tech community farms so food can be produced closer to where it’s consumed… Bharat Intelligence secured pre-seed funding to address farm labor shortages by connecting India’s smallholder fruit and vegetable farmers with skilled workers when additional help is needed.
Education tech. India-based online learning provider Vedantu raised $11 million in convertible notes from ABC World Asia, Accel India and Omidyar Network India to expand AI-driven tutoring and test preparation.
Energy transition. Connecticut Green Bank’s bond financing for green infrastructure and home solar.
Fund news. AfricInvest’s closed $58 million for its third French-African fund… Brookfield’s energy transition fund nabbed $1.5 billion from Norway’s sovereign wealth fund… European development banks FMO and OeEB committed €30 million ($31.8 million) to the Hivos-Triodos Fonds, an impact fund managed by Triodos Investment Management. The fund makes growth-stage sustainable investments in emerging markets… Ironclad Ventures launched employee secondaries fund to give India’s worker-owners an exit option… Ukrainian VC fund launched with €32.5 million from European institutions… Unleash Ventures brought Japanese investors to India’s financial inclusion opportunities.
Green fuels. Germany-based enaDyne raised €7 million ($7.6 million) from Apex Ventures, Energy Capital Ventures, Possible Ventures and Antares Ventures to convert carbon dioxide into new fuels and chemicals… UK-based OXCCU raised £20.8 million ($28 million) to convert CO2, bio-waste and biogas into sustainable jetfuel.
Going public. Electric aircraft maker Beta Technologies filed for a public offering. The Burlington, Vt.-based company is backed by TPG Rise, Qatar Investment Authority, Fidelity and GE Aerospace… Modular nuclear energy developer Hadron Energy will go public by merging with GigCapital7 Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
Inclusive finance. A to Z Impact backed Balloon Ventures to spur quality jobs at East Africa’s small businesses… Sao Paulo-based Kanastra secured $30 million in Series B equity from F-Prime, the International Finance Corp., Kaszek, Valor Capital, Quona Capital and Itaú for its back-end financial infrastructure for private credit providers… The African Development Bank is providing a 100% guarantee to Exim Bank Tanzania for up to $10 million in trade financing. The deal is meant to encourage new lines of credit for Exim from private investors by derisking a portion of Exim’s small business lending… UK-based fintech venture Triver inked £114 million ($152.8 million) for its ultra-fast small business loan underwriting and disbursement.
Mergers and acquisitions. KKR is investing $1.2 billion for a 50% stake in TotalEnergies’ North American renewable energy portfolio… Nuveen’s Private Equity Impact group took a majority stake in Ally Energy Solutions, a distributed clean energy developer for commercial and industrial companies.
Waste management. Closed Loop Partners loaned $10 million to sustainable packaging company TemperPack. It’s the third loan to TemperPack since 2018 from the circular economy and recycling-focused investor… Singapore’s Loom Carbon secured early funding to repurpose textile waste.
Women’s health. Women Innovation Fund invested in Uganda-based Denebola Technologies, which provides affordable health insurance and telehealth services to rural women.
