Smallholder Agriculture
Frontier and Growth Markets | January 26, 2023
Climate tech venture Ecozen raises $25 million, giving early investors a partial exit
ImpactAlpha, January 26 – Ecozen, in Pune, India, launched a decade ago to provide affordable, clean energy-fueled products for India’s smallholder farmers. The …
Smallholder Agriculture | January 23, 2023
BlueOrchard invests $5.29 million in Brazilian insurer Newe for climate resilience
ImpactAlpha. Jan. 23 – Climate-driven floods, droughts and extreme weather around the world caused more than $268 billion in costs last year. Most …
Photo by GMAC.
Dealflow | January 23, 2023
Bamboo Capital’s Build Fund backs Green Mountain Arabica Coffee in Rwanda
ImpactAlpha, January 23 — In Rwanda’s Karenge region, women-owned Green Mountain Arabica Coffee exports green unroasted coffee beans that it sources from 1,200 …
Photo credit: IFAD
Frontier and Growth Markets | November 16, 2022
Katapult’s Africa accelerator zeros in on food security
ImpactAlpha, November 16 – Insect farming in Ghana. Aquaculture in Kenya. Land restoration in Morocco. Seven of the nine startups in the Norway-based impact …
Photo credit: Root Capital
Signals | November 15, 2022
Women-led agribusinesses notch greater profits, faster growth and less risk
ImpactAlpha, November 15 – Financing smallholder farmers is difficult work. New data from Root Capital suggests that investing in women delivers the trifecta investors …
Photo by Advanta.
Smallholder Agriculture | October 25, 2022
KKR Global Impact takes a $300 million stake in seed platform Advanta Enterprises
ImpactAlpha, October 25 — KKR Global Impact, the $1.3 billion impact fund of private equity giant KKR, has acquired a 13.3% of Advanta …
Photo by Sahyadri Farms.
Smallholder Agriculture | September 15, 2022
Sahyadri Farms raises nearly $40 million to digitalize India’s smallholder farmers
ImpactAlpha, September 15 — Sahyadri Farms is a farmer-led fruit and vegetable processing and export business that works with more than 18,000 farmers …
Dealflow | September 8, 2022
Misfits Market acquires Imperfect Foods to consolidate the food-waste reduction market
ImpactAlpha, September 8 — Even amid the downturn in venture funding this year, significant raises for companies in food waste management and upcycling …
Photo by Coyuchi.
sustainability | August 31, 2022
Organic brand Coyuchi looks to raise capital from the crowd
ImpactAlpha, August 31 — Long before sustainability became a buzzword, San Francisco-based Coyuchi was selling high-end organic cotton sheets, bath towels and other …
Agents of Impact | August 19, 2022
Charley Cummings, Walden Mutual Bank: Sustainable lending for sustainable food
Within the next few weeks, if everything goes according to plan, the first customers will make deposits in New Hampshire-based Walden Mutual Bank, …
Image credit: Wheelocity
India | July 19, 2022
Wheelocity raises $12 million to cut waste from India’s food supply chain
ImpactAlpha, July 19 – Waste of fresh food is a common problem in emerging markets where many small farmers lack access to cooling technologies, …
Signals | July 14, 2022
Is a green transition the cause – or the solution – in Sri Lanka’s crisis?
ImpactAlpha, July 14 – It was an irresistible meme: A crash transition to organic farming tanked Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector and sent the country …
Dealflow | July 12, 2022
Ankur Capital backs impact tech ventures Vegrow and String Bio
ImpactAlpha, July 12 — Mumbai-based impact fund Ankur Capital seeks out early and even unproven businesses that are using technology to drive down …
Amy Bell, The Cook's Nook
Agents of Impact | July 8, 2022
Amy Bell, The Cook’s Nook: Planting seeds for impact
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 8 – Amy Bell’s early work as a financier and advisor to impact funds and social enterprises helped establish the nascent field …
Photo credit: Educe Cooperativa
Smallholder Agriculture | June 16, 2022
Investing to transform food systems in the face of a global crisis
The growing food crisis has become a global catastrophe. The combined impact of the invasion of Ukraine, climate-related disasters like droughts, and other …
Impact Voices | June 6, 2022
Africa Eats: Filling the gap in operational capital to grow Africa’s small businesses
Find great companies, add growth capital, and the result are bigger, stronger, more scalable companies. This analysis demonstrates what happens when the “missing …
Impact Voices | May 23, 2022
Invest in agriculture for its critical role in food security and climate change
More than two billion photos were taken of dinner plates in 2020, at the advent of a global pandemic. Americans have always turned …
Photo credit: Sencrop.
Agrifood Tech | May 17, 2022
Sencrop secures $18 million to help farmers manage ‘ultra-local’ weather risks
ImpactAlpha, May 17 — French agtech venture Sencrop provides microclimate information to 20,000 farmers in Europe from its network of ultra-local weather stations. …
Photo by Joao Marcelo Marques on Unsplash.
Agrifood Tech | May 3, 2022
Lightsmith Group backs Brazil’s Solinftec’s precision agriculture-as-a-service
ImpactAlpha, May 3 — New York-based private equity firm Lightsmith Group raised $186 million to invest in companies with data and technology for …
Agents of Impact | April 29, 2022
Farmerline’s Alloysius Attah: Helping farmers in Africa produce and sell more food
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 29 – The climate disruption is spurring a long overdue upgrade for 500 million smallholder farmers, who produce up to 80% of …
Photo credit: Farmerline
Smallholder Agriculture | April 27, 2022
Ghanaian agtech venture Farmerline raises $12.9 million to help small farmers improve yields
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 27 – Farmerline’s marketplace helps smallholder farmers build climate resilience with digital tools, logistics, field agents, farm resources and agribusiness partnerships. On …
Inclusive Economy | April 22, 2022
Call No 41: How investors are catalyzing climate capital for adaptation and equity (video)
ImpactAlpha, April 22 – The Ukraine crisis risks tipping up to 1.7 billion people — over one-fifth of humanity — into poverty, destitution …
Ashanti Williams from the Black Yard Farm | Photo credit: lex Barlowe
The Reconstruction | April 19, 2022
Black Farmer Fund is reimagining U.S. agricultural finance, on farmers’ terms
A century ago, Black farmers represented 14% of all farmers in the U.S. Now? Just 1.4%. Barriers to affordable financing have cost farmers …
Smallholder Agriculture | April 13, 2022
Climate change spurs innovation in finance as smallholder farmers struggle to adapt
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 13 – The world’s 500 million smallholder farmers face a double crunch in coming decades: the need to grow more food for …
Photo credit: Apollo Agriculture
Smallholder Agriculture | March 31, 2022
Apollo Agriculture is out to show how financing smallholder farmers can boost production and profits
ImpactAlpha, March 31 – Smallholder farmers have long been the darling of development specialists, microfinance institutions and impact investors. Now, commercial investors are …
Photo credit: ThriveAgric.
Smallholder Agriculture | March 23, 2022
ThriveAgric scores $56.4 million in debt to help smallholder farmers build income
ImpactAlpha, March 23 — Africa is home to approximately 33 million smallholder farmers, who produce nearly 70% of the continent’s food supply. Most …
Image Credits: Zafaran Photography.
Smallholder Agriculture | March 22, 2022
Apollo Agriculture raises $40 million to bank smallholder farmers in Africa
ImpactAlpha, March 22 — Nairobi-based Apollo has used satellite imagery data and machine learning to underwrite loans to Kenya’s small-scale maize farmers since …
Photo credit: Victory Farms, an AgDevCo portfolio company
Frontier and Growth Markets | February 28, 2022
AgDevCo raises $90 million to invest in African agri-businesses
ImpactAlpha, February 28 – AgDevCo has invested $150 million since 2010 in small agri-businesses providing inputs, logistics and production assistance to Africa’s smallholder …
Photo credit: Sistema.bio.
Smallholder Agriculture | February 10, 2022
Sistema.bio secures $15.6 million for modular biodigesters for smallholder farmers
ImpactAlpha, February 10 — Mexico City-based Sistema.bio launched in 2010 to sell farmers low-cost biodigesters to convert waste into clean energy and biofertilizer. …
Photo credit: Israel21C.
Smallholder Agriculture | February 7, 2022
Israel’s Agritask raises $26 million for sensor data for farmers
ImpactAlpha, February 7 — Agritask uses a network of connected sensors, weather stations and satellite imagery to give farmers and insurers insight into …
Photo credit: Daniel Acker.
Agrifood Tech | February 1, 2022
Kula Bio raises $50 million to meet demand for sustainable nitrogen biofertilizer
ImpactAlpha, February 1 — A raft of biotech startups are helping farmers improve soil quality and rely less on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, a …
Photo credit: Krishi Jagran.
Smallholder Agriculture | January 19, 2022
Arya raises $60 million to expand agri-commerce for India’s smallholder farmers
ImpactAlpha, January 19 – Arya helps India’s smallholder farmers transport and store their crops and provides working capital until they sell their crops. …
Catalytic Capital | October 20, 2021
Deploying catalytic capital to bridge financing gaps for climate action
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 20 – Climate finance is on a roll. Climate finance is stuck. Both statements are true. Investors have poured record sums …
Kenyan farmer | Photo credit: Jen Watson
Catalytic Capital | October 13, 2021
Researchers ready a dozen-plus deep dives into the complexities of catalytic capital
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 13 – Aceli Africa provides a first-loss cushion of up to 8% to lenders as a way to spur them to back …
Smallholder Agriculture | October 7, 2021
Tazah raises $2 million to connect Pakistan’s farmers to small food retailers
ImpactAlpha, October 7 – Tazah wants to streamline Pakistan’s $60 billion food supply chain and help farmers secure better prices by cutting out …
Photo credit: ColdHubs
Dealflow | September 29, 2021
Africa Eats crowdfunds capital to strengthen Africa’s food supply chains
ImpactAlpha, September 29 – Impact accelerator program Fledge last year launched Africa Eats to back promising startups in Africa that are strengthening the …
Photo credit: ReelFruit
Dealflow | September 28, 2021
Alitheia backs Nigerian agri-processing venture ReelFruit
ImpactAlpha, September 28 – ReelFruit sources produce from local farmers for dried fruit snacks. The Lagos-based company’s $3 million Series A round will …
Dealflow | September 21, 2021
Steward raises $8.8 million to expand online lending for sustainable farms
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 21 – Steward pools investments from individuals to provide capital to sustainably run farms, fisheries, and food producers. Since it was …
Photo credit: Agricycle.
Conservation | September 7, 2021
Agricycle raises $2.4 million to repurpose food waste from smallholder farmers in Africa
ImpactAlpha, September 7 — Obstacles to the global market mean many smallholder farmers without adequate storage throw away large portions of their crops. …
Photo credit: TartanSense
Smallholder Agriculture | August 26, 2021
Robotics company TartanSense secures $5 million to help India’s farmers automate field tasks
ImpactAlpha, August 26 – Agriculture suffers from a worldwide labor shortage that has been exacerbated by the global pandemic. Bangalore-based TartanSense is developing …
Five Cardinals Farm in Plainview, Va.
Signals | August 25, 2021
Steward revamps its ‘crowdfarming’ model with short term loans for sustainable farms
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 25 – Sustainable farmers are on the front lines of the fight to mitigate climate change. Yet agriculture funding is geared …
Photo credit: Benzinga.
Climate Finance | August 24, 2021
Regrow secures $17 million to help farmers monetize carbon reductions
ImpactAlpha, August 24 — “Implementing and scaling responsible, sustainable agricultural practices is the most actionable strategy we can take to reverse climate change,” …
Innovative Finance | July 28, 2021
India’s Samunnati to list green bond to back climate-resilient farming
ImpactAlpha, July 28 – Chennai-based Samunnati is a rare source of financing for India’s 130 million smallholder farmers, coupling capital with agricultural support …
Jocotenango, Guatemala | Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash
Smallholder Agriculture | July 1, 2021
Impact investors step up to the migration challenge in Central America
ImpactAlpha, July 1 – The confluence in Central America of extreme weather events, gang violence, corruption, and poverty – exacerbated by COVID – is …
Photo credit: SupPlant.
Green Infrastructure | June 15, 2021
SupPlant raises $10 million for affordable irrigation for smallholder farmers
ImpactAlpha, June 15 — SupPlant‘s sensorless hardware collects real-time data on plants, soil and the climate conditions to help farmers make precise irrigation …