ImpactAlpha, August 13 – Venture capital firm S2G Ventures invests in sustainable agrifood technology. It’s now expanding into ocean health and sustainable seafood. Oceans provide a critical food source for billions of people and are crucial link in tackling climate change. S2G’s Oceans and Seafood fund will back early- and growth-stage startups developing science and

The Brief: Hourly employee ownership, seeding vertical farms, eco-packaging, e-motorcycles in Brazil, tropical forests funds, stranded-asset write-downs

Featured: This private-equity giant has distributed more than $500 million – to hourly employees (podcast)

More than two dozen funds investing in tropical forests and communities

The funds have at least $2.6 billion in capital to invest in firms and projects generating revenue from tropical forestry and agriculture products and benefiting smallholder farmers and forest-dependent communities.

This private-equity giant has distributed more than $500 million – to hourly employees (podcast)

Sharing wealth with hourly employees has not been a major part of the private-equity playbook, which has more often called for layoffs, plant closings and large helpings of debt. But at least in its industrial manufacturing portfolio, the private-equity firm KKR has distributed about a half-billion dollars in dividends and other proceeds to about 20,000

TemperPack closes $31 million for eco-packaging

ImpactAlpha, August 12 – TemperPack makes thermal insulation for delivery of perishable goods and medicine. The Richmond, Va.-based company raised its Series C round amid “significant growth,” accelerated by COVID and the rising demand for home delivery. The pandemic is likely to spur “lasting changes in e-commerce behavior as well as increased interest in sustainability

Bayer and Temasek launch Unfold to accelerate vertical farming

ImpactAlpha, August 12 – Vertical farming ventures are raising capital on the promise of the technology’s impact on food security. Nascent technology means the approach remains costlier than traditional horizontal greenhouses. Bayer and Temasek’s new venture, Unfold, will develop seed varieties meant for indoor growing conditions using genetic material from agri-health giant Bayer’s repository. Unfold

AgFunder launches impact fund for agrifood tech startups

ImpactAlpha, August 11 – San Francisco-based venture capital firm AgFunder launched its GROW accelerator in Singapore last year to support Asia’s agrifood tech ecosystem. It’s now adding an impact fund to support seed and Series A ventures, including companies from GROW’s first cohort. The fund is targeting $20 to $30 million to make investments of