ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week:
Agrifood investing. Agri-processing company AgroEknor tapped Nigeria’s bond market to finance exports… Anteris Capital, Rumbo Ventures and Water Unite Impact led a $5.7 million round for New York-based Pack2Zero, a producer of plant-based, compostable packaging for the food and beverage industry… Cameroon’s First African Company received €2 million ($2.2 million) in debt from the International Finance Corp., half of which has concessional terms, to expand local dairy and fruit juice manufacturing… Citi Social Finance and the State Bank of India partnered on a $295 million facility to expand access to credit for smallholder farmers… Sierra Leone’s Pee Cee Holdings, which grows and distributes agricultural goods throughout Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, secured a $12 million loan from the International Finance Corp. to set up a 1,200-acre farm with modern machinery and storage facilities… Tafalo in Côte d’Ivoire received a $500,000 working capital loan from Sahel Capital to train rural farmers and aggregate produce for export.
Climate Finance. Climate finance lab put $1 million into five funding mechanisms… Gradyent snagged €28 million to create ‘digital twins’ of heating and cooling systems… Insurance data analytics firm Verisk acquired Simplitium Limited, a subsidiary of Nasdaq that provides risk-modelling software for catastrophes… Toronto-based Adaptis, whose software helps building managers reduce energy and material use, raised $4 million in a seed round led by Building Ventures.
Energy transition. Aerem secured $11.7 million to expand solar financing for Indian businesses… Aetherflux landed $50 million to deliver space-based solar power… Excelsior Energy Capital closed its second Renewable Energy Investment Fund at $1 billion, anchored by the Development Bank of Japan, to invest in solar, energy storage, wind and other energy transition projects in the US… Schroders secured $100 million from Apple to anchor its second China-focused clean energy fund, which will invest in late-stage wind and solar projects… TPG Rise led a €110 million ($120 million) investment in Enpal, a German supplier of integrated solar panels, heat pumps and other residential green tech.
Fund news. ImpactA Global, a women-led debt investor for emerging markets infrastructure projects, raised $200 million for its fund from Legal & General, IDB Invest, Mobilist and other investors… Mumbai-based Asha Ventures raised $10 million from British International Investment for its first fund to invest in early stage companies focused on climate, financial inclusion, education, job creation and healthcare solutions… The Public Investment Corp., which manages South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund, invested $40 million in three of Africa50’s infrastructure development initiatives.
Small business. Swedfund committed €26 million ($28.5 million) in AfricInvest’s Financial Inclusion Vehicle, which invests in African financial institutions focused on underserved customers and small businesses… Verdant Capital’s Hybrid Fund re-upped its investment LOLC Africa, which has a network of lenders for micro and small businesses in Asia and Africa.
Sustainability. Fairly Made raised $16 million for sustainable fashion supply chains… Fibers Fund invested in Range Revolution to produce leather sustainably… Novo Holdings invested in Sylvan, a KKR-backed company, to make fungi-based crop treatments to replace synthetic chemicals… Sydney-based Climate Tech Partners raised A$15 million (US$9 million) from Airbus and Qantas to accelerate the development of sustainable aviation fuel (see related, “Cloudy skies: DOE backs sustainable aviation fuel, but airline demand is slow”).
