Specialist food and agriculture investor Anterra Capital has announced the first close of its third fund, Fund III, at $100m, against a target of $200m.
Anterra’s view is the food system is “too large and too entrenched to be replaced”, but should be transformed from within by companies operating at deep leverage points that can scale on existing industry infrastructure.
The firm invests in and builds companies that apply life-science and software innovations to the food and agriculture sectors, and says it “integrates impact and ESG considerations into the core of its investment process”.
“The firm has now successfully navigated two capital cycles in food and agriculture,” said Maarten Goossens, partner at Anterra Capital.
“Each one rewarded the same discipline: backing companies that deliver real returns for their customers and to their investors. What’s different this time is that the real-world industries we operate in – large, complex and historically resistant to change – are now ready to be rewired, and the tools to do it have arrived.”
The latest fund’s investor base spans institutional investors, food system operators and industry innovators across North America, Europe and APAC, including the world’s largest food and agriculture bank and an Asian sovereign wealth fund.
“The vote of confidence from our investor base is what gives this close its weight,” said Adam Anders, partner at Anterra Capital. “The combination of leading global asset managers, the institutions that know our sector backwards and the operators who farm millions of acres all backing the same thesis is an unrivalled force supporting the Anterra portfolio”.
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