Anterra Capital (Anterra), an international food and agriculture specialist venture capital firm, has held the initial closing of its second food and agriculture technology fund, Anterra F&A Ventures II, raising USD175 million, exceeding the targeted size of the fund.
Due to the positive market reception for the fund’s mission and strategy, Anterra is tracking towards an upsized second fund, and anticipates a final closing in the third quarter, 2021.
Anterra’s unique investment approach has attracted commitments from a prestigious and aligned group of long-term oriented global investors, with continued support from Eight Roads Ventures, backed by Fidelity, and Rabo Investments, the captive investment arm of the largest global food and agricultural bank out of the Netherlands – Rabobank. New investors include Novo Holdings, a leading global life sciences investor based out of Denmark; Tattarang, one of Australia’s largest private investment groups and the holding company of the Forrest family’s private business interests; as well as other well-respected family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and state-owned investors that provide a global presence, spanning across multiple continents.
Anterra’s mission is to invest in and partner with entrepreneurs transforming our vital food economy through biotech and digital innovation across crop science, animal health, and human nutrition. As a research driven, value-focused specialist investor Anterra uniquely combines a traditional venture investment approach and “venture creation,” building and scaling transformative businesses with its deep industry knowledge and vast global network as a pioneer in the space. While investor interest is growing in the Food & Ag industry, early-stage investment in this essential segment significantly trails that of other key industries, for comparison, less than half of that in Pharma & Biotech (~USD40 billion) and about a fifth of venture investment in Software (~USD100 billion).
“The food economy is in critical condition, and new digital and biotech solutions are desperately needed in order to support better outcomes for farmers, consumers and the environment,” says Adam Anders, Managing Partner of Anterra Capital. “With the first close, we continue our mission to sustainably transform our food economy, building on our leadership position as an early-stage investor in markets such as plant and animal health, while actively expanding our investment activity across the food and agriculture value chain.”
Daniel Auerbach, Senior Managing Partner and Global Head of Eight Roads Ventures, one of Anterra’s original lead investors, adds: “Within Food & Ag, Anterra sits at the intersection of life sciences and digital technology and our expanded investment reflects our confidence in Anterra’s mission, leadership and performance for us over the past eight years.”
“We are excited to partner with Anterra and support the fund’s transformational mission, which is aligned with our investment activity across the biotech space overall, and emphasises our commitment to investing in innovation within Food & Agriculture,” says Kartik Dharmadhikari, a Partner of Novo Growth within Novo Holdings.
