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Prairie Crest Capital, a venture capital firm focused on early to mid-stage investments in breakthrough agriculture and technology firms, has launched in Des Moines, Iowa.
Principals Barry Adams and Mark White formed Prairie Crest Capital to address the underserved investment opportunities in the agriculture and technology sectors, particularly in the Midwest.
While agriculture and downstream products (such as food) account for nearly 8 per cent of the US GDP, it only amounts to less than 3 per cent of venture capital investments on average over the past three years.
Prairie Crest anticipates investment activity in the agriculture technology
Ninety two per cent of institutional investors and family offices have allocated to two or more funds in 2016 while 73 per cent of investors reported a net increase in their investments to alternative investment strategies since 2015.
The survey, conducted at Context Summits West 2016, also reveals that 59 per cent of allocators viewed the US presidential election as the greatest macro headwind facing the market in the fourth quarter of 2016.
In total, managers and allocators representing over USD250 billion in combined assets attended the two-day conference, which connects qualified investors with private fund managers via one-on-one
New York-based IQ Financial Marketing has issued an updated version of its marketing guide, which it is offering free of charge to hedge funds and private equity firms.
The new guide features additional tips for creating better presentations and pitch books. It is designed to help fund managers tap into the mindset of prospective investors, differentiate themselves from the competition, and enhance their branding.
IQ says the guide can be helpful to firms that create their marketing materials in-house as well as those that outsource.
IQ’s principals Nancy J Dennis (pictured) and Michael H Greenstein are marketing consultants
The UK’s first discovery subscription platform, Wonderush.com, has reached its crowdfunding target amount of GBP200,000 on Seedrs.
The tech start-up will be using the money to invest and test new technology that will help scale the business globally.
London-based Wonderush.com launched the crowdfunding round on Seedrs on 24 August. It raised three quarters of its target within a few hours of launching.
Wonderush.com has previously received funding from investment fund Fuel.Ventures, joined by tennis player Andy Murray and fund founder MyVoucherCodes’ Mark Pearson, alongside private investors.
This is the first time the start-up has opened investment to the
Lending Works, a peer-to-peer lending platform which has insurance protecting lenders against certain borrower default risks, is now fully authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
As with all platforms in existence prior to April 2014 which held consumer credit licenses under the Office of Fair Trading, Lending Works had until now been operating under interim permission from the FCA, having submitted its application for full authorisation in October 2015.
The announcement brings to an end a review process lasting just under a year, during which all areas of the business have undergone stringent evaluation and scrutiny.
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ComplyAdvantage, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help firms manage compliance obligations and reduce costs, has completed a USD8.2 million series A funding round led by Balderton Capital.
The funding will allow the RegTech firm to realise its growth strategy and increase product penetration across Europe and North America, with the New York office officially opening this week.
ComplyAdvantage aims to provide proprietary, dynamic risk data with more efficient screening and monitoring technology. Some 200 clients globally rely on the company’s technology to reduce financial crime risk and take the pain out of regulatory compliance.
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Former NVCA chairman Dixon Doll has teamed up with Eric Ball and Jack Crawford to launch a venture capital firm named Impact Venture Capital, with investment offices in Burlingame and Sacramento, California.
Impact Venture Capital will host a large-scale global venture summit event this year in California at the new Golden 1 Center, widely recognised as the most high-tech arena in the world.
The firm will make investments alongside corporate venture groups in early stage information technology start-ups, with a focus on software and data analytics, and a commitment to serving one of four global challenges: security and government;
AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets has acquired a 958 hectare forest known as “Domaine de Saint Augustin” in the Allier and Cher departments, France, for EUR21.5 million from a private vendor.
The transaction has been undertaken on behalf of an AXA Insurance Company and brings AXA IM – Real Assets’ total forestry assets under management to circa EUR130 million, comprising circa 21,000 hectares.
The forest is located adjacent to the forest of Tronçais, which is renowned for producing some of the highest quality oak wood for planks and barrels, is well connected by roads and is in close
Monroe Capital has held the final close of Monroe Capital Private Credit Fund II with USD800 million of limited partner commitments, eclipsing the fund’s target of USD600 million.
When combined with target fund leverage, the fund will have approximately USD1.5 billion of total investable capital or buying power, the largest fund raised in Monroe Capital’s 12-year firm history.
The fund invests in private credit transactions originated and underwritten by Monroe Capital.
The investment strategy is focused primarily on senior secured loans and unitranche loans to private equity sponsored and non-sponsored middle market companies located throughout the US and
Investec Corporate & Acquisition Finance, KBC and Rabobank have jointly provided debt finance facilities to support Waterland’s acquisition of a stake in energy supplier Scholt.
The acquisition is being made alongside the original founder, Jan Scholt, and Scholt’s management.
The deal marks Investec’s eighth recent financing transaction in the Benelux region.
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