The global agritech investment increased by 85 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020, reaching approximately $52 billion and agritech and food tech investment in Europe totalled $9.2 billion.
Betting big on the segment, Paris-based agri tech company, Capagro has launched a €200 million fund to support agritech and food tech startups for sustainable agriculture.
The company’s second fund, dubbed Capagro Agri-Food Innovation Fund II, will make an initial investment ranging from €3 million to €10 million in about 15 European companies.
The new fund will also focus on the entire agri-food value chain — from farm to fork. It will focus on interconnected aspects of the ecosystem, its inhabitants, and the food chain as a whole. It will also target emerging industries such as carbon farming, and more traditional ones such as bio-intrants, robotics, specialty ingredients, novel packaging, alternative proteins, personalised nutrition, and new distribution methods.
The fund has already made its first investment with €10 million as a lead investor in Cuure, a personalised nutrition, and food supplements startup in France.
The fund is backed by investors, including Avril Group, LSDH, Terrena, Bel Group, Crédit Agricole Group (IDIA), and Bpifrance. Agricultural cooperative group Euralis and other institutional investors also participated in the round.
Tom Espiard-Cignaco, president and managing director of Capagro, said: “The current context reminds us of the urgency of meeting the climate, food, health, social and economic challenges impacting agriculture and food. Innovation in European agri tech and food tech is already providing practical answers to these challenges but also needs financial support at a level proportionate to its potential.”
From 2014 to 2022, Capagro I raised a total of €124 million from 13 major industrial groups and financial institutions, and invested it in a portfolio of 13 French and European startups working in areas such as agricultural robotics and equipment, including Naïo Technologies, Ecorobotix, BoMill, and CelluComp.
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