Agriculture Venture Capital Raised Topped $26B In 2020
2020 was a bumper year for agriculture capital raising, amid and despite the global social, health and economic disruptions of covid-19. Startups raised $26.1 billion across 2707 deals in 2020, a 15.5% year-over-year increase.
Harvard Blew $1B In Bet On Tomatoes, Sugar, And Eucalyptus
Six years ago, Harvard began one of its most daring foreign adventures: an investment in a sprawling agricultural development in Brazil’s remote and impoverished northeast. The university’s highly paid money managers thought they could manage risks other schools avoided.
AgTech Investment Boom To Create A Wave Of Unicorns
Mega funding rounds from companies are redefining the agtech investment landscape as we move into 2018. Consistent with the first wave of agtech startups maturing, companies are looking to scale in a sector that has around $3 trillion value at the farm gate, and multiples of that downstream.
Hardening Metal Prices Eclipse Softening Grains
On a day noted for the passage of the moon across the sun in the US, grains were eclipsed by metals, with wheat futures plumbing fresh contract lows on both sides of the Atlantic, while Chicago corn dropped to its lowest in nearly a year.
AfDB To Invest $24B In Agriculture In Next 10 Years
The African Development Bank (AfDB) will invest $24 billion dollars in agriculture as part of its Feed Africa programme- a strategy for agricultural development in Africa.
Pensions At Cigar-maker Scheme Boosted By 17% Following Merger
<p class="standfirst">Members of the Dutch pension scheme for the cigar-making industry (Sigarenindustrie) are to receive a 17% increase in pension rights following a merger with the agriculture sector scheme.</p>
<p>The rise was due to the differing coverage ratios of the two schemes, according to Sigarenindustrie’s annual report.</p>
Australian Super Funds Urged To Increase Agriculture Exposure
Australia’s €1.5 trillion superannuation fund industry is a long way behind its foreign peers in exposure to Australia’s growing agriculture sector. Passive institutional investors, such as Australian superannuation funds, hold only a very small portion of farm assets in Australia, valued at around AUD330m.
The Right Investment On Agriculture Futures
Investors with a macro view of the global economy will undoubtedly take into account population growth. Even though the pace of the expansion has peaked (1962-3), the overall number of people continues to grow, led by emerging markets. Estimates have put the total at 8.4 billion by mid-2030, and 9.6 billion by mid-2050. Contributing to this statistic is that people are living longer.
Glencore Weighs Takeover Of Agriculture Rival
<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="240" data-total-count="251">Glencore, a mining and energy giant based in Baar, Switzerland, is hoping to join the ranks of firms that dominate the trading of agricultural products, known as the ABCD companies (Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus).</p>
Ohio Police & Fire Expands Into Infrastructure And Agriculture
<p>Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund is investing in infrastructure and agriculture for the first time.</p>
<p>The pension fund told IPE Real Estate it had committed $100m to the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund and $50m to ACM Fund II.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://realestate.ipe.com/news/investors/ohio-police-and-fire-creates-real-asset-investment-class/10016266.article">November last year</a>, it was reported that Ohio Police & Fire had created a new 5% allocation to real assets.</p>
<p>The infrastructure fund, managed by IFM Investors, is open-ended and invests in core assets across Europe, North America and Australia.</p>