Binyamin Ali

Unfold Bio has received an initial $30m in start-up capital from the two founders but future funding rounds could be opened up to external investors.

Food-producing assets have experienced steady demand and cashflows throughout covid-19. LPs looking for yield might want to ask themselves why they’d want to put a time limit on ownership.

Schoen says NewAg Partners is eyeing up assets being prematurely disposed of by funds limited by their ‘10-year drop-dead PE’ structure, as it targets IRRs in the 12-15% bracket.

The new firm believes the aging agricultural workforce means an investment opportunity worth trillions of dollars will open up in the coming years, said Russell Read.

The vehicle has already made four investments across its mandate, with Peruvian agribusiness Phoenix Foods and solar energy solutions provider SunColombia among the early beneficiaries.

The mixed experiences reported by placement agents and GPs suggest a positive covid-19 track record is not necessarily a silver bullet on the fundraising trail.

Big Idea Ventures' portfolio companies have also fared well on the fundraising trail, as the firm plots a successor $250m vehicle to its debut $50m fund.

Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists helped the pharmaceutical industry develop faster and cheaper drug discovery methods – a similar change is occurring in crop protection discovery, said managing partner Adam Anders.

As the pandemic heightens food security anxieties – and just-in-time supply chains suffer – we catch up with Fiera Comox’s Matthew Corbett and Boston Consulting Group’s Benjamin Subei to discuss how the outbreak will impact the asset class’s growth trajectory.

The Canadian pension fund has launched a new strategy to access the budding landscape of agtech companies emerging across the value chain.