S2G raises $180m for second fund, hires COO

The healthy food-focused firm collected 50% more than for its debut vehicle, which is now 70% committed.

Chicago-based S2G Ventures has closed its sophomore fund on $180 million.

The bounty adds to the $125 million S2G raised in 2015 for Fund I, which is now 40 percent invested and 70 percent committed, a spokeswoman for S2G told Agri Investor. The debut vehicle, backed by high-net-worth individuals and family offices, was closed in June 2014.

The spokeswoman said a similar LP base brought Fund II to its final close.

The firm has also hired Aaron Rudberg as co-managing director and chief operating officer, bringing its team to six. Rudberg joins from $3.3 billion venture capital and private equity firm Baird Capital, where he spent 10 years overseeing strategy, investor relations, marketing and business development.

He now ranks among S2G’s top three executives, which also include co-founders and co-managing directors Chuck Templeton and Sanjeev Krishnan, both of whom have solid pedigrees in the food and agribusiness field.

Templeton is the founder and former chief executive of restaurant booking platform OpenTable, which went public and sold for $2.6 billion. Krishnan was previously at CLSA Capital and the Global Environment Fund.

S2G makes investments across the entire supply chain; it also invests at multiple growth stages of food and agribusiness start-ups. It has backed 30 ventures to date, which are expected to generate $550 million in combined revenues in 2017.

These deals have seen about 75 firms co-invest alongside the firm. Half of them were strategics, with the balance made up of other venture and growth equity funds, according to the spokeswoman.