The Yield Lab Europe has announced almost €50 million at second close for its sustainable agrifood tech venture capital fund, investing in seed- to Series A-stage companies in Europe, with the addition of new investors including the European Investment Fund, through the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), Invest-NL, Allied Irish Banks plc and new family office investors.

The Yield Lab Europe is also expanding into the Netherlands, opening a Dutch office as part of a new partnership with StartLife, the agrifood tech hub and accelerator for Wageningen University & Research, a globally recognised leader in agrifood tech innovation and sustainability. The Yield Lab Europe is the investor-in-residence with StartLife and will be actively investing in Dutch start-ups.

The fund has completed seven investments to date, including N2 Applied (biogenic methane reduction/decarbonisation of livestock), Microgen Biotech (soil health), ApisProtect (protection of honey bees and biodiversity), Micron Agritech (livestock parasite testing), Equimetrics (animal health monitoring), Kaffe Bueno (coffee upcycling) and RootWave (sustainable weed control).

The fund is focused on the dual objectives of strong financial returns and environmental impact. It invests in technologies that improve the environmental and carbon footprint of the food and agriculture industries, to support the vision and implementation of the European Green Deal and the European Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy. The fund has mapped over 2,000 agrifood tech start-ups in Europe.

The fund is also part of the Yield Lab global network, with sister funds in the USA, Latin America and Asia Pacific. This provides start-ups with access to an unparalleled network to enable them to scale and commercialise internationally.

Commenting on the close, Chairman Paul Finnerty said: “We believe that zero-carbon agriculture and food production is a tremendous opportunity and can be achieved by 2040. We have invested and will continue to invest in technologies to enable this transition, to position European agriculture as a global leader in decarbonising agriculture and food.”

Alain Godard, Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund said: “Scaling up world-class research to advance agricultural technology, improve production, biodiversity and animal health, and adapt to a changing climate is crucial for agriculture in Ireland and Europe. The European Investment Fund is pleased to support Yield Lab Europe’s expansion into Europe and increase venture capital backing for agricultural innovation.”

Managing partners Nicky Deasy and David Bowles added: “We are open for business, so please contact us at europe@theyieldlab.com if you are building the next generation of agrifood technology and are raising capital.”

Background information:

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.

The Yield Lab Europe is an Agtech focussed impact venture capital fund, investing into early stage European AgriFoodTech companies to make the global food and agriculture production systems more sustainable and more efficient whilst improving profitability. Investments include technologies in crop production, animal health and welfare, precision agriculture, supply chain/logistics, food ingredients, supply chain, food processing and packaging.

The world faces a climate and biodiversity crisis, where the carbon and environmental footprint of our systems of food production needs to be substantially reduced. At the same time, the global population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, adding further pressures to the food system.

The agrifood industry globally is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and is coming under mounting pressure to decarbonise, reduce chemical pesticides and fertilisers, reduce water pollution, reduce medications used for livestock, improve biodiversity on farms, and to move to more regenerative methods of agriculture. Farmers are concerned about the impact of these changes on their incomes and how they will achieve these competing demands.

Agricultural and food systems globally need a major overhaul to meet these challenges. The Yield Lab Europe is investing in start-ups with the technologies necessary to enable this transition.

Press contacts:

EIF:
Richard Willis, r.willis@eib.org, tel.:+352 621 55 57 58
Website: www.eib.org/press - Press Office: +352 4379 21000 – press@eib.org

The Yield Lab Europe:
Fiona Dunning, Marketing Advisor, fiona@theyieldlab.com, tel.: +353 86 4012441

Website: www.yieldlab.ie