Asset manager Gresham House has appointed Eoin McDonald as global director of natural capital.
McDonald joins from GreenAgCapital, where he was a managing director and worked on food and agriculture investment strategies, and led fundraising efforts.
McDonald said: “I am delighted to be joining Gresham House at a time when investors are increasingly seeking to engage with, and ultimately invest in, natural capital.
“I look forward to educating those new to the asset class and expanding understanding of its role in portfolio construction, as well as the attractive financial returns and meaningful contribution to the net-zero transition it offers to investors.”
EarthOptics, a US-based soil digitization and agronomy start-up, raised a $24 million funding round led by Conti Ventures and The Production Board, with participation from Cibus Capital, RuralWorks Partners, Norinchukin Bank Leaps by Bayer, S2G Ventures, Shell Ventures, Pappas Capital, CNH Ventures and Rabo Ventures, among others.
Elicit Plant, a French biotech company developing biosolutions to make broadacre crops more climate resilient, raised $48 million in a Series B funding round led by Carbyne Equity Partners, with participation from Sofinnova Partners, ECBF and BPI EcoGreenTech.
Plantible Foods, a California-based functional proteins start-up, raised a $30 million Series B funding round co-led by Piva Capital and Siddhi Capital, with participation from Betagro Ventures, CultivateNext, Nourish Ventures and Astanor Ventures.
Vaulted Deep, a Texas-based biomass carbon removal and storage company, raised $32.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Prelude Ventures, with participation from Lowercarbon Capital, Earthshot Ventures, WovenEarth Ventures, Fall Line Capital and Rethink Impact.
Naturbeads, a British startup developing sustainable and biodegradable cellulose ingredients, raised £7.8 million ($9.8 million; €9.4 million) in a Series A funding round led by Eos Advisory, with participation from MITO Tech Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, PI-NB and Paragon Capital Management.
High Basin Brands, a Texas-based spirits company, raised $4 million in a seed funding round. The identities of investors in the round were not disclosed.
Oishii, a US-based vertical farming company, closed a Series B round at $150 million with participation from Resilience Reserve and Miyako Capital, who joined existing investors NTT, Bloom8, McWin Capital Partners, Mizuho Bank, the Japan Green Investment Corporation for Carbon Neutrality and Yaskawa Electric Corporation, among others.
BiocSol, a Belgian-based firm focused on microbial crop protection solutions, raised €5.2 million is a seed round led by Agri Investment Fund and VIVES IUF, with support from Invest.BW and IMBC Spinnova.
Four Growers, a Pennsylvania-based firm building harvesting robots for greenhouse facilities, raised $9 million in a seed funding round led by Basset Capital, with participation from Ospraie Ag Science, Y Combinator and other existing investors.
Also in the news…
Buy-and-lease is well into its second act
The farmland strategy has swung wholesale from being almost exclusively a closed-end play to an open-end strategy – but its evolution is far from over (Agri Investor).
PE driving private label growth – Rabobank
Senior consumer foods analyst Tom Bailey says baked goods, packaged fruits, bars and impulse ice creams are categories with potential for expansion (Agri Investor).
Climate Asset Management gets Green Climate Fund approval for blended finance vehicle
The facility will aim to accelerate the scaling of regenerative and agroecological landscapes, advancing climate adaptation, mitigation and food security (Green Climate Fund).
BTG Pactual reports surge in quarterly profit
Brazil’s Banco BTG Pactual’s Q3 adjusted net income jumped 15 percent from the same period last year, supported by higher revenue and improved operational leverage (Reuters).
HSBC shelves plans for trading, financing carbon credits
Voluntary carbon markets shrank last year to roughly $1 billion and companies, including Delta Air, have moved away from the market (Bloomberg).
ImpactAg boss Hugh Killen says there is a lot of work to do to rehabilitate farms
Millions of dollars of global capital is headed for the ‘safe haven’ of Australian farms and their green potential (The Australian).
Ferment launches $20 million Studios Fund
The firm, which works to create bio-enabled product companies, launched a fund to translate biology into products that solve problems across sectors including agriculture, materials, health and energy (VC Wire).