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The most promising startups in the European FoodTech and AgTech sectors will be supported by funding from Capagro. The European AgriTech is building on the success of its first fund five years ago and is now launching its second with a fund of €200 million ($193 million). The launch of the new fund, Capagro Agri-Food Innovation Fund II (Capagro II) is combined with an initial investment in Cuure, who operate in the personalized nutrition and health sector with food supplements. The aim of the fund is to support a more sustainable agriculture and healthy food and has already brought together the following investors with the sectoral experts of Capagro: Avril Group, LSDH, Terrena, Bel Group, Crédit Agricole Group (IDIA) and Bpifrance. Agricultural cooperative groups Hugo Facchin, co-founder and CEO of Cuure, said: “This new investment will allow us to share our vision of health with as many people as possible – easy to access, holistic and tailored to everyone’s needs. “We are also actively working on the internationalization of the Cuure experience, which is already available in several European countries, including Italy, Germany and Spain. Our ambition is to make Cuure an internationally recognized health and well-being reflex, the European leader in personalized health.” The second round of funding has also welcomed the agricultural cooperative group Euralis, and is opening its doors to other institutional and industrial investors and family offices for the current round of fund-raising. Capagro II is targeting high-potential growing startups that champion innovative projects for sustainable agriculture and healthy food in the AgriFoodTech sector. The fund will principally act as lead or co-lead with initial sums of between €3 million ($2.9 million) and €10 million ($9.6 million) invested in the capital of about 15 predominantly European companies. Urgency of climate challenges Like the first fund, Capagro says the new one will cover the entire value chain of the agri-food sector, from farm to fork, with an ‘ecosystemic approach’ that integrates the planet, humans and animals. The key sectors for Capagro II are bio-intrants, robotics, specialty ingredients, innovative packaging, alternative proteins, personalized nutrition, new distribution channels and promising emerging sectors, such as carbon farming. Tom Espiard-Cignaco, president and managing director of Capagro said: “The current context reminds us of the urgency of meeting the climate, food, health, social and economic challenges impacting agriculture and food. Innovation in European AgriFoodTech is already providing practical answers to these challenges but also needs financial support at a level proportionate to its potential. “Supplying a flow of capital into these dynamic companies is not only a means of meeting these challenges but also an opportunity to nurture new European champions in AgriFoodTech. By supporting these companies as they scale up and accelerate their growth, this new fund is addressing promising young companies that generate sustainable innovations able to bring deep-rooted transformations to the agriculture and food sectors.” Capagro favors the emergence of champions Capagro has already helped to create 560 jobs in the sector through this original approach, contributed to achieving more than three-fold increases in the turnover of the supported companies and has produced a knock-on effect among third-party investors, generating more than four times the sum invested by Capagro. Anne-Valérie Bach, managing director of Capagro, said: “As a catalyst for innovation in the agri-food ecosystem, Capagro draws on a proprietary open innovation platform that not only favors the emergence of champions but also facilitates the adoption of innovations by our partner investors, which include agricultural cooperatives and major food industry groups.” Capagro SAS is an independent management company approved by the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF). It manages the funds Capagro I and II. The launch of Capagro II is based on 7 leading investors that are strongly committed to the sustainable transformation of agriculture and food: Bpifrance, Crédit Agricole, Avril Group, Bel Group, LSDH, Terrena, Euralis.

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Capagro launches second fund of €200M to support promising European startups

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