CANADA – InvestEco Capital, a Canadian investment company financing high growth sustainable food and agriculture companies has announced the final close of the InvestEco Sustainable Food Fund III at US$100 million in capital commitments.
The Toronto-based venture capital firm said that the Fund will continue its mandate of investing in private, high-growth Canadian and US companies that promote health and sustainability in the food sector.
This Fund follows two previous successful food funds managed by InvestEco that have invested in and partnered with many leading North American sustainable food brands, including Vital Farms, Mama Earth Organics, Maple Hill Creamery, Le Grand, NadaMoo, and LesserEvil, among others.
The Fund attracted new institutional investors; Farm Credit Canada, BDC Capital, Fondaction, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Vancity who join Fund’s lead institutional investors, The Co-operators and Export Development Canada – who were part of the initial close of the Fund in 2019.
“With this new Fund we are also excited to be able to grow our team at InvestEco and add new skill sets and experience that will improve us as we strive to generate strong financial returns while also helping to build a healthier and more sustainable world,” said Alex Chamberlain, Managing Partner of InvestEco.
InvestEco’s first sustainable food fund, launched in 2012, had $11.5 million in total commitments. “It was a small fund, but we managed to find some excellent investments,” said InvestEco Managing Partner Andrew Heintzman.
With the new Fund Heintzman said that the firm is “excited to be able to continue our work of partnering with talented entrepreneurs to help grow their companies, but now on a larger scale.”
In April this year, Bahrain-headquartered global alternative investment manager, Investcorp also announced the first closing of its Asia food brands private equity platform that the investment firm jointly runs with its Chinese partners.
Investcorp closed the fund at US$275 million and is aiming to invest US$500m in food brands and manufacturing sites in Asia.
In the US, Manna Tree Partners, a Colorado-based investment firm that invests in food companies focused on human health and wellbeing, has raised US$141.5 million for its first fund, Manna Tree Partners Fund I, L.P to invets in health and wellness food brands.
