Institutional Investors

The Swedish pension has roughly $1bn in total forestry investments, around 80 percent of which is through direct and co-investment structures.

The world of agricultural private market investments has had a strong start to the year, with one of biggest fund closes in the past couple of years and significant SPAC transactions.

Veripath Farmland Partners and crowdfunder FarmTogether, both of which cater to retail investors, have respectively hit AUM milestones of $160m and $100m this summer.

The North Carolina-headquartered firm surpassed its hard-cap to close its distinct credit vehicle at $325m and took approximately $115m in co-investments.

The Canadian pension’s venture capital arm made its first agtech investment in June, as it used its direct investment mandate to enter the alternative protein space.

Teachers’ Innovation Platform has grown to amass a C$3.7bn portfolio since it was launched in 2019 and made its first agtech investment in mid-June when it led a $226m Series B for Motif FoodWorks.

The race to buy and build profitable greenhouses favors capital that can strengthen project finance, construction and government relations networks in key geographies.

In a shift in strategy since its rebrand, Aware Super is ‘not really focused’ on supporting new fund managers or blind-pool funds, senior portfolio manager Mark Hector says.

Crowdfunder FarmTogether has identified a $1.1trn opportunity in the US within the $1m to $10m segment of the market, which it believes will appeal to institutional investors.

The $286bn pension will source private equity co-investments through its already-existing program.