May 26, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

The Yield Lab Europe announced a second close of nearly €50 million (US$61 million) for its sustainable agrifood tech venture capital fund that included new investors the European Investment Fund through the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), Invest-NL, Allied Irish Banks, and new family office investors. 

St. Louis-based Yield Lab expanded into Europe in 2016 with the announcement that it was establishing a new location in Galway, Ireland.

The fund saw its first close in 2019 at €21 (US$25.6 million), which included a cornerstone investment of  €10 million (US$12.2 million) from Enterprise Ireland.

“We chose Galway because it is similar to St. Louis in proximity to vast agricultural production and innovation, especially in livestock,” said Matt Plummer, executive director of The Yield Lab at the time. “It also provides our current St. Louis investments with a beachhead to new markets and alternative sources of capital.”

Yield Lab Europe provides venture capital of up to €3 million (US$3.66 million) per investment through Seed and Series A rounds with a dual focus on financial returns and environmental impact. As such, it invests in technologies that improve the carbon footprint and environmental burden of the agriculture and food industries to support the mission and implementation of the European Green Deal and the European Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy.

Having mapped more than 2,000 European agrifood tech startups, the fund is currently invested in seven countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

This portfolio includes:

ApisProtect – Uses the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor honeybee colonies via real-time hive monitoring powered by satellite-enabled sensors that are retrofitted to existing beehives.
MicroGen Biotech – Producer of biologicals based on healthy backeter that naturally exist in the soil’s microbiome.
Rootwave –  The developer of a leading solution to organically kill weeds by using electricity to boil weeds from the inside-out, and from the root up.
N2 Applied – Enables farmers to produce their own fertilizer from manure, air, and renewable energy.
Kaffe Bueno –  Upcycles coffee grounds into functional ingredients.
Micron Agritech – Developer of a testing kit that allows farmers to detect parasitic infections in cattle.
And Equimetrics – An animal health monitoring startup. 

Managing partner David Bowles told The Irish Times, “We expect to close another four or five investments by the end of this quarter, half of which are in Ireland. These include Irish-founded start-ups and companies who are relocating here.”

Along with the announcement of this close, The Yield Lab Europe has also announced that it is expanding into the Netherlands, and is opening a Dutch office as part of a partnership with agrifood tech hub and accelerator StartLife with Wageningen University & Research. Under the structure of this arrangement, The Yield Lab Europe is the investor-in-residence and StartLife will be actively investing in Dutch startups. 

“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,” said Alain Godard, Chief Executive, European Investment Fund. “The European Investment Fund is pleased to support Yield Lab Europe’s expansion into Europe and increase venture capital backing for agricultural innovation.”

This fund is a part of the wider global network that is The Yield Lab, with sister funds in the U.S., Latin America, and Asia Pacific – all providing startups not only with capital, but with access to an unparalleled network of experts, corporates, and investors to enable companies to successfully scale and commercialize at an international level.

Managing partners Nicky Deasy and David Bowles commented, “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.”

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.