November 7, 2024

By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media

Dutch cooperative Pymwymic, one of Europe’s oldest impact investors, is advancing its mission to transform the food system by backing ‘daredevil’ founders, as noted by Managing Partner Rogier Pieterse. Pymwymic’s Healthy Food Systems Impact Fund II has reached a successful close with €71.5 million (US$77 million) in commitments, surpassing its original target size of €70 million (US$75.4 million).

Founded in 1994, Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Pymwymic, which stands for Put Your Money Where Your Meaning Is Community, has enlisted over half-a-dozen institutional investors for the fund, including AGCO, ASR, Invest International, Invest-NL, Klaverblad Verzekeringen, Oost NL and Van Lanschot Kempen in addition to hundreds of private investors.

Pymwymic Partner Maarten van Dam told GAI News, “Our LPs, how different they might be, have in common the feeling of great urgency in changing our food systems for good while making a decent financial return.”

The global food system is the No. 1 cause of biodiversity loss, and sticking their heads in the sand is not an option. Pymwymic is currently deploying capital for Fund II. So far, the fund has backed six companies.

These include Biome Makers, which specializes in soil biology analysis, Aurea Imaging, which develops crop intelligence software, OneThird, whose solutions focus on food waste prevention in the supply chain, Vivent, whose technology helps farmers to maintain healthy crops, Fa Bio, which is behind bioproducts for critical crops, and Weenat, whose solutions are reshaping the water management landscape.

Pymwymic’s Pieterse stated, “We are committed to the reality that a regenerative food system is the only way forward and support the daredevils working on solutions advancing this pathway.”

With the proceeds, Fund II will continue to invest in innovative startups that are behind technologies to make the food supply chain more sustainable, focusing on sustainable farming, less food waste, and regenerative ag solutions. The fund strategy also extends to digital platforms that support a shorter supply chain and data-powered methods to improve soil quality.

Van Lanschot Kempen’s Andrew Mackay commented on LinkedIn, “Congratulations Rogier and team! Great achievement to inspire so many investors to invest for impact in healthy food systems. I am proud to have witnessed your journey since the start of the first fund in 2017. Although sometimes challenging, you do a great job in balancing financials and impact whilst amplifying the impact within your investments.”

Invest International Head of Equity Eelco Benink said, “Making the agricultural food system more sustainable and nature inclusive is one of the main goals of Invest International’s agri-food strategy. Investing in Pymwymic helps to drive important change in the food system, including in emerging markets where it is needed the most.”

Pymwymic’s Healthy Ecosystems Impact Fund I comprising nine portfolio companies closed in 2021. The coop has since exited three of those companies.

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