St. Louis-based venture capital firm, Lewis & Clark Ventures, announced it has raised $20 million in additional capital for investments in agtech innovation.

Founded last year by general partner, Ton Hillman and managing director Brian Hopcraft, Lewis & Clark focuses on Series A and Series B investments in innovative startups located in the U.S. Midwest in sectors that include agricultural technology, enterprise software, fintech, and healthcare technology.

“We see tremendous innovation developing in the Midwest,” Hopcraft said this past February upon the closing of the firm’s first fund.  “The region between the mountain ranges is often overlooked by coastal venture firms, and yet has an increasing amount of companies with great ideas. The Midwest offers fertile grounds to invest our capital, resources and expertise.”

The new capital will be added to the $104 million the firm raised in 2015 for the fund, for a total corpus of $124 million that will target investment opportunities in companies that improve plant yield, increase energy efficiency, lift farm productivity, or improve distribution chain functions between the farm and consumer. Investments will range between $3 million and $10 million according to the firm’s website, and will be made with a seven year exit in mind.

“St. Louis has become a center of influence for agriculture technology with its many organizations like the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, which is the world’s largest independent research institute focused on plant science, along with Washington University, Monsanto, Yield Lab AgTech accelerator and more,” said Hopcraft, in a company statement. “With these regional strengths, we are seeing a lot of innovative companies and look forward to backing the most promising among them.”

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Lynda Kiernan