By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media
Finistere Ventures has partnered with New Zealand Growth Capital Partners (NZGCP) for the launch of the $40 million NZD Finistere Aotearoa Fund – a new investment vehicle that will leverage Finistere’s experience investing in venture capital-ready opportunities in agriculture, food, and sustainability, to deploy capital to commercialize New Zealand’s dynamic technology and IP pipeline supporting global demand for solutions addressing sustainability and nutritional needs.
Dean Tilyard, found and director of Sprout, will assume the role of Finistere’s New Zealand Venture Partner to lead the new fund, (called Aotearoa after the Māori name for New Zealand) which will focus on creating a more sustainable food and ag ecosystem by supporting high-potential technologies concentrating on crop protection, nutrient management, alternative proteins, food delivery, and supply chain advances.
“While more than $46 billion has been invested in agrifood tech over the last decade – a trend likely to increase with the growing focus on sustainability – New Zealand hasn’t had the connected capital players necessary to help our companies take full advantage of this trend,” said Tilyard.
“The Finistere NZGCP partnership will make a big difference by being able to lead diligence and financing of local opportunities. Our innovation cluster here is as good as anything in the Netherlands or Israel, but has been less well known,” noted Tilyard, who added, “That is changing.”
Arama Kukutai, co-founder and partner, Finistere Ventures stated that building a strong presence in New Zealand has been a long-standing goal for the company.
“New Zealand has become a world leader in agricultural research and innovation focused on curtailing the environmental impact of agriculture, fueled in part by the government’s continued investment in and passion for environmental and agricultural efforts,” said Kukutai. “Investing over $250M annually through its public sector institutions, cementing its commitment to a zero-emissions national agriculture strategy and continuing its close partnership with its ag and food ecosystem, New Zealand is a center for agricultural excellence.”
As far back as 2018, after heading a delegation to the country, Kukutai made note of New Zealand’s emergence into the agtech global stage in an exclusive piece written for GAI News called, Investor Perspective: The Emergence of Global Agritech Hotspots – New Zealand.
In it Kukutai stated, “Our recent delegation to New Zealand timed with TechweekNZ confirmed that the country continues to produce world-class agritech startup companies at an accelerating pace, backed by strong public and corporate R&D that exceeds US$500 million annually. The industry has moved beyond the traditional R&D funded by universities and the Crown Research Institutes (unique public-private research entities) that traditionally provided the bulk of commercialized research for the farm sector.”
However, Kukutai qualified these statements by outlining some headwinds being faced by the country’s agtech sector, the biggest being the lack of “connected capital”, saying “While there have been some exemplar deals in recent years in New Zealand, the reality is that the capital gap between seed and venture remains a meaningful roadblock.”
The Hon. Stuart Nash, New Zealand’s Minister for Economic and Regional Development, echoed this view in his comments upon the fund’s announcement, saying, “In the Agritech Industry Transformation Plan that was launched last year, we highlighted that investment was a key constraint for the sector, so we welcome the creation of this specialist fund and look forward to its productive contribution to New Zealand’s transformation.”
The launch of the NZD Finistere Aotearoa Fund will bring $40 million in capital to do just that.
“We are committed to building a vibrant investment ecosystem in New Zealand to support our burgeoning technology innovation cluster focused on advances in agriculture, food and sustainability,” said James Pinner, investment director for NZGCP’s $300 million NZD Elevate Fund.
“With deep roots in New Zealand, an impressive investment track record and strong partnerships around the globe, Finistere brings the domain expertise, international network, industry relationships and smart capital needed to help New Zealand startups become major players in the booming agrifood sector.”
Finistere’s new fund operations will be based in Palmerston North at The Factory, a top R&D and company incubation cluster with which Finistere has had a longstanding relationship, and which has been central to Finistere’s investments in New Zealand-born companies such as BioLumic and ZeaKal, as well as Sprout – its latest investment alongside Fonterra and OurCrowd.
“This new fund underpins our commitment to the local ecosystem,” said Kukutai. “In the year ahead, our goal is to anchor more investment from our global network of partners like Rabobank, RIV Capital Inc. and Yamaha to support New Zealand’s best startups alongside us – similar to what we’ve accomplished in Ireland, Israel and North America.”
– 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.