€50m in EU funding announced for sustainable agrifood tech ventures

Irish fund has completed seven investments to date

Wed, 26 May, 2021 - 12:00

Aisling Kiernan

The Yield Lab Europe has announced almost €50m for its sustainable agrifood tech venture capital fund.

New investors have also come on board including the European Investment Fund through the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), Invest-NL, Allied Irish Banks plc and new family office investors.

The fund is focused on the dual objectives of strong financial returns and environmental impact.

It invests in technologies that improve the environmental and carbon footprint of the food and agriculture industries, and supports the vision and implementation of the European Green Deal, and the European Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy.

While the fund has mapped over 2,000 agrifood tech start-ups in Europe, the Irish fund has completed seven investments to date.

Startups include:

ApisProtect (protecting honey bees and biodiversity);
MicroGen Biotech (soil health);
Micron Agritech (livestock parasite testing);
Equimetrics (animal health monitoring).

“We believe that zero-carbon agriculture and food production is a tremendous opportunity and can be achieved by 2040,” chairman Paul Finnerty said.

“We have invested and will continue to invest in technologies to enable this transition.

“We look forward to investing in the innovation that positions Irish agriculture as being properly viewed as part of the climate solution, and not the problem.’