Cibus Capital, a London-headquartered specialist investment advisory firm focused on sustainable food and agriculture, announces the closure of Cibus Fund II and Cibus Enterprise Fund II. Alastair Cooper talks to this news service about next steps. .
UK-based investment firm focused on agriculture is putting money to work on more sustainable ways of producing food, closing its second private equity fund for the sector I just did it.
Cibus Capital's Alastair Cooper recently spoke about why it's important to make agriculture more sustainable and resource efficient, both for the planet and for people.
The need to produce more food with fewer resources has become important to feed a growing population. “Catalysts are new technologies that offer new solutions in terms of resource efficiency and sustainability. Large-scale farmland is moving back to more organic and regenerative agriculture and using new technologies to fill gaps in production. We need it,” Cooper told this news agency in an exclusive interview.
“At Cibus, we invest exclusively in food and agriculture. We have three investment strategies. These include a mid-market strategy focused on growth stocks, and a food and agriculture strategy with improved ESG criteria. These include acquisitions into mid-sized profitable companies in the value chain. We also have a venture strategy focused on impactful agriculture and food technology. Finally, we have a venture strategy that focuses on high-impact agriculture and food technology. We are investing in significant operating assets focused on healthy crops that are growing in value,” Cooper continued.
“We only invest in developed countries, namely North America, Israel, Europe and Australia. Our venture strategy is half invested in North America, Europe and Israel, while our middle market strategy is only invested in Europe and Australia. ” he added. “We also have new capital from these financings, which we are gradually investing.”
Cibus Capital is the second mid-market private equity fund with commitments of over $510 million, Cibus Fund II, and the second venture fund, Cibus Enterprise Fund II, with commitments of over $135 million. We just closed (CE II). Cibus Capital is the London-based investment advisor to the Cibus Fund.
This funding attracted investment from a diverse investor base consisting of existing and new participants. Investors in the two funds include the Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association and the Retail Employees' Retirement Trust (REST), one of Australia's largest member benefit retirement funds, as well as other institutional investors.
According to the company, Sivas Fund partners with food and agriculture companies that provide investors with risk-adjusted returns on capital and sustainable competitive advantages. Sivas has raised more than $1 billion to invest in two strategies: mid-market growth/acquisition investments in food production and processing businesses and investments in later-stage agri-food technology companies.
The importance of agriculture is not only environmental. These episodes have focused attention on improving food security, amid concerns about disruptions to global supply chains due to tariff clashes, the war in Ukraine, attacks on ships in the Red Sea, and other disruptions. The news service covers agriculture, forestry, food production and related businesses as the world is rocked by population pressures, wars, supply chain disruptions and the effects of new technology. Please see here for the detail.
Channel
Founded in 2016, Cibus Capital aims to direct capital to companies that use technology to create the future of food, while ensuring sustainability.
“A big field for us is robots, and it is also important to address the robot shortage.” [of] Labor. “Reducing labor risks is important because birth rates are falling, the population is aging and people don't want to work on farms,” Cooper said.
“Another big area is natural capital such as clean air, clean water and biodiversity. Our focus is to reward and conserve natural capital. We see this as an investment opportunity. and has made several investments in current funds,” he added.
Fragmentation
“For example, we have invested in Withcott Ceilings, which controls 11 per cent of Australia's nursery market and is driven by reduced labor costs, automation and robot-produced plants. “We are a major player in a highly fragmented nursery market,” Cooper continued.
The investment also includes Alba Trees, a UK leader in the production and supply of cell-grown plants for sustainable forestry. “The partnership with Alba Trees is an exciting addition to Cibus’ portfolio. Cibus invests in companies that prioritize decarbonization and promote sustainable forestry, forest creation and biodiversity. “Alba Trees is an industry leader in this field, achieving superior commercial returns and climate resilience for farmers and landowners,” he added.
The CE II Fund invests in late-stage ventures through companies advancing technologies that have the potential to disrupt food production and processing and improve resource efficiency and sustainability. The fund has made 10 investments across areas including robotics, fine chemistry for crop protection, and natural capital.
“On the venture side, we have invested in the Swiss company Ecorobotix,” Cooper added. The company uses precision spraying for topical treatments of row crops, pastures, and lawns for the use of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers to save on the use of synthetic chemicals.
“Another investment is the Burro robot, which means donkey in Spanish, and is our flagship autonomous collaborative robot to combat the labor shortage,” he said. The company estimates that with one Burro, eight harvesters can harvest 15 to 30 percent more fruit each day.
The fund also acquired a majority stake in Dutch agricultural robot provider ISO Group. ISO is based in the Netherlands and designs and develops robotic solutions for indoor vegetable and flower growers.
“We are also investing in AeroFarms, an indoor vertical farming company that uses LED lighting to grow crops year-round, using up to 95% less water than traditional farming,” Cooper said. said.
next step
“We are interested in precision agriculture, biologics, replacing synthetic chemicals with biofertilizers, etc. We see an opportunity in biohybrids that use less synthetic chemicals. We are looking at producing nuts such as almonds and pistachios in new areas such as northern Spain rather than California. We also have big opportunities for us in the future, such as forestry and regenerative agriculture opportunities. We are also very focused on natural capital, which is a focal strategy,” Cooper said.
“Bees are also under pressure and we are investing in BeeHero, a precision pollination provider for almonds, berries and more,” he added. “The world of cellular meat is another area of opportunity for us.”
Cooper has a diverse background in finance, food and agriculture. After working at Morgan Stanley, he bought his dream farm in Dorset and switched to his organic production. He was also an active investor in clean technology and agtech.