Anterra Capital, a Netherlands-based food & agriculture (F&A) innovation fund, has been formed through the spin-out of Rabobank’s proprietary venture capital investment team, Rabo Ventures. Rabobank will remain a cornerstone investor in Anterra alongside incoming investor Moonray Investors, the proprietary investment arm of FIL Limited, the parent company of Fidelity Worldwide Investment.
Nicky McCabe, chief operating officer of Moonray Investors, said: “Moonray is excited to be backing the team in launching Anterra. As a long-term investor, we believe in the importance and investment potential of changing the way we produce, move, and consume food. Anterra is taking a leading role in financing innovative F&A companies that are making this change happen. We look forward to putting our international network and resources behind Anterra, and the companies in which it invests.”
Lizette Sint, managing director of Rabo Private Equity Fund Investments, said: “The global food system needs to be transformed in order to secure the long-term food supply. We believe innovation is a key requirement to make this transformation happen. We look forward to working with Moonray and Anterra as we build on the team’s investment strategy of driving that change.”
Anterra Capital has made its debut investment into Food Freshness Technology Holdings (FFT), a UK-based food preservation technology company which makes It’sFresh! pads for use in food packaging, designed to absorb ethylene gas, a plant ripening hormone.
Peter Sugarman, chairman of FFT, said: “It’sFresh! technology has tremendous opportunities to reduce waste, improve food security and sustainability and provide consumers with fresher fruit in both the developed and developing worlds. For example if all UK supermarkets used It’sFresh! technology, we calculate they could avoid wasting over 13,500,000 packs of tomatoes and almost 19,500,000 punnets of strawberries every year.”
Adam Anders, managing partner at Anterra, said: “The food industry is increasingly seeking out new technologies to solve its growing issues. FFT is a prime example of an innovative company that has the potential to transform the global food supply chain.”