Anterra Capital secures USD $100 million first close

Anterra Capital has announced a USD $100 million first close for its third fund, which has a target size of USD $200 million.

The US- and Netherlands-based venture capital firm invests in food and agriculture. It says the new vehicle follows 12 years of activity in the sector. It has already made two investments from Fund III: Anchr, an AI-focused software business for food distribution, and Animerra, a veterinary biologics company created by Anterra.

The fundraising comes as food and agriculture investors reassess a market that drew heavy backing during the previous decade before a sharp pullback. Anterra is positioning itself around businesses that use software and biology within existing industry structures, rather than trying to replace the food system outright.

Food and agriculture is a vast market, estimated at about USD $10 trillion globally, but it has remained less digitised than many other large industries. Anterra argues this has created an opening for more targeted use of artificial intelligence in operational software and scientific research.

Maarten Goossens, Partner at Anterra Capital, said the firm had kept to the same approach through changing market conditions.

"The firm has now successfully navigated two capital cycles in food and agriculture," said Goossens. "Each one rewarded the same discipline: backing companies that deliver real returns for their customers and to their investors. What's different this time is that the real-world industries we operate in - large, complex and historically resistant to change - are now ready to be rewired, and the tools to do it have arrived."

Market reset

Investment in food and agriculture technology rose to almost USD $52 billion in 2021 before falling back to about USD $16 billion, according to figures cited by the firm. The boom and retreat left a trail of businesses in areas such as indoor vertical farming, plant-based meat substitutes and rapid grocery delivery struggling to scale.

Anterra says it avoided some of the most crowded themes of that period, focusing instead on businesses with clearer economics and established industry routes to market. It argues that approach is better suited to a market where valuations have reset and specialist investors face less competition from generalist capital.

Part of the pitch for Fund III rests on the growing use of AI in sectors that still depend on manual processes, paper records and fragmented data. In food distribution, for example, back-office processes have lagged behind other industries in digital adoption, creating room for software that targets narrow operational bottlenecks.

At the same time, Anterra argues AI is changing the economics of biological research by reducing the time and money needed to reach an initial commercial milestone. That matters in agriculture and animal health, where scientific development has often required longer timelines and larger funding rounds than many venture investors will accept.

Track record

Anterra said its first two funds have produced several exits, including a Nasdaq listing and acquisitions by strategic buyers across the food and agriculture value chain. It highlighted Invetx, a veterinary medicine business founded by Anterra in 2018, which was sold to Dechra Pharmaceuticals for up to USD $520 million within six years.

The firm also pointed to Enko Chem, which it founded in 2017. The company is developing crop protection chemistry intended to replace older products such as glyphosate and has partnerships with Bayer and Syngenta.

Company creation remains a central part of the firm's model. Rather than only backing outside founders, Anterra says it also identifies gaps in the market, recruits management teams and forms new businesses around scientific or software opportunities it believes are underserved.

That model is reflected in Animerra, Fund III's second investment. The veterinary biologics company was founded internally and follows a similar approach to Invetx, focusing on applying biological methods from human medicine to animal health.

Investor backing

Anterra said its investor base includes institutional investors, food system operators and industry groups across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. They include a large food and agriculture bank, a major life sciences investor, a sovereign wealth fund and a large animal health company, alongside operators that farm more than 13 million acres.

Adam Anders, Partner at Anterra Capital, linked the first close to that support base.

"The vote of confidence from our investor base is what gives this close its weight," said Anders. "The combination of leading global asset managers, the institutions that know our sector backwards and the operators who farm millions of acres all backing the same thesis is an unrivalled force supporting the Anterra portfolio."

Anchr, the other disclosed Fund III investment, focuses on the administrative side of food distribution. Anterra said the business is intended to modernise a part of the sector that still relies heavily on paper-based workflows, and that it invested alongside Andreessen Horowitz's Speedrun programme.

Brett Wong, Partner at Anterra Capital, said the firm saw current conditions as unusually favourable for deployment.

"We've spent twelve years and two funds proving you can build category-defining companies in food and agriculture - and generate real returns doing it," said Wong. "What's changed is that the world has finally caught up to that thesis. The technology is here, the valuations make sense, and the founders building in this sector are the best we've ever seen. This is the most exciting moment in our firm's history, and Fund III is how we intend to make the most of it."