Rabobank Group will become a co-shareholder in Koppert Cress Group through its investment department Rabo Investments (RI). By taking a minority interest in Koppert Cress, a course will be set towards further joint sustainable international growth.

Paine Schwartz Partners, a global leader in sustainable food chain investing, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with respect to a new strategic investment by Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund V (“Fund V”) in Hendrix Genetics (the “Company”), a leading multi-species animal genetics and technology company.

RFAIF invested alongside ADM Capital, iAngels, FirstTime, J-Ventures, UpWest, Entrée Capital, Good Company, the Arison Group and Gaingels. BeeHero maximizes crop yields through precision pollination, combining sophisticated machine learning algorithms with low-cost sensors to stimulate full output potential during peak pollination cycles. By tracking and optimizing pollination in real-time, BeeHero ensures hyper-efficient pollinators that can increase crop yields by 30% on average. BeeHero’s platform enables commercial growers to optimize crop-yield for 70% of major commercial crops. Based in California and operating globally, BeeHero manages the largest database of bees & pollination. The company has traction working with farmers and industry groups including the largest association of almond growers in the world. BeeHero has been growing fast since its debut and seed round last year, and $19 million in new funding means it can scale beyond its initial markets and find more uses for its one-of-a-kind collection of data collected from thousands of active honeybee hives.

Rabobank Group becomes a co-shareholder in Havatec B.V. through its investment company Rabo Investments (RI). This investment marks the next phase for the innovative manufacturing company from Nieuw-Vennep. With this investment Havatec can enhance the international expansion and development of advanced technological solutions for the floriculture and horticulture sectors.

Aromyx is a data-driven start-up that developed an objective means of measuring human perception of taste and smell. Aromyx' technology allows new, healthier and more sustainable products to reach the market faster by driving more efficient and targeted product development decision making. Proceeds from the Series A investment round, led by Rabobank and Sozo Ventures, will be used to further scale commercial efforts and production

The Goes-based company Bakon Food Equipment designs and manufactuers bakery equipment for industrial confectionary, retail and traditional bakeries. Since Rabo Investments became shareholder in 2016, Bakon Food Equipment has developed into a leading niche player serving a global client base. The acquisition by LINXIS Group is focused on further boosting the market potential of Bakon Food Equipment by leveraging the infrastructure of the wider group

Rabo Food & Agri Innovation Fund supports portfolio company Vence with follow-on investment in $12m Series A round” Vence offers virtual fencing solutions to beef cattle ranchers. By enabling remote animal management and automated herding through its proprietary wearable device and user platform, Vence allows farmers to reduce capex-investments and adopt rotational grazing. Proceeds from the equity raise will be directed to further scaling the company and driving continued product development of new value-added functionality

With the investment, GO Sharing, the Dutch scale-up in electric shared transport, will strengthen its proposition in electric shared mopeds and expand its company offerings with e-bikes as well as electric cars. The capital injection will also accelerate the international expansion. In addition to the Netherlands, GO Sharing is already active in Austria and this week the company also started in Antwerp. Germany, the UK and Turkey will be added to the service area over the coming months. The investment round is led by investment company Opportunity Partners and supported by existing shareholder Rabo Investments.

Rabo Corporate Investments, jointly with Smile Invest and management, acquires IGS GeboJagema, the European market leader in high-end injection moulding for optical and medical end markets. This acquisition signifies the next phase for the high-tech company in Eindhoven, focused on market expansion and international growth, in particular in the United States.

The proceeds will be used to fund Vivera’s expansion plan aimed to triple revenues from EUR 85m in 2020 to EUR 250m in 2025. In order to meet growing demand for vegetarian and vegan food, Vivera will invest at least EUR 30m in expansion of its production facilities in the Netherlands over the next 3 years. The European plant-based food market is expected to continue to see strong double-digit growth, driven by a number of favourable long-term market trends (e.g. increased sustainability awareness, focus on healthy lifestyles and improvements in product quality and affordability). During the Covid-19 lockdown, demand grew even faster on the back of increasing health awareness and high demand in the food retail channel. Vivera has strong growth expectations and is committed to support the movement to healthier and more sustainable plant-based diets.