Tyson Foods invests in Rabo Investments portfolio company Protix in new capital round to significantly scale its production capacity and expand globally. Oct. 17, 2023 – We are proud to announce that our portfolio company Protix, a leading Dutch company in insect-based ingredients, has entered into a strategic partnership with Tyson Foods, one of the world's leading food companies. An important milestone for Protix and the insect industry! With this capital round we welcome Tyson Foods, a listed multinational, protein-focused food processing company based in the US and customer of Rabobank, as new investor to the group of existing shareholders. We are excited about this partnership, which also includes the formation of a joint venture to build an insect ingredients plant in the United States. In addition, Tyson Foods is investing in Protix to help accelerate their global expansion plans. This major capital injection underlines the progress and continued long term potential of Protix and will be used to further strengthen and optimise the organisation, make the necessary steps to advance commercial traction and accelerate (international) growth. Protix is a producer of insect protein and fats from the Black Soldier Fly. These insect ingredients offer nutritious and sustainable inputs for pet food, aqua culture and livestock feed and organic fertilizer. Insect ingredients are so green because of their circular nature: Insects are fed with local food waste streams and the mature insects are in turn upscaled into high value ingredients. The substrate in which the insects are farmed is subsequently used as fertiliser, thus completing a circular and sustainable way of food and feed production. This partnership offers an opportunity for Tyson Foods to deploy its waste streams in a commercial way and acquire broader expertise in the alternative protein market. For Protix it is the outstanding opportunity to further build scale in partnership with a major player that has the necessary funding and access to the US market and their customer base. Protix has been a long time banking relationship of Rabobank, as we have supported the company from its earliest beginnings back in 2009. Rabo Investments became shareholder of the company in 2019, on the back of its growth potential and the clear links with two of our core investment pillars: Food & Agri and Sustainability. As a committed shareholder, Rabo Investments is also participating in the capital raise and will remain actively involved to help the company meet the short-term challenges and opportunities associated with an ambitious growth agenda.

We are delighted to announce that Björn Aarts will join Rabo Investments as ESG Director effective 1st October 2022. At Rabo Investments, we are truly committed to driving positive ESG change and decided to appoint a dedicated Global ESG function, led by Björn Aarts. Rabo Investments is a strategic investor, and alongside our deep and broad network and knowledge, we are convinced we can be of added value to our portfolio partners to drive their ESG efforts towards a net zero environment. Björn has over 20 years of work experience, and most recently was Sustainable business developer at Rabobank, in which his main focus is to support both clients and colleagues on sustainability related matters, such as structuring KPI’s for Sustainability linked loans. Alongside his professional experience in sustainability and circularity, Björn gained expertise in this field during his MBA study at Nyenrode Business University and postgraduate at Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership. We are excited for Björn to strengthen our team at Rabo Investments!

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

Pete and Gerry’s Organics is the nation’s leading producer of organic, free-range and pasture-raised eggs under the Pete and Gerry’s Organic, Nellie’s Free Range and Consider Pastures brands. The company is headquartered in Monroe, New Hampshire, with a second processing facility in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. The company traces its roots back to a small family farm in the late 1800s and has been raising chickens for three generations with an unrelenting commitment to bringing consumers the highest-quality eggs possible. Today, Pete and Gerry’s partners with over 130 small family farms across the country who follow the strictest standards of humane animal treatment and environmental sustainability, and its Pete and Gerry’s Organic and Nellie’s Free Range brands are the #1 egg brands in their respective segments. A leader in sustainability, the company became the first Certified Humane egg producer in 2003 and the first egg producer in the world to achieve Certified B-Corporation status in 2013. Rabo Investments co-invested USD 12,5m alongside Butterfly who acquired the company from the founding family. Pete and Gerry’s is Butterfly’s latest investment within its “seed to fork” approach to investing in food across agriculture, aquaculture, food and beverage products, food distribution and foodservice. Pete and Gerry’s CEO, Jesse Laflamme, will retain an ownership position and continue to help move the business forward.

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