Anterra Capital raises $100 million to reshape the global food system

Anterra Capital has secured the first $100 million close of its third investment fund, reinforcing its long-term strategy of improving the global food system rather than replacing it. The investment firm, focused on agriculture and food technology, announced the milestone as venture capital funding for the agrifood sector remains well below the record levels seen in 2021. According to AgFunderNews, the company believes that the future of food depends on making existing production systems more efficient through artificial intelligence, animal health and advanced agricultural technologies.

The first closing brings Fund III halfway toward its $200 million target and represents an important milestone for a sector that has experienced a sharp decline in venture capital investment over the past several years.

Speaking about the firm's strategy, founding partner Maarten Goossens said the company is intentionally avoiding investment trends driven by market hype.

"The key in our space is not to focus on creating new categories but focus on the system itself and rewire it," he said.

According to Goossens, improving the efficiency and sustainability of today's food production systems offers greater long-term impact than attempting to replace them entirely.

One example is the protein industry. While many investors previously concentrated on alternative meat startups, Anterra believes the larger opportunity lies in improving the traditional livestock sector.

Goossens explained that the global meat industry generates nearly $2 trillion in annual revenue, while alternative meat represents only a fraction of that market.

"If you put things in perspective, the alternative meat industry is somewhere between $10 billion to $20 billion in annual revenue, whereas the meat industry is close to $2 trillion. Our hypothesis is, fix the bigger industry," he said.

The firm's portfolio reflects that philosophy through investments in animal health companies, including veterinary biotechnology businesses. One of its previous investments, Invetx, was acquired by Dechra Pharmaceuticals in 2024 for approximately $500 million.

Artificial intelligence will also play a central role in Fund III.

Anterra has already invested in Anchr, a company developing an AI-native operating system for food production. The platform connects fragmented data across seafood supply chains, helping companies improve efficiency from fishing vessels to restaurants.

Goossens believes that AI offers its greatest value through specialized industry applications rather than broad consumer products.

"The opportunity sits in building vertical specific solutions, which are less hyped, where it's harder to build... At the same time, you can build defensible businesses with real moats, which compound over time," he said.

Fund III has also launched Aminerra, a veterinary biologics company created internally by Anterra, continuing one of the firm's distinguishing strategies of building startups from within its own organization instead of relying exclusively on external investments.

The firm noted that many investors from previous funds returned for Fund III. Although Anterra did not identify all participants, it said the investor base includes one of the world's largest food and agriculture banks, a major life sciences investor, a leading Asian sovereign wealth fund and the world's largest animal health company.

According to Goossens, maintaining investment discipline has allowed the company to continue generating strong returns despite a more challenging fundraising environment.

"It's certainly been a tougher environment than when we raised Fund II during 2021, 2022," he acknowledged, noting that the previous fund reached $260 million, exceeding its original target during the peak of agrifood investment.

The executive emphasized that Anterra will continue focusing on businesses with strong fundamentals instead of following short-term market trends.

"We stay away from the hype and look at fundamentals every time, and then stick to them. That is the most important piece, is and a big part of our DNA."

According to AgFunderNews, Anterra plans to create between seven and ten new companies through Fund III while continuing to invest in technologies that improve productivity, sustainability and efficiency across the global food system.