In a recent development, the Dutch banking and financial services giant Rabobank has announced €80 million funding into its venture fund, Rabo Frontier Ventures.
With this funding, the company is planning to expand its investment strategy to global innovation hubs, such as San Francisco, Singapore en Tel Aviv. Also, with the latest funding, it brings the total capital to €150 million.
Launched as a subsidiary of Rabobank last January, Rabo Frontier Ventures is a strategic investment fund that focuses on high-potential early-stage fintech and food & agri companies. They will do this by providing capital and/ or non-financial support like access to their customers, knowledge, and network.
In the past year, Rabo Frontier Ventures invested in ten startups in total. To be more specific, investments were made in European blockchain platform We.trade and global blockchain-based solution komgo for commodity trading and in FinTech startup Tellow.
Recently, the investments were made in Los Angeles based payments solutions provider ProducePay, which connects farmers and suppliers to finance growth.
Harrie Vollaard, managing partner Rabo Frontier Ventures, said:
After two years with more than ten investments in a row, it is time to broaden our horizon further. We see many opportunities all across the globe to invest in companies who align with our strategy of sustainable growth. We are keen to work with entrepreneurs and investors in prime markets like FinTech and Agtech. With our knowledge, network and capital we help ambitious companies to reach the next level.