Brightlands Agrifood Ventures harvests $22.7m

Brightlands Agrifood Ventures, a venture fund focused on the Brightlands campuses in the Netherlands, has achieved a second close at €20m ($22.7m) thanks to three additional limited partners.
Limburgse Land- en Tuinbouwbond, an agricultural and horticultural association for farmers in Limburg, and Van Herk Ventures, the investment arm of diversified holding group Van Herk Groep, each committed €1m, as did an unnamed private individual.
The first close had attracted financial services firm Rabobank Venlo, the provincial government of Limburg and its regional development agency LIOF and state-owned enterprise agency Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland’s Seed Capital scheme.
Brightlands Agrifood Ventures was launched in October 2017 and is managed by venture capital fund manager Chemelot Ventures Management.
The fund will invest in approximately 10 companies operating in the agritech space, including developers of products around crop protection and optimisation, seed improvement, precision agriculture, valorisation of agricultural and horticultural waste and healthy nutrition.
It will specifically target companies with a connection to the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo, one of four campuses that comprise the Brightlands ecosystem.
Brightlands is a triple helix initiative formed by Maastricht University and its Maastricht University Medical Center+, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences and Fontys University of Applied Sciences’ International Campus Venlo together with the government of Limburg and several companies.
Kim de Boer, fund manager of Brightlands Agrifood Ventures, said: “We are happy to welcome these additional investors to the fund. Each of these parties have a strong added value to help build startups and enhance the Brightlands ecosystem in the agrifood domain.”