Natural Ventures closed its inaugural fund with $100 million in commitments. The impact investment strategy aims to advance sustainability in the global food and water supply, in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Natural Ventures Fund I, a 10-year closed fund, was backed by a consortium of investors that includes Chemovateq, a Swiss family office with a strategic interest in agribusiness and the food supply chain, and an unnamed strategic investor based in the United Arab Emirates.
According to UN statistics, 2.4 billion people currently live in countries with stressed water supplies, and agriculture consumes 72% of global freshwater supplies. Innovation in the sector is expected help mitigate threats to global food and water security.
Natural Ventures has completed four investments since inception in 2021. Last month the firm invested in California nanotechnology company Active Membranes. This seed funding of undisclosed value supports a technology that prevents scaling and fouling in membrane filtration, potentially reducing water desalination costs by 35%. The investment aligns with Natural Ventures’ goal of sustainable water abundance and has significant potential in the Middle East, where desalination is widely used.
The firm has also invested in a $44 million Series C round for N-Drip, an Israeli agtech company with technology for gravity-based irrigation that dramatically lowers the cost of water desalination, in addition to two seed funding rounds totaling €27 million ($29 million) for Constellr, a German satellite technology company providing predictive crop stress data.
Natural Ventures has offices in the Hague, Netherlands, and in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, where the fund is domiciled.
The firm named the Maples Group to provide comprehensive fund administration services, partly due to its significant presence in the Middle East. “Impact investment is an asset management segment with global implications for the future, and we are excited to partner with a fund that is looking to effect such positive change,” said Fred Tabbal, Regional Head of Fund Services – Middle East at the Maples Group.
