CLIMATE ACTION AIIM PARTNERS TAYLOR HOING, CFO Invests in technology-enabled companies addressing climate change while prioritizing equity and access. AiiM is an early growth fund that targets over $17 trillion in market opportunity across digital systems, alternative materials, low-carbon food, and smart agriculture. The team works closely with companies, stewarding changes that enhance equity and inclusion, and 50% of senior leadership comprises women and people of color. In the past 10 years, it has been the team’s experience that there is often limited capital and resources for companies addressing complex problems like climate change in the underinvested sectors at the intersection of oceans, land/agriculture, and air/ energy. It invests in this "missing middle," where entrepreneurs have demonstrated initial product-market fit and are poised for growth. Companies in this ‘missing middle’ need aligned capital to demonstrate market traction and profitability. One of its investment examples is Atlast, which creates alternatives to wholecut meats using low-cost mycelium (the root of the mushroom) growing technology. While the majority of alternative protein companies are concentrated on ground meat products such as burgers and sausages, Atlast uses solid-state fermentation to create alternatives to whole-cuts, which account for 80%—90% of meat market value. AiiM companies have raised over $125 in followon funding from institutional investors for every $1 invested by AiiM, mostly in oversubscribed rounds. The fund is on track to offset 1 gigaton of GHG annually. www.AiimPartners.com INOKS CAPITAL A Swiss asset manager providing customized financing solutions to companies active nonspeculatively in mainly the agriculture/food sector. It particularly focuses on small-sized companies that contribute to the growth of resilient value chains and positively impacts their community. It invests in companies that offer solutions around the following four themes: poverty reduction, food security, environmental quality, and women's empowerment. Each investment is analyzed in relation to its Impact framework, which includes around 70 indicators covering topics like the sustainable use of natural resources, agricultural productivity, and the representation of women. www.Inokscapital.ch ROOT CAPITAL Invests in the growth and resilience of agricultural enterprises so they can transform rural communities. These businesses purchase crops such as coffee, cocoa, or grains from smallholder farmers. With growth, they become engines of impact that can raise incomes, create jobs, empower women and young people, preserve vulnerable ecosystems, and drive climate action. Root Capital seeks out enterprises caught in the “missing middle,” whose credit needs are too large for microcredit and too small or risky for commercial banks, and provides them with loans tailored to harvest cycles. Since 1999, it has lent $1.7 billion to over 765 agricultural enterprises reaching 2.4 million farm families and agri-SBG employees and provided training to more than 1,690 enterprises. “To create that future, we need bold allies to step forward. We believe agricultural enterprises are a vast, untapped resource against the most important challenges of our time: climate change, poverty, and inequality,” says Frances Reid, president, and COO. www.RootCapital.org OMNIVORE Omnivore pioneered agritech investing in India and is one of the only impact investors in South Asia focused entirely on agriculture and food systems. It currently manages $120 million across two funds and invests in Indian startups developing breakthrough technologies for agriculture, food, climate, and the rural economy. “Our portfolio companies have shown great perseverance in solving legacy issues in Indian agriculture and paving the way for a more climateresilient future,” says Mark Kahn, managing partner. “The latter is especially necessary given India’s high degree of vulnerability to climate change." www.Omnivore.vc NO HUNGER WINTER 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 17 “To create that future, we need bold allies to step forward. We believe agricultural enterprises are a vast, untapped resource against the most important challenges of our time: climate change, poverty, and inequality.” — FRANCES REID, ROOT CAPITAL INNOVATIVE IMPACT FUND MANAGERS 2022 IN COLLABORATION WITH
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