Cultiv8 Funds Management and global investment manager Fidante plan to raise A$100m (鈧�64.5m) for Australia鈥檚 first agri-tech fund.

Fidante鈥檚 parent company, Challenger, an Australian financial services group, is a cornerstone investor in the first raise for the Cultiv8 Agriculture and Food Technology Fund. Challenger鈥檚 contribution was undisclosed.

Cultiv8 Funds and Fidante have launched the fund to invest in new technologies to support the agriculture and food sectors. The vehicle would focus on capital growth and sustainability, with a portfolio of 20 to 30 seed to series B investments in both Australian and global agri-food technology companies, the companies said.

Malcolm Nutt, the fund鈥檚 portfolio manager, told 91传媒在线 that a few large institutions and some family offices were looking to invest in the fund in the next few months.

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 reached out to super funds yet,鈥� he said, 鈥淏ut agriculture is definitely an allocation they are looking to increase, and it is high on their priorities. 鈥淭hey are happy to hear our story, but we haven鈥檛 secured any funds just yet.鈥�

Nutt and fellow portfolio manager, Jonathon Quigley, are partners in the SparkLabs Cultiv8 accelerator programme which, over the past four years, has supported 36 start-up companies.

These companies had seen 鈥渁 huge amount of success鈥�, leading to significant capital raises, a large number of jobs in regional Australia and deliverance of substantial environmental benefits, they said.

Quigley said agriculture and food technology was a small but rapidly-growing segment of the venture capital universe that was serious about reimagining the global agriculture and food industries.

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