The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

Cibus Capital
With the need to produce food more sustainably, Cibus Enterprise Fund II, advised by Cibus Capital, a UK specialist investment advisory firm focused on sustainable food and agriculture, has just co-led a $25 million funding round in Growers Edge. The close of this growth round marks Cibus Enterprise Fund II’s first investment into agri-fintech.

Founded in 2017, US-based Growers Edge provides financial solutions and data-driven tools to help reduce growers’ risk and the costs of adopting new, more sustainable products. The company is working toward the rapid transformation of the US agri-fintech market. In 2023, 80 per cent of grain payments in the US were conducted via paper checks, the firm said in a statement. Moving forward, 76 per cent of farmers are “using or planning to use” digital payment platforms, up from 39 per cent last year.

The new funding will enable Growers Edge to scale its financial solutions and expand its reach to additional ag retailers and lenders, while driving greater adoption of climate-smart agricultural products and practices across the US. The company’s three main business lines support the digitization of farming operations and uptake of innovation, in turn, contributing to efficient and precise delivery: white label software for retailers to manage and grow their loan books for crop inputs; crop warranty plans, offered to farmers through retailers to protect cropland from downside risk; and digital tools to manage the workflow for originating, closing and servicing mortgages.

The funding round was co-led by S2G Investments, Cibus Enterprise Fund II and Lowercarbon Capital, with additional participation by Otter Creek, iSelect, and Jeff Ubben, founder of ValueAct Capital.

“US farming has had to rely on archaic financial systems for too long. Growers Edge is leading a digital disruption of financing in US agriculture, helping to unlock environmental benefits at a farm level, economic benefits at grower and community level and social benefits at a systems level,” Alastair Cooper, partner and head of venture at Cibus Capital, said.

The Cibus Enterprise strategy makes late-stage venture investments providing disruptive solutions within agrifood tech. Key investment themes across the venture space concentrate on reducing artificial inputs, novel farming systems, robotics and automation. AeroFarms, for instance, employs an indoor vertical farming system which uses up to 95 per cent less water than conventional agriculture and zero sprays.

Edward Jones
Edward Jones now includes alternative investments available to eligible clients in Edward Jones Generations™, the firm’s first private client service for US high net worth investors.

The firm is working to provide sophisticated financial products, solutions and personalized experiences for clients with $10 million or more in investible assets. 

The new offering starts from May 5; asset classes include private equity, private real estate, and private credit. 

Alternative investments will be delivered through the Edward Jones Advisory Solutions® Unified Managed Account (UMA) program.