When the music stopped and the spigot of money pouring into the agrifoodtech sector started to run dry in early 2022, the segment was left with "far fewer chairs than players," observes Astanor co-founder and managing partner Eric Archambeau.
Fast forward to 2025, and the mood is more sober, he says. Some investors have drifted into adjacent areas, while others have retreated altogether. However, for Astanor, which closed its second venture fund at €360 million ($419 million) in late 2023, there is "no repositioning and no retreat," he says.
"It annoys me when people say 'That will never work.' I remember James Richardson [from Cisco] saying in 1999 that the internet is 'under hyped' and people laughed at him because things cratered [during the dotcom collapse the following year]. But then a few years later, you have the rise of Amazon and Google and Meta. He was totally right, but we had to go through that [interim] period [of disillusionment]."
AgFunderNews (AFN) caught up with Archambeau (EA) to ask where does agrifoodtech stand today. Has the 'green premium' evaporated? And when might we see some exits?
Read more at AgFunderNews
