Swiss impact investor responsAbility Investments has reached the first close of its South and Southeast Asia-focused sustainable food fund while blockchain firm Injective has launched a $150-million Web3 initiative.
responsAbility hits first close of sustainable food fund
Swiss impact investor responsAbility Investments has reached the first close for its South and Southeast Asia-focused sustainable food private equity fund at $173 million.
The final close is targeted between $300 million and $400 million, the company announced in a statement on Wednesday. This vehicle marks the firm’s second private equity growth strategy in Asia.
responAbility Investments typically invests in companies in climate finance, financial inclusion, and sustainable food.
Its latest Asia-focused fund will focus on mid and downstream companies looking at efficiency in food production and distribution in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
The investor’s interest in Asia comes as the total spending on food in the region is slated to double to over $8 trillion by 2030 as more consumers move to urban areas and join the burgeoning middle-income class.
“With our local presence in India, Bangkok, and our soon-to-be-established office in Singapore, our sector know-how and proven experience, we are not only able to identify trends and growth drivers which are transforming the food value chain, but most importantly are able to translate this into high quality and proprietary deal flow,” said Rik Vyverman who heads the sustainable food private equity arm of responsAbility.
Injective launches $150m Web3 initiative
Injective, a layer-1 blockchain focused on building financial applications, has launched a new $150-million initiative backed by a consortium including Pantera Capital, Kraken Ventures, Jump Crypto, and KuCoin Ventures.
Delphi Labs, Flow Traders, Gate Labs, and IDG Capital reportedly joined the round.
The investors will provide token and equity investments as well as mentorship in areas such as technical development, cryptographic research, and community growth.
Injective’s platform facilitates the building of protocols focused on exchanges, derivatives, lending, and other similar activities. Some projects that launched recently on Injective’s chain include White Whale, Frontrunner, and Kado.
The company was incubated at Binance and backed by American entrepreneur Mark Cuban, whose notable investments include axs.tv, plant-based milk numilk and asset-backed credit card Otto.