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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, March 31, 2022 – Sucafina, a leading sustainable Farm to Roaster coffee company, announced today its investment in Agrosmart, a startup that builds ‘smart farming’ data-led solutions for a more sustainable, climate-resilient food chain.

The Brazil-based company has a data network that includes more than 100,000 farmers and over 90 crops, across nine countries in Latin America (Latam). Its digital agriculture platform uses data science and analytics to help farmers and producers to increase their yield while saving water and energy and reducing inputs.

The investment, made in partnership with privately-held investment firm LemanVentures, represents the second transaction in Sucafina’s new agribusiness investment division. Launched in November 2021, it is focused on investing in companies that are developing innovative solutions at the intersection of sustainability, technology, and new consumer trends.

Mariana Vasconcelos, Agrosmart’s co-founder and CEO, comes from the south of Minas Gerais in Brazil, a key region for coffee production. She says, “Climate is directly impacting supply chains, and coffee has special importance to us due to our origins and Brazil’s relevance in the market. Partnering with Sucafina is an important step to be able to increase our reach to support more farmers around the globe to become more sustainable and climate-resilient.”

“We’re delighted about this investment in Agrosmart, an innovative company in the exciting and fast-evolving AgTech sector,” says Nicolas A. Tamari, CEO of Sucafina. Stefano Rettore, Founder and CEO of LemanVentures, adds: “We are looking forward to partnering with Agrosmart’s leadership team to use data science to accelerate the transition to more productive, sustainable, and climate-resilient food systems.”

Founded in 2014, Agrosmart uses software data analysis collected from soil sensors and satellite images and provides recommendations to optimize planting, irrigation, climate resilience, and disease management. The data also helps partner organizations track key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics in their value chain.

Other investors in the company include: SP Ventures, Bradesco CVC (the second largest private bank in Latam), Positivo CVC (Latam’s largest hardware manufacturer), and Swiss Pampa (founded by Gonzalo Ramirez Martiarena). In 2021, Agrosmart grew 170% and is now raising a series-B funding round to continue the expansion of its Enterprise SaaS strategy and embedding financing into its offering.

ABOUT SUCAFINA

Sucafina is a leading sustainable Farm to Roaster coffee company, with a family tradition in commodities that stretches back to 1905. Today, with more than 1,000 employees in 32 countries, the Group is one of the leading coffee trading houses in the world and one of the few focused entirely on coffee. Sucafina’s extensive supply chains span from producer-facing export operations to destination sales offices around the world. 

ABOUT AGROSMART

Agrosmart is a platform that collects and processes data to generate insights that support 100,000 farmers to make data-driven decisions overcoming the uncertainty of climate and climate change. Agrosmart’s network of farmers aggregates information that continuously improves the quality of the insights provided and supports companies in the whole food system to transition to a more productive, sustainable, and climate-resilient supply chain.

ABOUT LEMANVENTURES

LemanVentures is a privately held investment firm focused on enabling the Food Transition. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, its portfolio ranges across the Food and Agriculture sectors, as well as across geographies. LemanVentures leverages its global network to invest in companies that have ambitious goals and to deliver superior results for all stakeholders.

SINGAPORE, February 15 2022 – ProfilePrint, a Singapore-based A.I.-powered food fingerprint platform, quadrupled its clients in 12 months and closes Series A round comprising the world’s largest food ingredient conglomerates

• ProfilePrint is seeing accelerated growth with four times more clients compared to a year ago for its A.I.-powered food ingredient fingerprint solution, driven by strong demand for specialty and traceable ingredients.
• Investors in the latest round include some of the world’s largest food ingredient conglomerates and leading institutional venture capital funds.
• Proceeds will go towards further strengthening ProfilePrint’s patented technology, expanding its team and establishing ProfilePrint as the industry’s digital standard for food ingredients globally.

SINGAPORE, 15 February 2022 – ProfilePrint, a patented food ingredient A.I. fingerprint platform, announced today the closing of its Series A funding round at a valuation over three times its pre-series A round last year. ProfilePrint is seeing accelerated growth with four times more clients compared to a year ago for its food ingredient A.I. fingerprint solution driven by strong demand for specialty and traceable ingredients globally. Backing this funding round are some of the world’s largest food ingredient conglomerates, namely Louis Dreyfus Company (Netherlands), Olam Food Ingredients (ofi – an operating group of Olam International Limited, Singapore), Sucafina (Switzerland), a Southeast Asian agrifood conglomerate (Indonesia), as well as international venture capital funds Oriza Greenwillow Technology Fund (Singapore) and Real Tech Global Fund (Japan).

ProfilePrint is a food ingredient search engine platform powered by a patented A.I. fingerprint technology, rapidly predicting the quality and profile of a food sample within seconds. ProfilePrint’s solution allows sellers and buyers to objectively ascertain the agreed quality of a food ingredient in an online transaction, saving time and money by transforming the onerous process of sending samples for physical checks.

ProfilePrint first unveiled its A.I. fingerprint prediction technology in June 2021 at the Singapore Coffee Association auction, traditionally held in person but brought online due to the pandemic. As brewing and sending samples to the few thousand buyers participating from all around the world was practically impossible, ProfilePrint was commissioned as the neutral technology partner to predict the Q-grading score, taste parameters as well as key attributes such as moisture and density for all the auctioned coffee beans. This allowed buyers to be more assured of a coffee lot’s quality and profile beyond the scores provided by sellers.

Mr. Vivek Verma, CEO of the coffee business at Olam Food Ingredients (ofi) shared: “We are encouraged by the results from trials we’ve carried out in both green and soluble coffee using ProfilePrint. The technology could significantly expedite the quality assessment process to benefit the entire value chain – from farmers to roasters. We also see the potential of deploying this solution beyond coffee and into other differentiated food ingredients of cocoa, nuts, spices and dairy.”

Max Clegg, Head of Louis Dreyfus Company’s corporate venture capital program added: “ProfilePrint’s innovative approach to grading commodities has the potential to enhance operational efficiency, while removing an element of subjectivity in the supply chain. LDC Innovations is excited to partner with ProfilePrint as they commercialize this technology.”

Despite pandemic-related travel restrictions, ProfilePrint managed to deploy its solution globally to Europe, Africa, Latin America, China, Japan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Mr. Nicolas A. Tamari, CEO of Sucafina commented: “Sucafina has completed a pilot with ProfilePrint with positive results in Rwanda and Hong Kong, and we are honoured to have the opportunity to play a part in ProfilePrint’s mission to redefine the coffee industry, which benefits both producers and end consumers. We are excited about investing in ProfilePrint in partnership with Leman Ventures as it is a major step toward achieving our vision of having a fully traceable coffee supply chain and of being the leading sustainable farm to roaster coffee company in the world.”

With this funding round completed, the company plans to use the proceeds to expand the team, invest in R&D to meet the growing demand for its services, and ramp up its international expansion. “With some of the world’s largest food ingredient conglomerates as strategic investors holding equal shares, we are now able to leverage their extensive networks to widen and deepen our product offering, while ensuring that we maintain our neutrality with the common vision to establish ProfilePrint as the industry’s digital standard for food ingredients globally,” said ProfilePrint Founder & CEO, Mr. Alan Lai.

Attesting to the company’s impressive market penetration in spite of the pandemic, Dr. Wong Mun Yew, Managing Partner of Oriza Greenwillow Technology Fund commented: “It is our privilege to lead ProfilePrint’s Series A round, and to work alongside their leadership team comprising excited founders and leading scientists with proven track records. ProfilePrint’s ability to bring together the giants of the industry and work together to establish the global digital standard proves that they have achieved a significant milestone in their transformation journey.” Mr. Daiki Kumamoto, Venture Lead of Real Tech Global Fund, also commented on this milestone: “The rapid growth of ProfilePrint following the earlier investment in the pre-series A round has further validated the company’s value proposition, and we are grateful to be a part of its further expansion into one of their core markets, Japan.”

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, November 30, 2021 – Sucafina, a leading sustainable Farm to Roaster coffee company, is today announcing the launch of a new business segment that will identify investments in early-stage food and agriculture (Food and Ag) companies at the forefront of sustainability and innovation.

Sucafina is pleased to partner with Stefano Rettore, a senior leader in the agrifood sector, to launch the agribusiness investment division.

The partnership will invest in companies that are developing innovative solutions at the intersection of sustainability, technology, and new consumer trends while, at the same time, creating superior returns for all stakeholders. It will focus on companies where it can contribute not only capital, but also its experience, network, and strategy. Company culture – especially in terms of people, values, and governance – is also key, given the long-term ambition to create a portfolio that will grow over time.

A significant challenge for the Food and Ag industry is to produce quality food for a growing population while reducing the impact on climate, protecting biodiversity, and supporting farmers’ livelihoods. 

“This shift from volumes to values is going to redefine the industry,” explains Rettore, the founder and CEO of LemanVentures, a privately held investment firm focused on enabling the transition from more to better food.

The partnership combines Sucafina’s leadership position in the coffee industry and entrepreneurial spirit with LemanVentures’ global Food and Ag network, current portfolio, and robust ecosystem of capabilities.

Sucafina’s new business pillar will sit alongside the other four core segments of its business: green coffee merchant, specialty green coffee merchant, green coffee trader, and coffee industrialist.

“Our fifth pillar aims to encapsulate the convergence between farm, fork, and cup that is present across all sectors within agribusiness,” says Nicolas A. Tamari, CEO of Sucafina. “We have defined a holistic approach to the Food and Ag supply chain and we expect that there will be tangible benefits for the coffee industry as investments cross-pollinate from various sectors.”

Agribusiness has lagged behind many other industries in terms of innovation and technology adoption. Yet, explains Rettore, “collaboration is key and so there is an opportunity for the sector to master the lessons learned by other industries and reduce risk by deploying technology that can deliver significant benefits to the agribusiness supply chain.”

About Sucafina

Sucafina is a leading sustainable Farm to Roaster coffee company, with a family tradition in commodities that stretches back to 1905. Today, with more than 1,000 employees in 32 countries, the Group is one of the leading coffee trading houses in the world and one of the few focused entirely on coffee. Sucafina’s extensive supply chains span from producer-facing export operations to destination sales offices around the world.

About LemanVentures

LemanVentures is a privately held investment firm focused on enabling the shift from more to better food. Its portfolio strategy focuses on companies with ambitious goals and is structured around the three pillars of sustainability, innovation and consumers’ trends”.