Nearly every week, RFSI News curates the latest news in regenerative agriculture and food systems investing, plus shares some stories of our own along the way, covering the latest strategies, players, challenges and opportunities that exist in the space.
RFSI tracks investments and other capital allocations into regenerative agriculture and food systems initiatives, as well as investments and activities that can enable individuals and operations to transition toward regeneration. While we certainly don’t claim to have tracked all the deals, fund activity, and news happening across the world in this rapidly growing space, we do keep our eyes on a lot of things. We think digging into what we did track can add perspective, and over time, shed light on emerging trends.
Here’s what happened in regenerative agriculture and food systems investment in Q3 (July-September) 2025.
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Investment Highlights
While the number of deals and amount of regenerative agriculture and food investments tracked in the third quarter of 2025 stayed relatively consistent with deal tracking from the past 18 months, there were some unexpected positive signals, as well.
Despite what has felt like a contracted investment environment, especially in the U.S., RFSI tracked 40 investment deals in Q3 totaling over $287 million – on par with many quarters over the past two years but $56 million less than the prior quarter.
Bucking an emerging trend we had seen in the previous three quarters, the U.S. regained its position as leader (by deal count) over other regions of the world. It had lost this position in Q4 2024 when it was neck and neck with Europe for the top number of deal counts and subsequently fell far short of Europe in the first half of 2025.
Read on to explore the emerging trends shaping the regenerative food and agriculture investment landscape.
Deals by Type of Capital: Venture-backed deals maintained their position as the largest proportion of overall deals tracked (by deal count) – but taking the largest proportion since RFSI started these reports in Q1 2024. This quarter, venture-backed deals represented 50% deals and more than $212 million (note that some deals did not disclose financials). Equity investments stayed constant in the number two position, representing 17.5% of deals in Q3, with acquisitions representing the bulk of these deals. Of particular note: this quarter, 7.5% of deals were reported as blended investments – including grant, equity and debt.
Q3 2025 Percentage of Deals Tracked by Type of Capital
Note: Deals include investments into companies, programs, projects and individuals from diverse investors and grant makers. Total amount reported is not a claim of actual investment totals as it does not account for undisclosed financials and deals.
Deals by Region: What was starting to feel like a drought for U.S. regenerative agriculture and food investment deals may be showing signs of recovery. After a dramatic shift from the U.S. as the global leader in deals to Europe leading the way the first two quarters of 2025, the U.S. has regained its leadership position with 45% of the deals tracked in Q3. Europe is not far behind with 40% of the deals – by deal count – in Q3.
Q3 2025 Percentage of Deals Tracked by Region
Deals by Size: For the first time, RFSI is also looking more closely at deals by deal size. The results of Q3 analysis are unsurprising: the bulk of deals tracked are smaller deals, with 43% representing deals for less than $2 million, 35% representing deals between $2 million but less than $15 million, and 22% between $15 million and less than $50 million. Just 4% were $50 million or higher.
Q3 2025 Percentage of Deals Tracked by Deal Size
Top Investment Theme:
Biological-based input innovation led investment deals by theme in Q3, accounting for 30% of deals and more than $111 million. The remainder of deals were spread across many other themes including soil data analytics and sustainability metrics platforms, CPG brands, and land transition.
Two areas of note: supply chain and processing was second in deal count with 5 deals reported, while sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) recorded two investments in Q3. The former is an area that RFSI has tracked and will continue to track as we expect investment to increase as it continues to gain recognition as a critical piece to the regenerative ecosystem. The latter is an area of relative controversy in the regenerative agriculture space, with proponents saying it is an important step toward decarbonization but many others arguing that SAF tends to have industrial supply chains, and feeds industrial scale energy needs often using industrial crops that are more extractive to the soil.
Fund Raises and Closes
In addition to the deals tracked above, RFSI tracked more than $747 million in raises and closes for regenerative funds and “regen adjacent funds” – that is, funds that are working beyond sustainability toward regenerative outcomes but may not be wholly regenerative or it may not be the fund’s entire focus.
Amsterdam-based Agricultural Commodity Transformation (ACT) Fund has closed its first senior loan facility from Dutch state-owned impact investor Invest International, which backed the Fund with EUR 10M and USD 10M to fuel regenerative agriculture. The fund aims to raise a total of $75M (approximately €63.8M) in capital but with the first close can start financing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are building sustainable and inclusive agricultural value chains.
Cisco Foundation’s Regenerative Future Fund invested in Fractal Ag’s Farmer Agriculture Regenerative Management (FARM) Fund, underscoring confidence in Fractal’s innovative approach to equity financing and highlighting growing institutional demand for financial models that help U.S. growers overcome barriers to adopting regenerative land-use practices.
Adjacent: Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF), a leading early-growth stage venture capital firm focused on sustainability, closed its fifth fund with $225 million in committed capital. The successful close of EIF V brings the firm’s total assets under management to over $650 million and reinforces its long-standing position as a leader in climate-focused investing.
Adjacent: The EcoEnterprises Fund secured nearly $100 million in the first close of its fourth impact fund, EcoEnterprises Partners IV, LP – reflecting growing global demand for climate and biodiversity-focused investments in Latin America. Backed by leading institutions, including Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), and The Swiss Development Finance Institution (SIFEM), that join other development finance institutions IDB Invest, FinDev Canada, and, FMO – Dutch entrepreneurial development bank. The $150 million fund will invest in up to 20 innovative small and medium-sized companies that drive biodiversity conservation, climate action, and community resilience.
New Funding Vehicles & Platforms Launched
In Q3, new vehicles to support the transition and investment into it continued to be launched. New vehicle announcements in Q3 included:
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is building a first-of-its-kind Dairy Impact Fund in collaboration with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. The fund – which will be seeded by a $10M investment – will help dairy farmers overcome financial barriers to adopting methane-reducing practices and technologies by pairing low-cost, revolving loans with incentives from dairy companies; operate in partnership with farmers’ existing lenders and dairy buyers, vastly simplifying access to tailored financing; and support the U.S. dairy sector and dairy companies, processors and cooperatives in achieving their methane reduction targets.
Barclays UK announced a new Farm Transition Finance proposition to support UK farming businesses adopting sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices.
Indonesia’s Supernova Equatora Capital and Switzerland-based Clarmondial launched a strategic partnership to scale up private investment in sustainable agriculture, agroforestry and ecosystem restoration projects across Indonesia. Backed by the Good Energies Foundation, the collaboration aims to mobilize capital for businesses that generate climate and biodiversity benefits while also supporting rural livelihoods.
Regen Adjacent Investment Vehicles and Platforms
Snacking, food, and pet care products provider Mars has launched the Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF), a new $250 million fund aimed at providing capital to companies developing solutions to address key industry sustainability challenges. According to Mars, the new fund will deploy capital across investment funds as well as through direct investments, targeting solutions to sustainability challenges across the company’s value chain in areas including the sourcing of its ingredients, the health aspects of its products, and circular packaging.
Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) has launched the ‘Chamada de Clima’ (Climate Call) initiative, which will see it allocate up to R$5 billion ($940 million) to support investment funds directed at projects linked to the green economy, including infrastructure for climate adaptation, technology for green agriculture, ecological restoration, reforestation and forest conservation. The initiative is expected to leverage an additional R$13 billion ($2.45 billion) in private capital, which will bring the total investment volume to R$18 billion ($3.4 billion).
Achmea Investment Management has launched a new investment fund under the name Achmea IM PE Partnership Fund – Healthy People & Planet 2025. The fund provides Dutch pension funds and other institutional investors cost-efficient access to private equity investments that work towards the goal of healthy people in a healthy society by investing in companies that contribute positively to solving global challenges related to climate change, biodiversity loss, healthy nutrition and good health.
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