Ag Ventures Alliance Venture Capital Fund

Although the value-added businesses Ag Ventures Alliance has assisted to date have chosen to be structured as farmer-owned cooperatives, Ag Ventures itself has never made majority ownership by farmers a prerequisite to gaining support for a business project from Ag Ventures. Raising adequate equity for a value-added business venture is always a challenge. As the number of farmers continues to decline, limiting the pool of eligible investors to only farmers increases the risk of a business venture being undercapitalized.

State legislation passed two years ago offers incentives for the creation of venture capital funds that invest in small businesses in Iowa. A number of communities across the state have recently created such funds and Ag Ventures is considering creating a venture capital fund (or funds) as well. In the meantime, Ag Ventures is building connections with various venture and equity capital funds within the State that might be valuable sources of equity for value-added business development. The attached list (pdf) of Iowa-based funds includes a few larger funds that have been in existence for years, and a number of smaller funds (less than $2 million) that have been formed only recently.

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Ag Ventures Alliance is an Equal Opportunity Provider.