Online farmland investment platform AckerTrader this week announced the expansion of its oversubscribed $40 million Series B funding, which was first made public in January. This raises the total to $60 million, following a new investment from Columbus, Ohio-based venture capital firm Drive Capital.
Founder and CEO Carter Malloy said the additional funding will be directed towards the continued expansion of the company’s technology and head count, which has grown from 15 in early 2020 to 80 today.
“RIAs are constantly looking for new ways to add value to their client base, who are increasingly interested in exposure to alternative investments outside of the traditional 60/40 stock and bond allocation,” Malloy said.
The startup, which was first launched in 2018, uses its technology platform to connect farmers and farm sellers with investors and buyers.
“In the past to farm investing, investment advisors would have had to help their client through a very difficult process of valuing an asset class they were not familiar with,” he said. The upfront capital required to purchase the farm will usually be. Prevent your customers from participating.
“Despite the attractive historical performance, it was very rare for any investor to consider agricultural land as an investment opportunity,” Malloy said.
The AcreTrader platform currently offers several investment opportunities each week and makes it easy for aspiring advisors and their clients to research their options.
With this, Malloy said RIAs are able to offer their clients an approachable way to a high-performing yet unrecognized asset class and allow them to integrate their portfolio with agricultural land more quickly, easily and in a compliant fashion. help bring diversity.
AcreTrader also announced plans to expand its platform, called AcrePro, a land brokerage application that aims to make assessment, sale and purchase of agricultural land easier for all parties, from agents to buyers and sellers.
The funds will also be used to build a geospatial analysis platform for land assessment.
Screenshot of the AcreTrader geospatial platform, which is currently in beta.
RZC Investments, founded by the heirs of Walmart founder Sam Walton, led an initial oversubscribed $5 million seed round in AckerTrader in April 2020. This was followed a year later by a $12 million Series A funding round led by Jump Capital. Nari Capital, Revolution Rise of Rest Seed Fund, and existing investors RZC Investments and Revel Partners also participated.
