EcoEnterprises earns commitments on third fund
June 11, 2018 | Toni Baini
Costa Rican impact investor snares $74m from investors during the first round of capital raising (Photo: Gregory Smith CC BY-SA 2.0)
Funds Costa Rica Central America
EcoEnterprises Fund has secured $74m during the first round of fundraising for its third fund, EcoEnterprises Fund III, managing director Nathalie Prado told LatinFinance.
The Costa Rican impact investor, which initially sought $50m, is still hoping to snare more investor tickets and has set its sights on potentially $100m in total commitments.
"We are seeing a phenomenon towards sustainable agroforestry and agriculture," Prado said of potential targets for the third fund. "Emerging technologies, biopesticides, natural organic products, these are all moving very rapidly."
Initially run by the Nature Conservancy from 1998 until 2010, EcoEnterprises is now independently-owned and led by CEO Tammy Newmark, previosuly of the IFC and JPMorgan Chase. The company focuses on sustainable agriculture, ecotourism and forestry sectors with most investments in the Mesoamerica and Amazon forest regions.
Previously, EcoEnterprises has partnered with multilateral investors and family offices, mostly from Europe and the US, said Prado.
In 2000, EcoEnterprises raised $10m in its first fund, investing mostly in startups. The fund's investments were exited by 2010 and featured commitments between $50,000 to $500,000, added Prado.
Roughly seven years ago, the impact investor closed its second fund, raising $36m. Mandated to end in 2021, the second fund has been mainly geared toward companies with a deeper footprint and in need of capital to scale their operations. It has also provided follow-up capital to some investees from the first fund.
The second fund has already disbursed the majority of its investments, which have typically ranged from $500,000 to $6m, according to Prado.