Ground Up Investing Secures $6 Million First Close on $20 Million Second Fund to Grow Farmer Income Across Africa and Latin America

Ground Up Investing (GUI), the impact investing arm of Corus International, has announced a $6 million first close for its second fund. With Corus as the anchor investor, the $20 million Fund 2 will lend to agricultural businesses across Africa and Latin America. The fund will improve land management on more than 20,000 acres of farmland and expects to generate $200 million in new income for smallholder farmers, equivalent to $10 for every $1 invested.

Fund 2 provides two-year working capital loans to agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. These businesses buy crops directly from smallholder farmers, connect them to markets and create local jobs. The loans they need, typically between $250,000 and $1 million, sit above what microfinance can serve and below what most commercial investors will take on. 

Fund 2 builds on the results of GUI’s first fund, launched in 2017. Fund 1 invested $5 million in 15 agricultural businesses. Together, those businesses have paid more than $50 million to farmers, created over 800 local jobs and improved land management across more than 50,000 acres. They include Ugandan coffee company Mountain Harvest, which buys from more than 3,000 farming families and pays them a 30% premium.

Mark Muckerheide, CEO of Ground Up Investing, said the first close reflects growing confidence in the farmers, entrepreneurs and rural businesses that power local economies. He said Fund 2’s “north star is $10 in additional farmer income for every $1 we invest,” and that GUI’s vision is to create $1 billion in farmer income over the next ten years.

Corus International founded GUI in 2017 to bring patient, impact-focused capital to promising agricultural businesses that traditional finance often underserves. Corus is a global non-governmental humanitarian assistance and development organization based in Washington, D.C.