The Irish Fund will strengthen its investment in European seed-stage and Series A startups and open an office in the Netherlands.

Yield Lab Europe, the Irish-based Agritech Accelerator and Venture Capital Fund, has closed a new fund of $ 50 million.

Yield Lab operates in the United States, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, and has established European bases in Ireland to seek investment in Europe.

It supports startups in the areas of agritech, food production and sustainability, and enables these companies to expand internationally through the global network.

Some investments in Yield Labs in Ireland include spin-offs from Bee Health Tech start-up Apisprotect, IT-Carlo Microgen Biotech and Micron Agritech. In 2019, it raised 21 million to invest in Europe.

The seeds of the new fund business will be invested in Series A phases. The new fund was supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), Invest-NL in the Netherlands and Allied Irish Bank.

With this new funding, the company is focusing more on Europe, where it is led by managing partners Nicky DC and David Bessles.

Startlife will open an office in the Netherlands to expand its reach to the continent in partnership with the University of Wageningen and Research Accelerator. He plans to invest in more Dutch start-ups.

The fund’s investment criteria are companies that can provide financial returns while reducing carbon emissions and supporting the European Green Deal and the European Commission’s farm-to-plate strategy while making a positive environmental impact.

“Zero carbon farming and food production are a great opportunity and we believe we can achieve this by 2040,” said Paul Finarty, president of Yield Lab.

“We have invested and will continue to invest in technologies to enable this change. I see the Irish agricultural sector as part of a climate solution, not a problem, but we want to invest in innovation, ”he said.