BlackSoil, one of India’s leading alternative credit platforms, posted outstanding performance in the financial year 2024, with an over 40% rise in portfolio investment and a total disbursement exceeding $118Mn*. During this period, the Company exited 18 deals while simultaneously making strategic investments in 36 new deals, a 25% rise in the number of deals compared to the previous financial year. BlockSoil’s AUM grew nearly 50% YoY.

In Q4FY24, BlackSoil’s portfolio deployment amounted to over $49Mn, signalling a whopping 110% rise compared to the same quarter in the previous year (Q4FY23). The Company invested in 11 new deals and exited 4 deals in Q4FY24. 

Maintaining its strategic diversification approach in its portfolio, BlackSoil continued to explore investment opportunities across various sectors in companies with sustainable business models and high-growth potential, generating consistent profitability. In FY24, the Financial Institutions/FinTech sector retained its position as the primary recipient of BlackSoil’s funding, accounting for 48% of the total investment, followed by Saas/DeepTech/IOT at 21%, and Consumer at 13%.

Notable additions to BlackSoil’s portfolio during FY24 include MobiKwik, Tonbo, Genworks, BatterySmart, Pahal Financial Services, and BlueStone. The year also witnessed significant exits from notable companies such as Udaan, BluSmart, Freight Tiger, Bank Bazaar, and Home Capital.

Furthermore, several of BlackSoil’s existing portfolio companies achieved noteworthy milestones in FY24, with around 30 of its investees raising a consolidated capital of $680Mn in FY24 alone. 

Ankur Bansal, Co-Founder & Director of BlackSoil, remarked, “FY24 has been an exceptional year of growth and strategic manoeuvring for BlackSoil, as evident from our numbers. Our commitment to prudent investment practices, exemplified by successful exits and strategic investments, reinforces our market position. As we anticipate the challenges and opportunities in FY25, BlackSoil remains dedicated to driving value and sustaining our upward trajectory”.

In FY24, BlackSoil’s investees Ideaforge, Yatra, and Cellecor Gadgets debuted on public exchanges in India and Zoomcar was listed on Nasdaq in the USA. In addition, more than 90% of BlackSoil’s current portfolio is EBITDA positive. These milestones highlight BlackSoil’s adeptness in fostering corporate successes.

About BlackSoil:

Established in 2016, BlackSoil is an alternative credit platform comprising an RBI-registered systemically important NBFC and a SEBI-registered AIF. The Company offers credit to Growth Companies, FIs and NBFCs. BlackSoil has built a quality loan book consisting of top-notch investments and deployed around $390 Mn across 176 deals. The portfolio includes investments in high-growth enterprises such as Ideaforge, Upstox, Bluestone, OYO, Udaan, Zetwerk, Spinny, Yatra, Purplle, and Curefoods. With 110+ employees, BlackSoil is headquartered in Mumbai.

• Food loss and wastage is a global problem that worsens hunger, undermines the sustainability of food systems, and increases greenhouse gas emissions
• Measuring food waste is a challenge for many commercial kitchens, with up to 20% of food purchased going to waste
• Winnow develops Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that help large hospitality businesses operate more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half
• ABC Impact will work with Winnow to further expand in Asia and increase adoption of its cutting-edge technology across the food service and hospitality sector

Impact private equity fund ABC Impact announced today that it has invested in Winnow (“Company”), the global leader in AI-driven food waste reduction solutions. Winnow’s advanced technology and comprehensive analytics are trusted by large hospitality businesses such as hotels, contract caterers and cruise ships operating in over 2000 sites and more than 70 countries worldwide. The Company is headquartered in London with offices in Singapore, Chicago, Dubai, and Cluj-Napoca.

Sugandhi Matta, Chief Impact Officer at ABC Impact, said, “Food loss and wastage has a vast economic, social, and environmental impact – depleting resources, worsening global hunger, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The innovative AI-driven food waste management solution developed by Winnow has been successfully deployed globally and we are excited to support Winnow’s growth by reaching more commercial kitchens in Asia in the coming years. When we reduce food loss and waste, we can mitigate the pressure on climate, water, and land resources – and ultimately contribute towards a more sustainable future.”

Winnow’s AI-enabled solutions are trained to recognise waste as it is thrown in the bin, whether during preparation or from a customer’s plate. The automated recording process captures 100% of the waste stream and analytics identify and track where wastage occurs. This approach enables users to optimise efficiency, change behaviours, and drive significant waste reductions in their kitchens. On average, customers achieve a 50% reduction in food waste and cut costs by 2-8%. Winnow already has a proven track record in Asia with the likes of hotel operators such as Accor, Four Seasons, and Hilton. The Hilton Tokyo Bay cut food waste by 30% in the first four weeks of implementing Winnow’s tools. Winnow is also a Certified B Corporation.

“We are pleased to welcome ABC Impact as an investor and on our mission to help the global hospitality community cut food waste in half,” said Marc Zornes, CEO and co-founder of Winnow. He added, “Asia is a key market for our solutions and has vast potential to further reduce its food waste, with Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia a particular focus for us. We look forward to working with ABC Impact to further enhance our world-leading AI capabilities and to bring greater profitability and sustainability to Asia’s kitchens.”

Globally, the push for food waste reduction efforts has gained momentum – creating more growth drivers and amplifying the need for food waste solutions providers like Winnow. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference agenda featured food and agricultural systems as a distinctive theme for the first time. According to the United Nations, around 13% of food produced is lost between harvest and sale, while about 17% of global food production is wasted in total across households and commercial food services. With the scale of food loss and waste exacerbating the emission of greenhouse gases, the food and hospitality sector that Winnow specialises in plays an important role in global food waste reduction.

In Singapore, the National Environment Agency has mandated that all large commercial and industrial food waste generators must segregate their food waste for treatment from this year onwards, with further food waste segregation and reporting requirements expected to be implemented.

About ABC Impact

ABC Impact is an Asia-focused private equity fund dedicated to impact investing. We invest in companies that drive positive change by addressing the world’s most pressing challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, and deepening inequality. Our investment themes include financial and digital inclusion, better health and education, climate and water solutions, and sustainable food and agriculture.

A division of Singapore-based global asset management firm Temasek Trust Asset Management Pte Ltd., ABC Impact’s founding investors are Temasek Trust, Temasek, Pavilion Capital, Mapletree Investments, Seatown Holdings, SP Group, and Sembcorp Industries. We are a signatory of the Operating Principles for Impact Management and the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment.

About Winnow

Winnow is a registered B corporation and pioneering technology company committed to reducing food waste in the hospitality sector. Founded in 2013, Winnow’s mission is to help clients save money while improving their environmental footprint through the implementation of AI-driven solutions. Winnow’s cutting-edge technology has been adopted by leading hospitality brands worldwide, enabling them to reduce food waste and operate more efficiently.

Funding will enable ViAqua to bring its first product to market, invest in R&D for future products, and prove the platform’s ability to deliver RNA-based solutions at scale.

 ViAqua Therapeutics, a biotechnology company and developer of an orally administered RNA-particle platform to promote and improve animal health in aquaculture, announced it has completed a US$8.25M round led by S2G Ventures with participation from Rabo Ventures, The Trendlines Group Ltd., Agriline Limited, Nutreco, I-Lab Angels and Circle Investments LLC.

Aquaculture is essential for improving food security, providing a healthy and sustainable food source, and protecting wild fish stocks in the face of growing demand for marine protein. But disease management is currently the biggest issue facing the aquaculture industry, resulting in more than $8.5 billion in economic impact for the shrimp industry alone, according to an analysis from Kontali.

To address this problem, ViAqua has developed a biotechnology-based oral delivery platform for the targeted administration of RNA-based solutions to improve disease resistance in aquaculture.

“Oral delivery is the holy grail of aquaculture health development due to both the impossibility of vaccinating individual shrimp and its ability to substantially bring down the operational costs of disease management while improving outcomes,” said Shai Ufaz, chief executive officer of ViAqua. “We are excited to bring this technology to market to address the need for affordable disease solutions in aquaculture.”

Shrimp, one of the most widely consumed seafood products globally, in particular, are very susceptible to disease due to their lack of adaptive immune systems, and there are currently no products available that address shrimp disease today. The company’s first product is a feed supplement to enhance resistance to viral infections in shrimp, with the initial application targeting White Spot Virus (WSSV), which causes an annual loss of around $3 billion and a 15 percent reduction in global shrimp production. This solution will provide much-needed production stability for farmers while also creating the opportunity to increase production per farm without increasing disease risk.

“Aquaculture is critical for the sustainable supply of marine protein,” said Kate Danaher, managing director of S2G Ventures’ Ocean and Seafood fund. “ViAqua’s platform technology will enable the company to move beyond WSSV to address numerous other diseases in aquaculture while similar technologies are still years away from reaching the market.”

ViAqua produces its capsule products using commercial, industrial processes and is scaling production to take its first product to market. With plans to begin production in India at the beginning of 2024, the company has established a commercial partnership through a joint development and marketing agreement with Skretting, a Nutreco company, to bring the product to the market. While ViAqua is currently focused on shrimp production, the delivery technology has numerous applications in aquaculture and beyond, which the company is excited to explore.

“We are truly excited by the potential of ViAqua’s technology because of the value it unlocks for the planet and the farmers. Diseases cause mortality rates of up to 50%, which result in 25-30% of shrimp farms failing annually. This is tremendously unproductive and hurts a lot of livelihoods,” explained Shishir Sinha, investment director at Rabo Ventures. “Our bank’s aquaculture specialists Gorjan Nikolik and Novel Sharma were impressed by the game-changing impact potential of having a solution for an issue that has plagued the sector for decades and can make a meaningful difference in the lives of the smallholder farmers, who represent 80% of supply.”

About ViAqua Therapeutics

ViAqua was established to address the growing need for effective, specific, and affordable health management of diseases in aquaculture. One of the major challenges facing the shift to sustainable aquaculture practice is the prevention and treatment of disease. ViAqua is developing a biotechnology-based, oral delivery platform for administration of nucleic acid-based solutions for promoting health in marine species.

About S2G Ventures:

S2G Ventures, the direct investment team of Builders Vision, partners with entrepreneurs who are working on solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges across the food, agriculture, oceans, and clean energy markets. We provide capital, mentorship, and value-added resources to companies pursuing innovative market-based solutions that generate positive social, environmental, and financial returns. We provide our partners with flexible capital solutions that can range from seed and venture funding through growth equity to debt and infrastructure financing.

About Rabo Ventures:

Rabo Ventures, part of Rabobank, partners with early stage companies across the value chain to support their growth ambitions and enable the vital transitions needed in global Food & Agriculture. We invest behind stellar management teams building solutions for real problems with a focus on driving innovation and sustainability. With a local presence in 25 countries and over 100 dedicated sector specialists and researchers, Rabobank is the global leader in Food & Agriculture banking. As part of Rabobank’s captive investment franchise, Rabo Investments, we leverage the banks platform, knowledge and network to help sustain and grow your business while accelerating transitions that matter.