Yara Growth Ventures (YGV), the investment team within Yara International ASA, has announced an investment in Brazilian agriculture fintech firm Agrolend, Sao Paulo. Founded by brothers Alan and Andre Glezer in 2021, Agrolend offers farmers a quick means of procuring credit to buy inputs such as fertilizer.
Loans are formalized in a 100% digital manner using the grower’s Whatsapp, and the capital becomes available in less than a week. Agrolend has a network of more than 100 partners, with the credit being offered directly at the point of sale with a retailer. It is present in more than 10 Brazilian states and in several segments such as soybeans, corn, coffee, sugar cane, fruits, livestock, and dairy cattle.
Following the R$145M series B funding round, Agrolend looks to build a profitable R$2 billion loan book with a client base of 10,000 farmers in the coming years. The series B round was led by Lightrock, a global private equity manager with an impact focus, as well as Suzano Holding (large pulp and paper producer), Mago Capital (investment vehicle of the founders of Locaweb in Brazil), and YGV.
“Agrolend managed to bring together investors with complementary characteristics, joining competences such as growth capital with an impact focus, deep knowledge of the agribusiness sector, global presence, among others,” said Agrolend Co-Founder Andre Glezer.
“Furthermore, those investors have long-time commitments to invest in Brazil and are willing to invest much more at Agrolend in the following years,” he added.
“I’m excited to have the chance to work with the Glezers and the Agrolend team to help Brazilian farmers,” said YGV Investment Director George Roche. “We have seen globally that better access to financing allows farmers to do better and become more sustainable – Agrolend is playing this critical role in Brazil, and we look forward to their growth.”