Ground Up Investing hits $6M first close toward $20M fund for Africa, Latin America farming
What's the deal? Ground Up InvestingDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (GUI), the impact investing arm of Corus International, announced a $6 million first close for its second fund on October 20, 2026. Corus is the anchor investor in the $20 million Fund 2, which will lend to agricultural businesses across Africa and Latin America.
What's the endgame? Fund 2 provides two-year working capital loans — typically $250,000 to $1 million — to agricultural SMEs in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. These firms buy crops directly from smallholder farmers and connect them to markets. GUI says it aims to generate $200 million in new farmer income and improve land management on more than 20,000 acres.
Why now? The loans these businesses need are too large for microfinance and too small for most commercial investors, GUI says. Fund 2 builds on a first fund launched in 2017 that invested $5 million in 15 enterprises, which have paid more than $50 million to farmers and created over 800 local jobs.
Between the lines: "Fund 2's north star is $10 in additional farmer income for every $1 we invest," said CEO Mark Muckerheide, who set a longer vision of $1 billion in farmer income over ten years. Those targets remain prospective, and the fund is far from its $20 million goal.
The signal: GUI's close is modest beside larger African agribusiness raises — AgDevCo Ventures reported a $49 million first close, while Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund IIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → secured $90 million toward a $120 million target. GUI's distinct bet is on small, short-term working capital that helps buyers pay smallholders on time — a narrow financing gap that larger funds tend to overlook.
Read more: finance.yahoo.com
