Investing In Farmland: AcreTrader Lands $12M Series A

Farmland investing platform AcreTrader cultivated a $12 million Series A round to continue modernizing farmland transactions and removing barriers to investing and ownership.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily

Jump Capital led the new investment, with Narya Capital and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, with existing investors RZC Investments and Revel Partners, also participating in the round.

The new round of funding comes less than a year after the Fayetteville, Arkansas-based company announced a $5 million seed round led by RZC Investments. This brings the total amount of funds raised by AcreTrader to $18 million since it was founded in 2018, according to Carter Malloy, founder and CEO of AcreTrader.

“This feels like our moment,” Malloy told Crunchbase News. “There is overwhelming interest in the platform, and we felt raising additional outside capital from strategic partners would help us better deliver solutions within the market and provide better outcomes for investors and farmers.”

Farmland is a growing and resilient asset class. However, this type of transaction typically has a high barrier to entry, largely in part because of the difficulty in identifying parcels of land, and that many of the deals require large amounts of capital in the millions and knowledge of farm management, Malloy said.

AcreTrader enables individuals to purchase shares of farmland online in minutes and manages all aspects of farm management, reporting and administration. The investors are able to receive annual distributions from farmers renting the land and also can capture land value appreciation when the land is sold.

The funds will be used on technology development and overall access, liquidity and transparency to farmland transactions, as well as expand AcreTrader’s team.

Within the past year, AcreTrader doubled its employee count, quadrupled its investor pool, increased the total funds raised on the platform by 12 times, and welcomed investors from 48 states onto its platform, Malloy said.

“We are seeing a ‘hockey stick’ of growth, and what is important to us is to adhere to the principle of talent and not compromise on the diligence process,” he added.

As part of the investment, Peter Johnson, partner at Jump Capital, joined the company’s board of directors.

“Farmland investing is becoming increasingly sought after in the current macroeconomic environment,” Johnson said in a written statement. “Jump Capital is proud to lead this investment to help accelerate AcreTrader’s growth and broaden access to this compelling asset class. I’m also looking forward to joining the company’s board of directors to help guide the company as it drives the charge to modernize farmland transactions.”

Illustration: Dom Guzman