Leuven, 14 June 2026
AIF invested a total of €7.4 million in 2025 in promising companies developing new and sustainable solutions for agriculture and horticulture in Belgium and beyond.
This total of €7.4 million included one follow-on investment within the existing portfolio but was otherwise largely allocated to new participations, including the 2 first investments outside of Belgium. The position in Greenyard, a historical food investment that no longer fits within the current strategy, was fully sold following a public offer, albeit without any impact on the profit and loss account in 2025. The net loss for the financial year amounted to €7.0 million, primarily due to write-downs within the investment portfolio totalling €6.2 million, supplemented by the ongoing cost structure. The absence of new exits as well as dividend income meant that these costs could not be offset within the closed financial year.
Thanks to a capital increase of €20 million at the beginning of 2025, and taking into account the loss for the financial year, equity increased net by €13 million to a total of €75.3 million. By the end of 2025, €43.3 million of this amount had effectively been invested in 13 portfolio companies. In addition, as of year-end, AIF has €5.5 million in (conditional) off-balance-sheet commitments outstanding for additional investments within the existing portfolio.
Since the majority of AIF’s portfolio companies had previously been able to successfully raise funding, investment activities during 2025 were primarily focused on new investments. Ultimately, one follow-on investment was made in an existing portfolio company, while no fewer than four new participations were added to the portfolio. This also included the first two international investments. Finally, AIF also invested in the second fund of Biotope by VIB, supporting the early-stage incubation programme, and, with Scale it Agro, is for the first time financially supporting an accelerator programme specifically aimed at agtech scale-ups.
In 2025, AIF deliberately pursued a diversification and growth strategy, actively seeking to increase investments beyond biotech-related technologies (such as new biocontrol products, plant breeding, and animal health), where the portfolio has a significant concentration. Investments were made in advanced e-weeding technology (RootWave) as well as in innovative sensors (Vivent for plants and VOCSens for emissions). Despite the focus on other domains, also biotech solutions are still supported, which remains necessary given the long and costly development paths involved. This is illustrated by the additional investment in Animab (edible antibodies to combat gastrointestinal diseases in livestock) and the new investment in Rainbow Crops (AI-driven breeding of complex traits in crops).
Despite the successful investment activities, throughout 2025 we observe that market conditions for agri-tech have become increasingly challenging. The lead times to bring innovations to market remain long, due both to inherent characteristics such as the seasonality of agriculture, and to regulatory aspects (lengthy and highly complex approval processes), a conservative value chain (not so much farmers themselves, but the intermediaries that cling to their existing business models), and drying-up funding from the venture capital landscape.
Various stakeholders involved in agricultural innovation are now realizing that a different approach is needed to better align with the specific characteristics of the sector. However, they are, for the time being, not yet succeeding — or at least not sufficiently quickly — in making a genuine and supportive transition.
For example, AIF currently sees several fellow investors running up against the time constraints of their venture capital model within closed-end funds. The timelines for agricultural innovations are, after all, longer than the typical investment and exit cycles of such funds. This results in early-stage investors reaching the end of their fund life without being able to realize exits, and consequently often being unable to raise next-generation funds. We therefore clearly observe a reduced number of potential new investors active in the market, forcing companies to rely on their existing investors to secure financing.
Governments are discussing regulatory simplifications, but no real progress is visible yet, certainly not in the EU. The agri-industry itself – led by the four major BigAg companies, each pursuing their own strategic trajectories — also currently shows little concrete and genuinely supportive momentum for pre-commercial innovations. While there is interest in informal collaboration, there is limited willingness to make firm commitments or provide co-financing.
Within these challenging market conditions, some companies also encounter insurmountable technical or commercial hurdles. Agriculture requires a high level of reliability at a competitive price point. Innovations that fall just short are therefore unable to find a viable commercial market. If insufficient critical assessment is applied throughout the innovation process, or if projected improvements are not achieved, innovations inevitably fail.
As a result, AIF recognized a total of €6.2 million in unrealized losses within its investment portfolio in 2025. However, this does not reflect the many positive developments within the portfolio, which are continuously supported.
So far, 2026 shows no improvement in market conditions. In the first half of the year, AIF has therefore already stepped up its support for its portfolio companies, with significant additional investments in AnimAb, Biocsol, Biotalys, and Rainbow Crops. In addition, one new investment has already been completed, in B-COS (biocontrol based on precision fermentation). In total, €6.8 million has already been invested in 2026, and several other investments are currently in the pipeline.
As an evergreen investment fund, AIF’s role in financially supporting agricultural innovation is only becoming more important. AIF continues to invest for the long term, supported by its shareholder M.R.B.B., with an unwavering ambition to achieve a stronger and more sustainable agriculture and horticulture sector, with particular attention to positive impact — not only for the environment, but equally for the farmer.
