SWEN CP launches its new impact strategy dedicated to regenerative agriculture

SWEN Capital Partners, a leading player in Responsible Private Equity Investment, announces the launch of its new impact strategy with the upcoming first closing of its “SWEN Terra” fund, raising €40 million. With a fundraising target of €200 million, the fund is supported by MACIF and Abeille Assurances, brands of the Aéma Group, as well as by Suravenir. SWEN Terra aims to facilitate access to capital for agricultural stakeholders committed to transitioning toward sustainable practices. The ambition: to promote soil restoration in order to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.

Regenerative agriculture, a powerful lever for improving soil health

With 70% of European soils in poor condition[1] and rural areas having lost 70% of their biodiversity over the past 30 years[2], financing new farming models is crucial to safeguarding our food security. Soil is both a natural capital that must be preserved and a productive asset to be enhanced over the long term. Regenerative agriculture addresses this challenge by continuously improving soil fertility and its carbon storage capacity, enhancing ecosystem biodiversity, and improving the quality of groundwater and surface runoff.

Restoring and preserving soil health enables farmers to achieve, over the long term, higher yields of better quality, lower costs (notably by reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides), and reduced risks (such as erosion, disease, and pests). This leads to more stable and secure incomes in a context where many farmers face significant hardship — with 16% living below the poverty line[3].

Supporting the transition of the agricultural model also helps foster generational renewal by improving access to equity capital for new farmers, who often struggle to secure traditional bank financing. By 2030, over half of French farmers will reach retirement age, and around 200,000 farms will need to transition to new operators[4]. At the same time, 50% of new farmers come from outside the agricultural world[5] and are looking for trusted partners to help implement new development models.

SWEN Terra, an impact fund aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Agreement

With SWEN Terra, SWEN CP continues its commitment to direct impact investment strategies, as demonstrated by its dedicated strategies SWEN Blue Ocean and SWEN Impact Fund for Transition (SWIFT). Classified as an Article 9 fund, SWEN Terra aligns with the Kunming-Montreal Agreement, which notably sets a target of $200 billion per year in public and private investments to support biodiversity and land regeneration.

SWEN Terra will take minority equity stakes in three categories of assets:

• agricultural assets already operated using regenerative agriculture practices
• agricultural assets currently operated using conventional practices and transitioning toward regenerative methods
• or logistic assets, processing units, and distribution networks for regenerative and sustainable agricultural products

SWEN Terra aims to create about ten agricultural companies, managed by experienced farmers, each of which will be able to invest in 5 to 10 farms. In total, around one hundred farms across Europe could be financed, covering all types of crops (cereals, legumes, vegetables, orchards, etc.).

Led by Emmanuel Simon, formerly a member of the SWIFT team, the SWEN Terra investment team also includes Maurice Pignard, who is likewise from the SWIFT team, and plans to grow quickly by recruiting four professionals with strong expertise in the agricultural sector. Like SWEN CP’s other impact funds, all projects will be reviewed by an impact committee made up of independent experts.

First investment upcoming in GreenPods

The fund’s first investment will be in GreenPods. Founded in 2020, GreenPods is a French developer of regenerative agriculture farms, specializing in arboriculture and nut production. Its goal is to relocate production—which is currently mostly concentrated in California—back to Europe, its main market. This fundraising with SWEN CP will enable GreenPods to invest €30 million between 2025 and 2028 to acquire 5 farms and to control the entire value chain by building and managing its own processing unit.

“This fund sends a strong signal: we are tackling a major societal challenge while supporting, over the long term, those who are at the heart of the agricultural transition. This project is also a challenge to those who believe that agriculture is too risky or too complex to invest in. On the contrary, we affirm that it is possible to put farmers—the true caretakers of the land—back at the center and to build an investment model that reconciles profitability and regeneration. SWEN Terra is therefore more than a fund: it is a demonstrator. It embodies our Mission and proves that investment can truly serve Nature,” said Jérôme Delmas, CEO of SWEN CP.

“This new impact strategy is distinguished by its commitment to providing both technical and financial support for agricultural transition projects across all types of crops, throughout Europe. The fund will invest in projects led by experienced farmers and approved by our impact committee. GreenPods fits perfectly within this strategy, and we are proud to soon support their teams in their transformation project” added Emmanuel Simon, Managing Director and Head of the SWEN Terra strategy at SWEN CP.

“We are committed to demonstrating that arboriculture represents a solid and sustainable investment opportunity, with a risk/return profile comparable to that of infrastructure, and strong resilience in times of inflation. The entry of SWEN Terra into the capital of GreenPods will allow the large-scale deployment of the regenerative practices promoted by the group, contributing to the preservation of biodiversity, the mitigation of climate change, European food sovereignty, and more responsible consumption by our fellow citizens, in line with our raison d’être: trees to nourish people and restore life” concluded Boris Spassky and Martin d’Archimbaud, founders of GreenPods.