Steward raises $8.8m Series A funding for its 'crowdfarming' platform
Summary
The round was co-led by Neglected Climate Opportunities — the VC arm of the Grantham Foundation — alongside impact investors Ponderosa Ventures and Tripple. Launched in 2017, Steward — which describes itself as “the world’s first crowdfarming platform” — partners with sustainable farming enterprises and other food producers to help them access working capital for their businesses. Part of Steward’s mission is to help farmers, who sometimes lack business knowhow — or a desire to spend their days pouring over spreadsheets — make smart financial decisions about their operations. Moreover, traditional lenders often fail to see the promise of funding smaller diversified farming operations; while many government programs tend to favor large-scale commodity agriculture, according to Steward. But we don’t do it alone – we bring together a diverse community of values-driven lenders who join in our mission, putting their own resources to work to effect change,” said Daniel Miller, Steward’s founder and CEO, in a statement.