IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
Aqua-Spark
Climate Change
Food Systems and Agriculture
Health and WellbeingFirm Overview
Aqua-Spark is an investment fund based in the Netherlands and fully dedicated to investing in sustainable aquaculture. We are building a large, synergistic demonstration portfolio of 50-60 companies across the value chain that solve some of the industry’s biggest challenges, proving their commercial viability and influencing the way this industry develops. We invest in alternative feed solutions, farming, technology, disease treatments, market access and alternative proteins. The investments will benefit from each other and from the larger network of experts and partners. With this portfolio approach we help strengthen the framework for a sustainable aquaculture industry and create solid, long-term partnerships where all parties have an incentive to stay a good partner over time. A new dedicated fund for aquaculture in Sub-Saharan Africa will be launched at the end of 2023.
Years of Operation: 5 – 9 years
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
Our mission is to show investors that you can have healthy, sustainable aquaculture whilst delivering stable/above market returns to investors.
Investments in best in class farming operations make up the core of the portfolio ecosystem. These are operations that farm fish, shellfish or plants in an ecologically responsible way, with holistic systems to optimize productivity while being commercially viable. In addition we look for solutions to industry challenges and companies that will add value to other portfolio companies. Solving the feed issue is a top priority. We want to see an industry that does not rely on wild-caught fish meal, fish oil or soy-based feeds. We are exploring insects, algae and single cell proteins as more sustainable feed options. Another solution is an antibiotic-free and chemical-free way to battle disease. We are committed to developing transparency in the aquaculture industry and explore technologies that track farming procedures and brand solutions that communicate that information. This is an evolving ecosystem with a long-term view.
The fund is building an ecosystem of sustainable aquaculture SMEs across the value chain, such as sustainable feed alternatives, antibiotic-free farming, innovative technologies, disease battling and market access. With this unique portfolio ecosystem approach, the fund strives to create solid, long-term partnerships where all parties have an incentive to help strengthen the framework for a sustainable aquaculture industry to realize effective and lasting impact results. Aqua-Spark has an attractive fund structure that operates as a holding company offering investors a flexible holding period (no lock up), semi-annual redemption mechanism, strong impact thesis and works with an extensive network of experts, investors and aligned partners.
Investment Example
eFishery is tackling one of the largest challenges in aquaculture. Indonesia alone has over 4 million fish farms and represents a multibillion dollar market. Overfeeding negatively impacts the environment, harms the health of a farmer’s stock, plus feeding eats up between 50 and 80 percent of all overhead costs in the business.This Indonesian IoT startup developed a cloud-based smart-feeding technology to ensure the fish are healthy and waste minimized - to increase feed efficiency by 24%. It also collects data from feeding, production, water quality and fish behaviour, to create valuable predictive insights for (smallholder)) farmers. With the smart feeder as an anchor, now eFishery offers an integrated solution for shrimp and fish farmers in Indonesia, including the option to buy feed on credit, and access to an online marketplace for selling the harvest.
Leadership and Team
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Mike Velings – Founder & Board Member More Info
A lifelong entrepreneur, Mike has spent decades jumpstarting a range of successful businesses. Among other ventures, he co-founded Connexie, which has helped catalyze a professional employment industry across the Netherlands. In addition, as a very active investor, he has helped build tens of different companies in a vast array of sectors, from software to fintech to organic farming. He believes in the potential for business to create durable solutions to complex world problems. In 2011 he started dreaming up a way to transform the aquaculture industry through the right type of investment and in 2014 Mike officially launched Aqua-Spark, the first fund dedicated to sustainable aquaculture. |
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Amy Novogratz – Founder & Board Member More Info
Amy brings almost two decades of experience in fostering collaborative solutions to some of the world’s big challenges. From helping to start the Social Policy Action Network, bringing together policy makers, academics, journalists and grassroots organizations to tackle pressing social policy issues, to developing and producing Chat the Planet, a web and television entity that bridged young people globally and to serving as director of the TED Conference’s annual TED Prize for almost a decade, leading more than twenty global collaborations across a broad spectrum of sectors, including healthcare, education, science, technology, conservation, art, and activism. |
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Lissy Smit – CEO More Info
Lissy has over two decades of banking experience mainly in food & agribusiness finance. After a focus on predominantly large Dutch F&A companies, Lissy took up roles in leveraged lending where she set-up the team in Asia and significantly grew the business in North America by working closely with investors to finance companies in the food and agricultural sector. After eight years working in Hong Kong, New York and London, Lissy returned to the Netherlands to lead Rabobank’s global lending business. In addition to setting the global strategic agenda for lending to large corporates she led change projects including redesigning and digitalizing the core credit approval processes. |
Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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All of the companies Aqua-Spark invests in must have sustainability 'in their DNA', an integral part of their company and operations. Sustainability metrics for screening potential investments depend on the type of company we are dealing with. For farming operations, we select on the type of species, method (net-pen, land-based, etc.), type of feed, site selection, water usage, waste, etc. Upstream companies like feed ingredient producers and technology providers are selected to enhance sustainable practices of the industry at large, whereas downstream companies are selected on the basis that they can help raising consumer awareness around sustainable aquaculture. If we invest, we sign a shareholder's agreement with both the investee and co-investors that includes Aqua-Spark's "Shared Values Manifesto". This manifesto lays out our principles on environmental and social sustainability to safeguard and monitor that our portfolio companies will continue to strive for maximum environmental and social responsibility.
In both deal sourcing and due diligence, our team evaluates internal sustainability and responsible working practices, as well as issues of economic and gender equality. As an example, one of the companies we are investing in is a farming operation in Africa. From the early stages of engaging with the company, we looked closely at working conditions, employee benefits, environmental practices, and local ownership, among other areas of intra- firm sustainability. Ensuring that companies internally comply with these kinds of standards is an integral part of our deal process.
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
Learn More
Achter St-Pieter 5, 3512HP Utrecht, The Netherlands
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