Acumen’s ARAF announces $90 million in committed capital to continue scaling climate-resilient agriculture across Africa
The next chapter for Acumen’s investment platform for climate-resilient agri- and food businesses is backed by Green Climate Fund, FMO, Proparco, Swedfund, BIO, and FASA, and will serve millions of smallholder farmers.
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NEW YORK CITY (July 16, 2026) — The Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) announced today it as has secured an additional $90 million in committed capital to scale climate-resilient agribusinesses across the African continent, building on the success of its current investment activities launched in 2020 that became the world’s first equity fund designed to build the climate resilience of smallholder farmers.
ARAF invests in fast-growing food and agribusinesses that help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change, expanding beyond ARAF’s current activities in East and West Africa into North Africa as well. ARAF has already directly reached more than 3 million smallholder farmers through its 12 portfolio companies, with more than 80% of farmers reporting an increase in income and yield as a result. Its future ambition is to create direct impact for at least four million additional farmers.
“Climate change is a fact of life, and climate resilience for farmers is the difference between a good season and the risk of losing everything,” said Tamer El-Raghy, Managing Director of ARAF. “This newly committed capital allows us to continue supporting climate resilience for farmers, while seeking to provide financial returns for our investors as we expand beyond East and West Africa into North Africa, where millions of farmers are affected by climate change.”
Smallholder farmers produce nearly 80% of Africa’s food, yet climate shocks — drought, flooding, and increasingly erratic rainfall — put their livelihoods, and the food systems that depend on them, at direct risk. That dependence cuts both ways: when a harvest fails, the damage ripples from a single farmer’s income out to the regional food supply. Limited access to finance, inputs, agronomy support, and markets only compound the risk, leaving farmers with few tools to absorb the shock. ARAF is designed to meet that gap by investing in fast-growing, scalable companies whose business models help farmers adapt and become more resilient to climate change.
“ARAF proved that resilience is investable, not theoretical,” said Acumen’s President and Chief Investment Officer Carsten Stendevad. “We’re bringing more blended capital and more partners to the table to help smallholder farmers across Africa adapt to a changing climate. This is the kind of capital the moment demands.”
Current anchor investors in the newly committed capital include returning partners the Green Climate Fund, FMO, and Proparco — all of which backed ARAF since inception — joined by new investors Swedfund, BIO, and FASA, alongside a family office investor.
“GCF, having served as the anchor investor in ARAF I, through our ongoing partnership with Acumen has demonstrated how blended finance can mobilize private capital for climate-resilient agriculture,” said Catherin Koffman, Green Climate Fund Director of the Africa Region. “Such financing supports innovative agribusinesses and strengthens the resilience of smallholder farmers and agricultural supply chains. GCF is increasing its commitment to expand the fund’s geographic reach and scale up climate-resilient investments for farmers, who are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.”
About ARAF
ARAF is an impact fund that invests in fast-growing food and agribusinesses with business models that help African smallholder farmers become more resilient to climate change. ARAF is managed by Acumen Capital Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Acumen. Learn more at www.ARAFund.com.
About Acumen
Acumen is a global impact investor focused on tackling poverty by backing entrepreneurs and innovators in underserved markets. Founded in 2001 by Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen uses Patient Capital and moral imagination to build sustainable businesses that serve the poor. It has improved more than 500 million lives and continues to push the frontier of how capital can serve long-term social change. Learn more at www.Acumen.org.
About GCF
GCF is the world’s climate fund for developing countries, mobilising and delivering capital at scale, strengthening institutions and supporting transformative change, and bringing together our extensive partnership networks to deliver impact. GCF is mandated as the primary operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and serves the 2015 Paris Agreement. To fulfill its role in supporting global climate ambition, GCF is focused on delivering high-impact climate finance at scale, underpinned by a country-owned approach focused on system-wide change. The fund has over USD 20 billion committed across 134 developing countries through a wide range of adaptation and mitigation projects.
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