January 12, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

AcreTrader, a tech-driven platform that connects investors, land, and farmers, announced it has raised $40 million through a Series B that the company stated will fuel its strategic expansion. 

Founded by Carter Malloy in 2018, AcreTrader uses crowdfunding to remove the traditional barriers to farmland investing. Its proprietary technology provides investors, buyers, and sellers with unique access to land, data, and tools that create a streamlined, highly efficient experience.

Malloy explained to GAI News in a prior interview that each parcel is put into a unique LLC and investors can purchase a share, “basically an IPO for an individual farmer,” he said. With minimal initial investment cost, the purchase can provide returns from two sources: increased land values and annual rents paid by a farmer.

“Through our online platform, investors buy a portion of a unique LLC that owns a parcel of land – this can be done in just a few minutes electronically,” said Malloy. “AcreTrader handles all aspects of administration, payments, management, etc., making it a truly passive investment.”

Malloy continued, “Minimum investments are typically $20k to $45K, though we have some farms with minimums as low as $10K, and also have investors who have allocated millions on our platform. We ask that investors approach farmland as a long-term investment and hold through the entire holding period that is typically five to 10 years. However, if an investor does need to sell after the minimum lockup period, they can do so directly to others.”

This Series B, which brings total funding for AcreTrader since its inception to $58 million, was led by global platform Anthemis Group, and was joined by all existing institutional investors already backing the company.

“Over the last few years, we’ve seen that land investing can consistently deliver strong returns even when markets experience turbulence,” said Malloy. “AcreTrader is excited to provide investors with easy and unique access to this space while simultaneously helping farmers grow their businesses.”

Ruth Foxe Blader, partner at Anthemis Group, added, “AcreTrader is on an exciting growth trajectory, led by a strong management team with a unique understanding of how to maximize value for both investors and farmers. Anthemis is proud to help accelerate AcreTrader’s growth as it continues to develop not only a large repository of investible farms, but also a trove of important data to provide field-level information about farm sustainability.”

This round represents the second funding close for AcreTrader within a year, having closed its Series A in the spring of 2021. Over this past year the company has grown by a factor of five, engaging with investors and farmers from all 50 U.S. states, and offering the first international investment opportunities in Australia through its platform. 

“We are seeing a surge in interest from investors, landowners, and farmers. Our long-term plans for farmland are simple: access, liquidity, and transparency,” Malloy told GAI News in early 2021. 

Amid such growth, the company said it will use the capital raised through this round to further scale its platform, expand its teams of technology, finance, and agricultural experts, and to extend its work to engage with more farmers and landowners to build a more robust market.

“I’m proud of what the AcreTrader team has accomplished,” said Malloy, “and we look forward to further scaling our platform and to modernizing the land transaction experience for all parties.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com. 

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