PG Impact Investments invests in Latin American agri-business Shared-X

PG Impact Investments, a global impact investment firm, has made a minority equity investment in the agri-business Shared-X on behalf of its clients, in order to support the company’s international growth plan and its focus on lifting smallholder farmers out of poverty.

Shared-X grows high-value specialty crops in emerging countries with two central objectives: first, to generate investor returns on its own farms, and second, to lift out of poverty the smallholder farmers in its communities. Shared-X aims to crack the code of the “yield gap” – the astonishing difference in levels of agricultural production between developed and emerging market farmers. Shared-X collapses the yield gap by deploying advanced, sustainable farming techniques and marketing methods, and then sharing them with its neighbors.

Shared-X is led by its co-founders Executive Chairman John Denniston and CEO Dr. Tony Salas. John Denniston was formerly a Senior Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he co-founded and ran the firm’s USD 1 billion Green Growth Fund. Dr. Tony Salas, based in Lima, Peru, is the former CEO of a leading agricultural consulting firm focused on emerging countries. In his consulting capacity, Dr. Salas and his team completed over 400 agricultural projects in over 30 countries. PG Impact Investments will work closely with John Denniston and Tony Salas as Shared-X continues to expand its business and amplify its impact.

John Denniston, Chairman of Shared-X, says: “We’re honored to have PG Impact Investments join the Shared-X family. We’re confident its extensive, global network will add value to our organization and the smallholder farmers in our system.”

Dr. Tony Salas, CEO of Shared-X, adds: “At Shared-X, we address the persistent poverty of smallholder farmers in emerging countries. Our commercial formula – growing high value specialty crops at high yield and directly selling them at international price levels worldwide, thus transferring yield and price benefits to our associated growers – is custom-designed to lift smallholder farmers out of poverty, even as it generates returns for our investors.”

Urs Baumann, Co-Founder and CEO of PG Impact Investments, states: “Shared-X has a novel approach that is fundamental and disruptive. The team possesses a valuable mix of skills and experience and has developed a scalable strategy that has produced compelling results. PG Impact Investments looks forward to supporting Shared-X in expanding its opportunities.”October 17th, 2016|Agriculutre & Food, Investment News