Apr 3, 2019

Rio Investment Partners , the Canadian successor to Avrio Capital, a global agricultural equity investment firm, has launched a new venture capital fund. The fund, focused on Agri-Food investing across the North American ag-tech and food-tech value chain, is targeting $150m of total committed capital and has secured $77.5 million in a first close. Led by co-founders Aki Georgacacos, who is based in the Calgary office and Jean Francois Huc, who is based in the Montreal office, Rio invests in growth stage companies operating in the various segments of the agri-food tech continuum from agricultural productivity to novel protein technologies to healthy foods and seeking capital of $3 to $10 million to catalyze their expansion strategies. To this end, the firm has recruited several members of the Avrio team, including: – Aki Georgacacos (co-founder and Managing Director), – Steven Leakos (Managing Director) and – Jonathan Goodkey, promoted to Principal in the new fund. The existing Avrio equity and sub-debt funds will continue to operate under the Avrio name. FinSMEs