Acumen (ARAF)

The Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) is a Nairobi-based impact fund managed by Acumen Capital Partners, a subsidiary of Acumen. Launched in 2020, ARAF I was the world's first equity fund specifically designed to build climate resilience for smallholder farmers, and it closed at $58 million in committed capital. The fund was anchored by a $23 million first-loss tranche from the Green Climate Fund, with additional backing from FMO, Proparco, the Soros Economic Development Fund, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and Global Social Impact. This blended finance structure -- mixing concessionary and commercial capital -- is central to how ARAF operates, because it allows the fund to take on earlier-stage agricultural companies that pure commercial funds would consider too risky.

In July 2026, ARAF announced $90 million in new committed capital for its second fund, with returning investors including the Green Climate Fund, FMO, and Proparco, and new backers such as Swedfund, BIO, and FASA. The expansion brings ARAF into North Africa for the first time while deepening its existing work across East and West Africa. Across 12 portfolio companies, ARAF has directly reached over 3 million smallholder farmers, with more than 80% of those farmers reporting increased income and yields. The fund's target is to reach an additional 4 million farmers through its second vintage.

What makes ARAF distinctive is its focus on the intersection of agriculture and climate adaptation. The fund backs companies that help farmers anticipate, survive, and recover from climate events like drought, flooding, and erratic rainfall. This is not a general agritech fund -- every investment must demonstrate a clear pathway to improving smallholder farmer resilience. The separate grant-funded Technical Assistance facility provides portfolio companies with hands-on operational support beyond capital, covering everything from supply chain optimization to farmer training programme design.