Promotion of innovation
The agribusiness sector is undergoing profound change. Across the entire value chain, modern processes and methods as well as innovative technologies are crucial to increasing efficiency, remaining competitive and meeting growing demands in relation to climate change mitigation, animal welfare and product quality.
The aim of our innovation support is to make a tangible contribution to the future viability, innovative capacity and competitiveness of agriculture. Through our financial and technical support, we seek to strengthen the sector’s entrepreneurial mindset, support the emergence of new methods and technologies, facilitate access to capital for start-ups at all stages of development and foster the start-up ecosystem as a driver of the innovative strength of the sector as a whole.
Start-ups make an important contribution in this regard: they drive technological innovation and develop forward-looking solutions. Rentenbank provides targeted support for this innovation process, from market launch through to the scaling of particularly innovative methods and products.
To facilitate the commercialisation of innovative ideas, we promote agriculture-related start-ups in the early financing phase from the Federal Republic of Germany’s Special-Purpose Fund Administered by Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank (Special-Purpose Fund). The support includes a low-interest subordinated loan of up to EUR 800,000 per applicant in combination with a grant for advisory services (innovation voucher). By means of this promotional activity, we create an incentive to develop innovations and new business models in the agribusiness and food industry.
In this line of promotional activity, we approved subordinated loans totalling EUR 4.2 million for six start-ups (2024: four start-ups, EUR 3.1 million) and innovation vouchers from the Special-Purpose Fund totalling EUR 0.3 million (2024: EUR 0.2 million).
In 2025, we also sponsored the following start-up and innovation events: “Startup Days IGW 25” (Messe Berlin), “InsectsPlus International Congress 2025” (DIL Technologie), the “DigitalFarming Conference” (Bitkom), Future Agro Challenge 2025 (Andreas Hermes Akademie), Agri Idea Sprout (Agrotech Valley Forum), Ideenfutter Expo 2025 (FoodHub NRW), Impact Festival 2025 (TechQuartier), and prize money for start-up competitions at Inhouse Farming and Agritechnica (RootCamp). In addition, together with Boston Consulting Group, we published a study entitled “AgriTech in Transition: Agriculture Meets Investment” (“AgriTech im Wandel: Landwirtschaft trifft Investment”).
As an extension of our innovation support, at Agritechnica 2025 we were able to announce, together with Federal Minister of Agriculture Alois Rainer, a new funding guideline from the Federal Republic of Germany’s Special-Purpose Fund. From 2026 onwards, support will be available for the purchase of battery-electric agricultural machinery and machinery that uses renewable biofuels. Eligible expenditure will also include the acquisition of the necessary charging and refuelling infrastructure (“on-farm filling stations”).
In addition, the Rentenbank Innovation Fund is funding the implementation of the “Agricultural entrepreneurs – the farm incubator” (“Ackerpreneurs – der Farm-Inkubator”) pilot project. In 2025, the contract was awarded to a coordination office, which will assume overall project coordination, as well as to two separate bodies for scientific and media support. The project will run until 2028. The aim of the project is to support the establishment of agricultural start-ups. The focus is on developing partnerships between existing agricultural businesses and individuals interested in founding a business who have a clear business idea. Over a two-year period, six participants will independently develop their agricultural ventures on an existing farm. Implementation will take place under the technical supervision of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity.
Through the Growth Alliance, AgriFood start-ups at every stage – from the initial idea through to scaling – can benefit from coaching and mentoring by experts in areas such as start-up fundamentals, business model development, financing strategies and presentation skills. Since 2018, the Growth Alliance has supported more than 120 start-ups. At the Growth Alliance Networking Summit, start-ups can connect with all stakeholders in the AgriFood innovation ecosystem. Around 300 people attended the most recent Growth Alliance Networking Summit 2025.
Increase in venture capital investments
The European venture capital environment remained marked by significant restraint in 2025. Year on year, deal volume declined and became increasingly concentrated in a small number of large financing rounds. At the same time, the global AgriFood VC market also saw a noticeable slowdown in fundraising momentum, with both the number of new funds and their volume falling well short of previous years. Accordingly, since peaking in 2022, AgriFood fundraising volume has fallen by 65%, while the average fund size declined to USD 35.4 million in the first half of 2025 (down from USD 72.9 million in 2022).
Against this backdrop, our VC activities are positioned in a challenging yet still innovation-driven and opportunity-rich market environment, which is currently characterised by increased investor caution and longer fundraising cycles.
In 2025, we committed to two new fund investments. Overall, we expanded our portfolio to a total of thirteen investments. At the end of the year, three additional fund investments were in the final negotiation phase following a positive decision.