Announced on October 20, the fund targets $20 million, with Corus serving as its anchor investor.

Fund 2 will offer two-year loans to small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises that purchase crops from smallholder farmers and connect them with markets.

These businesses typically need financing of $250,000 to $1 million, a range that Ground Up Investing says falls between the amounts available through microfinance and those sought by most commercial investors. Colombia, Peru and Ecuador complete the fund’s six-country coverage.

Across its African and Latin American investments, the fund aims to generate $200 million in additional farmer income and improve land management on more than 20,000 acres.

Its income target represents $10 for farmers for every $1 invested, rather than a financial return promised to the fund’s investors.

“Fund 2’s north star is $10 in additional farmer income for every $1 we invest,” said Mark Muckerheide, chief executive officer of Ground Up Investing.

The strategy builds on GUI’s first fund, launched in 2017, which invested $5 million in 15 agricultural businesses.

According to Corus, those enterprises have collectively paid farmers more than $50 million, created over 800 local jobs and improved land management across more than 50,000 acres.

Its portfolio includes Ugandan coffee company Mountain Harvest, which buys from more than 3,000 farming families.

The focus on East African agribusinesses addresses a financing constraint that extends across the continent.

In September 2026, the International Fund for Agricultural Development cited AGRA estimates placing Africa’s annual agricultural financing gap at about $180 billion, including approximately $65 billion for small and medium-sized agribusinesses.

These enterprises often struggle to obtain suitable credit despite their role in employment and agricultural supply chains.

For businesses in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, GUI’s proposed lending offers a source of capital for crop purchasing and other operating needs.

Financing companies that buy directly from farmers also provides a channel through which investment can reach rural producers without requiring each farmer to secure an individual business loan.

The fund’s wider relevance to African agriculture lies in this connection between enterprise finance and farmer market access.

Its stated targets place farmer earnings and land management alongside business financing as measures of success, making the performance of its borrowers and their supplier relationships central to assessing its eventual impact.