Some very creative thinking is going on to benefit underserved communities through Opportunity Zone legislation that is part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. TPP Capital Holdings, a black-led social impact private equity fund manager and urban healthcare and real estate development firm, is launching a $20M Urban Agriculture and Food Investment Fund to give black and brown communities greater access to healthy food.
Their goal is to “reduce health disparities and the disparate burdens of chronic medical conditions” that became more evident over the course of the pandemic, disproportionately impacting black and brown Americans. To accomplish this ambitious and innovative undertaking they are establishing vertically integrated sustainable food enterprises in federally qualified opportunity zones throughout the country. Their investments are direct into local neighborhoods in the areas of agribusiness, agriculture, indoor vertical farms/greenhouses, farmland development, health-focused food and beverage enterprise.
Clinton Bush, TPP Capital Holdings Principal, and Co-Founder, is leveraging his executive team’s decades of experience in the food industry to attract investors who will receive benefits offered under this legislation. Likely investors will include family offices, high net worth individuals, professional athletes, institutional investors, as well as those engaged in support of black and brown business ownership.
“One of the keys to this raise is to align our Fund with patient capital that understands our quadruple bottom line approach of saving money on taxes against ordinary income or a recent capital gains event, sustainable and verifiable social and economic impacts along with financial returns to our investors,” says Anthony B. Miles, TPP Capital Holdings Principal, and Fund Manager of Tioga District Urban Agriculture OZ Fund.
So far via Fund 1 TPP has committed a direct investment of $2M to Jackson, Wyoming-based Vertical Harvest LC3, an agri-business that has a profitable and sustainable model for urban hydroponic farms. The Opportunity Zone enterprise will generate local food throughout the year, in addition to creating local jobs—including those with intellectual and physical disabilities.
They have also committed $5M to Vertical Harvest Philly which will construct and operate a 70,000-square-foot greenhouse with the goal of obtaining WELL Certification and the WELL Health Safety Rating. In addition, 50 affordable housing units for farm workers in Upper North Philadelphia’s Tioga neighborhood will be built adjacent to Temple University.
“TPP’s investment in Vertical Harvest, and their food industry expertise that they bring, will greatly expand our footprint and enable us to gain significant market share in a fast-moving vertical farming market—that is rooted in our foundational values of inclusivity, sustainability and community resilience,” said Vertical Harvest CEO Nona Yehia.
TPP is seeking out investors via a its upcoming Making Money, Doing Social Good™ webinar that will be held on March 11, 2021 from 2:00 – 3:15PM.
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