Introducing Steward
Steward is a platform that connects investors and small farmers. Investors provide capital which gets loaned out to the farmers in exchange for interest payments. However, this partnership is only part financial. Steward aims to help further regenerative agriculture and build a more sustainable food system.
What Are The New Changes?
There are two types of offerings available on the platform – their evergreen Steward Regenerative Capital and individual investment campaigns. The Regenerative Capital fund provides short-term bridge loans with a 9 month duration. The individual campaigns’ terms vary, but could lock capital up for several years.
For this reason, the evergreen fund is a popular choice among investors, having raised over $14.5M to date. Many things have changed with the recent increase in interest rates, but the payout from the Steward Regenerative Capital fund was not one, until this week. After sitting steady at a 5% interest rate, Steward announced that the base interest rate would increase to 5.75%.
Additionally, they introduce a new feature to automatically roll over the principal invested into the fund after the end of the 9 month term. Configuring the rollover will unlock a “Rollover Premium” which enhances the return from the investment. Currently the premium is 0.50% bringing the interest rate on the Regenerative Capital Fund up to 6.25% for those who enable it.