Why We’re Excited to Grow with Proterra

August 12, 2025

Combining Unique Farmland Access and Industry-Leading Asset Management

AcreTrader: Unique Farmland Access

Since our founding over seven years ago, the vision of AcreTrader has remained consistent: to make investing in farmland common, transparent, and easy. Since then, Acretrader Management (ATM) has provided over 140 distinct investment-grade farmland opportunities to thousands of investors.

While we are proud of our track record to date, we’ve only scratched the surface of increasing access to farmland as an asset class. Partnering with Proterra, a leading global alternative asset manager focused on food and natural resources, allows us to expand on what we do best – sourcing, diligence, and managing farmland investments – for a broader investor base.

At AcreTrader, we take great pride in our unique ability to source, diligence, and manage farmland investment opportunities in partnership with great farmers and land stewards.

Sourcing: Our team, comprised of experienced agricultural and investment professionals whose expertise spans farmland sourcing, finance, management, and real estate, have profound insight into the industry’s distinct challenges and opportunities, including a nuanced understanding of all major domestic agricultural regions. This public-facing reach to U.S. farmers, farm managers, and landowners nationwide is a unique and distinct advantage. Partnering with Proterra will allow our expert team to deploy more capital, increasing investment opportunities on the Platform.

Diligence: Once a property is sourced, it undergoes a rigorous underwriting process by our team. Our extensive network, expertise, and data advantage through using Acres allows us to move at a truly unique pace in our industry. Layering in Proterra’s long-standing institutional excellence into our robust system only further strengthens our process.

Management: After a property is funded on our Platform, Acretrader Management (ATM) serves as the Manager. Our team has now managed over 140 properties across 20 states, representing over 44,000 acres, and approximately $320 million in assets under management. 15 of the 141 properties managed by ATM have gone full-cycle, with every property to date achieving a realized net IRR above the initial target, with results ranging from 9.4% to 30.3% net IRR.

Proterra: Industry-Leading Asset Management

While AcreTrader has led the democratization of farmland as an asset class, the Proterra team has decades of experience and a long-established track record investing in both farmland and across the ag value chain at the institutional level. Proterra currently has over $3.6 billion in assets under management and has successfully delivered returns at the institutional level through global farmland funds for over a decade. Leveraging Proterra’s expansive reach and resources, we believe we can amplify the benefit we provide both farmers and investors as we more efficiently channel larger volumes of investment capital into the farmland market.

By combining our proprietary sourcing capabilities with Proterra’s long established institutional knowledge, we expect to expand our offering base, while continuing to democratize the farmland asset class for investors and farmers. In addition, as a leading global alternative asset manager, we believe that investors on the AcreTrader Platform can gain access to a larger suite of alternative investments.

In summary, we believe this acquisition represents a win-win scenario for both investors and our farming partners. We are excited about the possibilities this collaboration unlocks and remain dedicated to delivering value to our customers, partners, and the AcreTrader team.

What This Means For You

This partnership unlocks the next chapter for AcreTrader:

The same investor experience led by the same team and Platform you trust, with greater scale and resources behind it
More investment opportunities
Increased access to capital for farmers
Expanded offering types for investors

Drew Lipke

Managing Director

Drew grew up in Little Rock and has owned farmland in Arkansas since 2014. Prior to joining AcreTrader in 2021, Drew spent 14 years in both debt and equity capital markets. Drew served as Managing Director of corporate credit analysis for a fixed-income broker-dealer and 12 years at Stephens Inc. with roles in equity research covering building materials and construction services, aerospace and defense, and energy, as well as institutional equity sales. He holds Series 7, 63, 65, 86, 87, 24 and 79 licenses with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Drew earned his degree from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and was voted to Institutional Investor’s All-America Research Team Rising Stars for his Aerospace & Defense sector coverage.