Omnivore, an Indian agritech venture capital firm, announced the launch of its third fund, with a target corpus of US$ 130 million (INR 1000 crore). The new fund will continue to invest in early-stage startups developing breakthrough technologies for agriculture, food, climate, and the rural economy. Omnivore generally invests in Seed, Pre-Series A, and Series A rounds, with follow-on capital for future growth.
Originally founded by Jinesh Shah and Mark Kahn in 2010, Omnivore pioneered agritech investing in India, and over the past decade has backed over 35 startups that are making farming more profitable, resilient, sustainable, and climate-proof. Omnivore is targeting a first close of the new fund by September 2022 and a final close by June 2023. With this new fund, Omnivore expects to make 25 to 30 new investments over the next four years, continuing to fund entrepreneurs building the future of Indian agriculture and food systems.
Omnivore Fund 3 will have a sharper focus on catalyzing climate action in agriculture, backing startups addressing both climate mitigation (reducing India’s GHG emissions) and climate adaptation/resilience (securing a future for India’s farmers). Along these lines, earlier this year, Omnivore launched the OmniX Bio initiative to provide additional support to agrifood life science startups, initially targeting the fields of agricultural biotechnology, novel farming systems, bioenergy and biomaterials, as well as innovative foods, including alternative protein. With the new fund, Omnivore aims to deepen the reach and impact of OmniX Bio, and help reboot the agrifood life sciences ecosystem in India.
Mark Kahn, Managing Partner, Omnivore stated, “For over a decade now, we have been a part of the evolution of the agritech ecosystem in India. Through Omnivore’s investments, we have touched the lives of almost seven million smallholder farmers, improving their profitability and resilience, while creating value for our investors. We believe agritech is just getting started, and we look forward to supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs building a future for rural India.”