Omnivore Partners raises $46 Mn to fund agritech, rural specific startups

Venture capital firm Omnivore Partners has closed the first phase of second round in which it secured $46 million from a clutch of investors, including Sidbi, RBL Bank, Sorenson Impact Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Dutch Good Growth Fund and others.

The New Delhi-based fund plans to invest the fresh fund in 15 to 20 agritech and rural innovation-specific startups in the next 5 years.

Agritech-focussed firm Omnivore Partners is aiming to raise a total of $75 million in the closing of second round by August this year.

For the second half of the fund, it is planning to reach out to domestic and existing investors, with the goal of achieving a 50-50 split between domestic and foreign investors.

The investment firm had raised $40.4 million in its first fundraising round in 2013, which was used to fund around 12 agri and foodtech startups.

Previously, it had invested in Stellapps and Ecozen, a micro cold storage facility that works on solar power and can be installed even in small farms.

Also Read: Omnivore Partners to raise $45 Mn to fund agritech start-ups

Founded in 2011 by Mark Kahn and Jinesh Shah, Omnivore Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in agricultural technology startups and innovations including supply chain, food safety, nutrition, innovative food products, water management and others.

Some of its portfolio companies include weather forecaster Skymet Weather Services, automatic seed drills manufacturer Khedut Agro Engineering, IT and services startup Retigence Technologies and others.

Omnivore Partners is backed by diversified agribusiness firm Godrej Agrovet, SIDBI and SBI among other financial institutions.

Apart from Omnivore Partners, investors that are active in the agritech space include Future Venture Capital Company, IDG Venture, Accel Partners, Aspada Investments, IvyCap Ventures, Unitus Seed Fund, Rabo Equity Advisors amongst others.

The fundraising development was first reported by ET.