Venture capital firm Omnivore raised $150 million as the first close of its third fund, exceeding its target of $130 million.
The Omnivore Agritech and Climate Sustainability Fund, launched last year in April, aims to invest in 25-30 agritech startups across seed and Series A funding rounds with cheque sizes ranging between $1 million and $5 million. The fund will look at startups in the agriculture, food, climate, and rural economy sectors.
Mark Kahn, Managing Partner of Omnivore, said that both overseas and domestic investors continue to remain interested in participating in the Indian startup ecosystem, especially in the early stage funding.
Omnivore’s third fund raised the capital from investors such as KfW, Self Reliant India (SRI) Fund, FMO, SIFEM, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Inclusive Agritech Facility, Louis Dreyfus Company Ventures, the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), and Yara Growth Ventures.
Kahn said the final close of the third fund may reach a size of $170 million-$180 million.
Founded in 2011 by Mark Kahn and Jinesh Shah, Omnivore has backed over 40 startups with some leading names in its portfolio—DeHaat, Reshamandi, and Pixxel. It had raised $82 million in its second fund.
Kahn remains bullish on India’s agriculture segment of the startup ecosystem as there are new companies emerging with strong teams and good business models. “Startups are transforming rural India,” he remarked.
Over the past year, Omnivore has exited two agritech startups. In July 2022, the VC firm sold its stake in aquaculture IoT startup Eruvaka to Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquaculture, realising the largest exit in Indian agritech to date.
In March 2023, Omnivore sold its stake in precision sprayer manufacturer MITRA to farm machinery giant Mahindra.
