Yara Growth Ventures invests in Omnivore’s Third Fund

Omnivore was founded in 2011 by Mark Kahn and Jinesh Shah to fund Indian startups building the future of agriculture and food systems. Omnivore pioneered agri-tech investing in India, and over the past decade has backed over 40 startups which are making farming more profitable, resilient, sustainable, and climate-proof. Omnivore raised USD 82 million for its second fund, which had a final close in April 2019. Some of Omnivore’s portfolio companies include DeHaat, Arya, Stellapps, Reshamandi, Ecozen, Aquaconnect, and Pixxel.

According to Jinesh Shah, Managing Partner at Omnivore, "Our new fund will have a sharper focus on catalyzing climate action in agriculture by funding startups addressing climate mitigation and climate adaptation. We are grateful to our investors who share Omnivore’s vision of making India an agri-tech superpower and improving the lives of smallholder farmers globally."

"The startup ecosystem in India is highly dynamic. We see great entrepreneurial talent addressing the resilience and environmental impact of the agri-food sector and various challenges in the supply chains," says Dr. Björn Heinz, Investment Director at Yara Growth Ventures. "Omnivore has been a trailblazer in the Indian agri-tech venture capital investment scene. Partnering with their team will help us gather important insights and learnings as we develop our activities in Asia.”

"Our close relationship with Omnivore will help us identify potential disruptors in our industry for collaboration and joint experimentation," adds Sanjiv Kanwar, Country Manager for Yara India. "Yara is eager to collaborate for innovative agricultural inputs and digital solutions to bring novel solutions to our customers."

As a leading crop nutrition company in India, Yara offers a diverse product portfolio of crop nutrition solutions. At the same time, many new entrants tackle supply chain inefficiencies or enable smallholder farm financing. For crop input providers this offers possibilities for both, joint business model and product innovation, which is already being addressed by Yara India’s outlets, the Yara Crop Nutrition Centers.

About Omnivore 

Omnivore is an impact venture capital firm, based in India, which funds entrepreneurs building the future of agriculture and food systems. For more information, please visit: https://www.omnivore.vc/

About Yara Growth Ventures
Yara Growth Ventures is the venture investment team within Yara International ASA investing in disruptive startups in the agri-food industry globally to advance sustainability. Learn more at www.yaragrowthventures.com

About Yara 

Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger and a planet respected, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions. Yara’s ambition is focused on growing a nature positive food future that creates value for our customers, shareholders and society at large and delivers a more sustainable food value chain. 

To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production. Through our focus on clean ammonia production, we aim to enable the hydrogen economy, driving a green transition of shipping, fertilizer production and other energy intensive industries. 

Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry’s only global crop nutrition company. We operate an integrated business model with around 17,500 employees and operations in 60 countries, with a proven track record of strong returns. In 2022, Yara reported revenues of USD 24.1 billion.