'VC funding in agri start-ups picking up in India'

Venture capital funding in agri start-up firms is picking up in India and is expected to increase in the coming years, agriculture and food-tech focused venture capital firm Omnivore Partners said today.
Lack of institutional funding through banks and Non- Banking Financial Company (NBFC) has prompted entrepreneurs to go for venture capital even at high cost, it said.
"There has been increase in VC funds flowing in start-up companies operating in the field of agriculture. We have made investment in atleast 11 firms including weather forecasting company Skymet," Mumbai-based Omnivore Parters, Founding Partner Jinesh Shah told PTI on the sidelines of a CII event.

The investments have been made in start-up companies that are working in the field of farm mechanisation, precision farming, sustainable farming, and innovative foods, he said.
"We are currently investing between Rs 5,00,000 and Rs 30,000,000 in agri-start up companies, which we plan to scale up to Rs 60,00,000 in the coming years," Shah said.
However, the scale of investment and number of start up firms in agriculture sector is much lower than in the technology and e-commerce sector because it is not easy to make a agri-business idea successful as there are too many problems in the entire value chain of agriculture, he added.

Besides Omnivore Partners, the other venture capital firms investing in agri-start up firms are Rabo Ventures and SAIF Partners.