Omnivore is making a push to support India’s biotech companies alongside other agrifood tech ventures to help mitigate climate impacts in agriculture.
“We consider innovations in life and material sciences as a vital part of climate action,” Omnivore spokeswoman Saborni Poddar told ImpactAlpha.
The Mumbai-based agrifood impact investor’s latest investment is Scimplify, which produces specialty insecticides and fungicides, as well as other chemicals for pharmaceuticals, fragrances and flavors. Omnivore led Scimplify’s $9.5 million round to support its R&D. Bertelsmann India Investments, 3one4 Capital and Beenext also invested.
Biotech funding gap
Omnivore launched a biotech and life sciences investment strategy two years ago and dedicated a portion of its third fund to seeding domestic agrifood life sciences companies.
“Virtually all of the current startup activity and venture investing in agtech [in India] focuses on digital technologies, e-commerce, full-stack farmer platforms, rural fintech and marketplaces,” Omnivore’s team wrote at the time.
It has made five biotech and life sciences investments, including insect farming venture Loopworm and sustainable crop treatment maker Barrix. Omnivore sold its stake in Barrix last year to Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo.
