Omnivore Capital Management Advisors Pvt. Ltd said on Thursday it has marked the final close of its second fund at $97 million (Rs 679 crore), overshooting the initial target of $75 million.
The impact investment firm had marked the first close of the Omnivore Partners India Fund II at $46 million (Rs 296 crore) in February last year.
Limited Partners (LPs), or investors, who contributed to the final close of the fund included UK government-owned development financial institution CDC Group Plc, Dutch development bank FMO, Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM), Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries SA, BASF Venture Capital (the corporate venture capital arm of Germany's BASF Group), Japan's Mistletoe, Germany-based fund manager Sonanz and family offices, said Omnivore in a statement.
At the first close, the second fund had recieved commitments from foreign LPs including German government-owned development bank KfW, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency's Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), the US-based Rockefeller Foundation, the UK-based investment firm Ceniarth and impact investor Sorenson Impact Foundation.
Domestic LPs including state-run financial institution Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and private-sector lender RBL Bank had also contributed at the time the fund made its first close.
“The journey that Omnivore began with our first fund is accelerating with our second fund, as we support a new generation of entrepreneurs who are working to disrupt food systems across India, making agriculture more profitable, stable, and sustainable," said Mark Kahn, managing partner, Omnivore.
Investment strategy
Founded in 2010 by Kahn and Jinesh Shah, the impact investor backs Indian startups developing and using technology in the food, agriculture and rural sectors.
The second fund, which aims to make around 20 bets, will look for seed-stage deals but will also invest in pre-Series A and Series A rounds. It will also keep a significant reserve for follow-on investments.
The new fund has already made five bets including on Chandigarh-based agri-analytics startup AgNext and milk delivery startup Doodhwala.
Last month, it co-invested in Gurugram-based online marketplace for farm products and services DeHaat.
For its first fund, Omnivore had raised $40 million from Indian investors in 2012 and 2013. The first fund has 12 active portfolio companies. These include processed food firm Arohan Foods, on-farm diagnostic equipment maker Eruvaka Technologies and IT services startup Retigence Technologies. It has partially exited weather forecaster Skymet and dairy IoT company Stellapps.
A bunch of venture capital firms have achieved fundraising milestones in the past few months.
Earleir on Thursday, VCCircle reported that StartupXseed Ventures LLP has marked the final close of its debut fund.
Earlier this month, early-stage consumer-focussed venture capital firm DSG Consumer Partners marked the first close of its third fund that is looking to raise $50 million.
In February, early-stage venture capital firm 3one4 Capital announced the first close of its dedicated opportunities fund to invest in select portfolio companies that are raising funding from the Series B stage onwards.
In the same month, Entrepreneur First, which helps individuals build companies from scratch, marked the first close of its new deep technology-focussed global fund at $115 million.