Chemicals producer BASF and agribusiness Syngenta have backed the $17.2m first close of an agricultural technology-focused fund being raised by Brazil-based venture capital firm SP Ventures, AgFunderNews reported yesterday.
The fund has a $50m target for its close and its limited partners include undisclosed angel investors and an unnamed US-based fund-of-funds. Syngenta contributed through Syngenta Ventures, its corporate venturing subsidiary.
The vehicle will invest between $100,000 and $6m across seed and series A rounds, targeting the entire agricultural supply chain.
SP Ventures had raised an initial $4m in November 2019 from LPs including BASF subsidiary BASF Ventures and unnamed corporates, development finance institutions, institutional investors and family offices for a fund called AgVentures II.
David Pierson, managing director of Syngenta Ventures, told AgFunderNews: “I have been going down to [Latin America] for seven years now building a network of relationships with venture firms,”
“SP Ventures is as good as any venture firm that I have worked within any region. We co-invested in Agrofy in 2018 and that gave me a closeup look at how they evaluate companies, the quality of the [due diligence]. We joined the board together and I have gotten to see how hands-on they are in the boardroom and when coaching the management team.”