IFA Fund commits $6 mn investment in agri firm Nu Genes

Secunderabad headquartered Nu Genes has received a $6 million funding commitment from Innovation in Food and Agriculture (IFA) Fund in lieu of a minority stake in the seed company. 

The company will use the capital to enter international markets with crop traits that are uniquely suited for tropical agriculture and also to expand its product range, said a statement. 

Nu Genes develops and manufactures seeds across a range of agricultural products such as cereal, vegetable and grain crops, with a focus on stress tolerance levels of the crops especially for small land holder farmers. The company is currently focusing on research in crops such as pearl millet, maize, sorghum and paddy in field crops and tomato, chilli, okra, bitter gourd, bottle gourd and watermelon in vegetable crops. 

It has seed processing machinery, testing and biotechnology labs, poly-house to handle genetically modified crops along with a storage capacity of 50,000 square feet.

“We have chosen the investment from IFA Fund due to deep insights our investors bring in propelling our growth,” said P N Reddy, founder and CEO of Nu Genes Seeds. 

The IFA Fund, sponsored by Sathguru Catalyser Advisors, invests in agricultural ventures driven by innovation and market ready food products. Other than Nu Genes, it has investments in biotechnology firm Telluris Biotech and solar-powered cold storage solutions provider Ecozen.

“Our focus on investment in Nu Genes is to address future needs of the farmers in adapting to climate change and provide seed traits that can be adopted in dry land and humid tropical farms. Nu Genes products have potential to secure footprint in several needy countries” Sathguru Catalysers chairman Krishna Kumar said.

Earlier this month, US retail major Walmart and its Indian ecommerce subsidiary Flipkart made an undisclosed investment in Ninjacart, a B2B marketplace for agricultural produce that connects farmers and retailers. In November, B2B ecommerce marketplace Jumbotail raised $2 million in an extended Series B round from Nexus Venture Partners.