Pioneering Ventures ropes in Yes Bank exec to head e-marketplace vertical

Pioneering Ventures, a Switzerland and India-based agriculture and food-focused investment platform, has hired an executive from Yes Bank to head up its e-marketplace vertical.

Nitin Puri will head the firm’s digital market initiatives in the business-to-business and business-to-consumer segments across several categories. He will work out of three locations -- Delhi, Mumbai, and Switzerland -- Pioneering Ventures said in a statement.

Prior to joining the firm, Puri was serving as the group president and head of Yes Bank’s food and agri advisory arm. Previously, he has worked with firms including ITC, Reliance Retail, MCX, and Aditya Birla Nuvo.

An alumni of institutions including the Institute of Rural Management Anand and the National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra, Puri has led businesses and divisions focused on commodity markets, retail, FMCG, agri inputs, and derivatives exchanges.

His hire comes a little over a month after VCCircle reported that Pioneering Ventures had elevated a domestic executive to head its overall legal and compliance processes.

Pioneering Ventures says its mission involves reinventing ecosystems to provide people with healthy and sustainable food, while delivering financial and social returns for its stakeholders.

In May last year, Pioneering Ventures acquired Mumbai-based Lateral Praxis, which provides analytical and reporting dashboards, combined with real-time field-data acquisition services. The deal reportedly marked Pioneering Ventures’ first bet in Indian agri-tech.

In July 2019, VCCircle reported that the firm had taken control of Desai Fruits & Vegetables Pvt Ltd, a company that it had incubated more than a decade ago. According to VCCEdge, Pioneering Ventures holds a 92.83% stake in the firm.