BENGALURU: The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) on October 20 issued Rs 10 crore each to agriculture and rural development-focused venture funds Ankur Capital and Omnivore Partners from the ASPIRE fund, a fund of funds with a corpus of Rs 60 crore. The ASPIRE Fund, which is part of an initiative by the Ministry of Micro, Small and medium Enterprises (MSME) under ‘A Scheme for Promotion of Innovation and Rural Entrepreneurship and agro industry (ASPIRE),’ was launched by MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra in Mumbai on October 20 .

“After processing several VC funds, Ankur Capital and Omnivore Partners were given the accrual letter today,” SIDBI Chairman Kshatrapati Shivaji. The ASPIRE Fund was entrusted to Sidbi about six months ago.

“This is the first tranche of funding from the fund. Each VC fund has been given Rs 10 crore each,” Shivaji said. Omnivore Partners, whose focus areas for investments are agriculture technologies and rural livelihood development, has so far invested in 12 startups such as Ecozen Solutions and Mitra.

“The Rs 10-crore funds from ASPIRE will go into our second fund and we will use it to make pre-seed investments in promising startups developing breakthrough technologies for food, agriculture and the rural economy. We will be collaborating with accelerators and incubators to back early-stage startups,” said Subhadeep Sanyal, principal at Omnivore Partners.

Ankur Capital invests in startups that address challenges in agriculture, healthcare, skill development and education. It has invested in seven startups such as SUMA Agro and Cropin. “The Rs 10 crore will add to our fund size and we will use it to extend our portfolio of startups,” said Ritu Verma, Co-Founder of Ankur Capital.

Source: Times of India