OmniX Bio will provide venture funding, mentorship from global agrifood life sciences leaders, institutional partnerships and business development support to access domestic and export sales channels
Omnivore announced today the launch of its OmniX Bio initiative to back early stage agrifood life science startups. The program will support Indian entrepreneurs who are working in agricultural biotechnology, novel farming systems, bioenergy and biomaterials, as well as innovative foods, including alternative protein.
Agrifood life sciences can play a critical role in tackling both climate mitigation (reducing India’s GHG emissions) and climate adaptation (securing a future for India’s farmers), as well as other agricultural sustainability challenges.
OmniX Bio will provide venture funding, mentorship from global agrifood life sciences leaders, institutional partnerships, and business development support to access domestic and export sales channels. While all members of the Omnivore team will support OmniX Bio, a PhD life scientist will join the investment team in 2022 to oversee the initiative and help develop the agrifood life sciences ecosystem across India.
Omnivore also disclosed the first investment under the OmniX Bio initiative: BioPrime, which is developing biological crop inputs that enhance yields without harming the environment or the health of farmers and consumers. The BioPrime team has spent the past few years building SNIPR (Smart Nanomolecules Induced Physiological Response) and BIONEXUS. SNIPR is a discovery platform which identifies innate immunity or natural defence mechanisms in plants, curates unique traits, and delivers tailored crop input formulations. BIONEXUS is India’s largest trait modifying, plant-associated microbe collection. Changes in the diversity of microbiota can confer plants acquired traits like drought tolerance, disease resistance, and enhanced yields, to name a few.
Renuka Diwan, Co-Founder and CEO of BioPrime, said, “At BioPrime we are focusing on discovering fundamental aspects of plant communication, identifying new biomolecules and new modes of modulating plant responses. SNIPR and BIONEXUS enable BioPrime to develop new biologicals and radically improve existing products at a fraction of cost and time.”
Mark Kahn, Managing Partner of Omnivore, commented, “We are excited to launch OmniX Bio to help reboot the agrifood life sciences ecosystem in India. Technological advances in this space can effectively solve some of the toughest challenges in Indian agriculture. We hope to see more entrepreneurs like the BioPrime team step up to the challenge and help change the course of Indian agriculture for the better.”
