What we invest in
We focus on two industries: agriculture and clean hydrogen.
We invest in startups and in funds as a limited partner. For both investment types, we aim to be the best partner that we can be by leveraging our network (both in Yara and across our industries) to help those around us succeed. Agriculture and clean hydrogen are industries that will require collaborative work to make a real change - we see ourselves as enablers of that change.
Agriculture focus
Our agriculture thesis
Our core thesis is that we believe in "no compromise farming." By that we mean that we don't believe that the majority of farmers, advisors, or agriculture companies are going to be willing to compromise on yield, quality, profitability, and time effort in order to meet sustainability demands. As such, we are looking for companies which have a high impact with low effort required and price parity (or better) with current practices in order to get sustainability to massive adoption. With this in mind, we invest in the following verticals, themes, and business models.
Agriculture verticals
Agriculture themes
Agriculture business models
We are interested in new business model opportunities in agriculture (while understanding that there are some traditional ones here to stay). The business models we like to invest in include: SaaS, direct to customer, marketplaces, subscription, manufacturer, fertilizer as a service, outcome based, and generally models which move towards "do it for you."
Clean hydrogen focus
Our clean hydrogen thesis
Clean hydrogen is a critical part of the world's ability to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Given Yara's hundreds of years of experience in ammonia production, we are looking to empower and accelerate the transition to green and blue production by investing in the "picks and shovels" of the industry including the verticals, themes, and business models below.
Clean hydrogen verticals
Clean hydrogen themes
Clean hydrogen business models
We are interested in manufacturing, SaaS, distributed production, subscription, and transaction based business models.
Typical stage and deal size
For startups |
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For funds |
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Our process and what to expect
We like to invest in teams with whom we have a connection (so get in touch!). The typical investment process follows the following steps and takes about ~1-2 months. Our promise to you is that we will be clear, quick, helpful, and trustworthy.
How we relate to Yara International ASA
We are proudly a division within Yara International ASA - a global crop nutrition company headquartered in Norway and with operations or products sold in nearly every country of the world.
We see being part of the Yara ecosystem as a strength. Our focus is on making sound financial decisions in companies that are categorically changing agriculture. We will never ask for any preferential terms or exclusivity related to a startup's technology. We are here to help you succeed as entrepreneurs.
Some of the ways we like to help include: work with Yara R&D professionals to provide agronomic and product advice, working on shared field trials, and making introductions to potential channel and industry partners.