Impact investment-focused venture capital firm Omnivore plans to deploy most of the remaining capital from its ₹1,800-crore Fund III into deep science and consumer brands over the next year, as it positions itself for the next investment cycle, managing partner and co-founder Mark Kahn said.
"I would say most of our remaining investments will be in deep science and consumer brands as we're looking to be done deploying by the middle of 2027," Kahn said in an interview with Mint.
The deployment comes at a time when demand for high-protein foods is rising and investor interest in deeptech—particularly drones, robotics and physical AI—is accelerating globally.
The firm has deployed about 55% of Fund III, and is expected to finish deploying the balance 45% by H1 of 2027.
Average cheque sizes from Fund III range between ₹30 crore and ₹80 crore, with most investments targeted at Series A companies and select pre-Series A bets.
While this is not a fundamental pivot for Omnivore, whose investment thesis remains centred on agriculture, it signals where the firm expects its next wave of returns to emerge.
Consumer push
Consumer investing has never been a core strategy for Omnivore. Even today, the firm has only three consumer brands in its portfolio.
"We're not fundamentally a consumer investor. We're an investor that focuses on agrifood systems in India," Kahn said.
The firm's first consumer investment came in 2020, when it wrote a $2 million seed cheque to healthy snacking brand Farmley. Omnivore remains invested and also participated in the company's $40 million Series C round led by L Catterton.
In 2024, the firm, alongside the Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office, invested $10 million in the Series A round of direct-to-consumer dairy brand Sid's Farm. This year, it doubled down by leading the startup's $8.4 million pre-Series B funding round alongside new and existing investors.
In 2026, Omnivore also led craft chocolate brand Manam Chocolate's $9 million Series A round with participation from the Turner Morrisson consortium.
Although these investments have been spread over several years, Kahn said the firm deliberately backed companies whose products generate measurable benefits for farmers.
“We took our time to develop our own consumer thesis, and our own convictions about the consumer economy, but it's certainly going forward be about a quarter to a third of what we will invest in, from the remaining fund,” he said.
The firm's consumer strategy also extends to adjacent sectors. In July, Omnivore and Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors co-led specialty food and nutraceutical ingredients startup Arboreal Bioinnovations' ₹230-crore (around $24 million) Series A round.
Deeptech bets
Omnivore has been an investor in IP-led startups focused on companies building in the life sciences as well as those that can create impact for farmers through robotics.
It has previously invested in companies like Loopworm, Pixxel, Niqo Robotics, Varaha, and Intello Labs.
The firm is doubling down on the category as physical AI, robotics and automation see a sharp uptick in investor and founder interest globally. Two of Omnivore's portfolio companies in the sector have found themselves well-poised to take advantage of the swing, especially in markets outside India. "This is kind of the year of physical AI, and we're seeing it across multiple portfolio companies," Kahn said.
As of 2025, India's deeptech market was estimated to be sized at $9-12 billion and is expected to grow at a 25% compound annual growth rate to sit between $27-33 billion by 2030, according to a November 2025 report released by Redseer Strategy Consultants.
Previously, the firm had stayed away from looking at robotics for the agriculture sector citing low technological differentiation and heavy dependence on subsidies. But harvesting drones remain an area of interest, given that they solve structural problems, with potential to be exported to foreign markets.
"Harvesting is a huge part of the agricultural labour force where labour scarcity is becoming a real issue with something that farmers struggle with. It's very hard to do and it's something that can also be built in India for the world," Kahn said.
Fund IV plans
Fund III had its first close in 2023 and final close in early 2024, and Omnivore expects to hold dry powder through the first half of 2027.
The firm plans to launch Fund IV next year, although its final structure is still being worked out.
According to Kahn, the new fund will continue to be organised around four themes—agrifood consumer, agrifood deeptech, agrifood fintech and agrifood value chains—broadly mirroring Omnivore's existing investment strategy.
Omnivore's second fund, which was sized at around ₹675 crore closed in 2019 after being oversubscribed. The firm is lining up several exit announcements over the coming months from the second fund, which Kahn described as “very, very healthy exits.”
Founded in 2010 by Kahn and Jinesh Shah, the Bengaluru-based venture capital firm launched with its first fund anchored by Godrej Agrovet.