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A lot has changed in agribusiness since Erik Fyrwald took the helm of Syngenta in 2016.
The Swiss agribusiness was acquired and merged with China National Chemical Company (ChemChina), China’s state-owned agribusiness peer, in a $43 billion transaction. This was one of three huge deals between the sector’s so-called ‘Big Six’ agribusinesses that have effectively halved the number of major players in the market. To stay the landscape has changed is an understatement.
“The trend toward market consolidation has triggered fears among farmers that the pipeline for new herbicides and pesticides might slow. Regulators have required some divestments as a condition for approving the Syngenta deal,” Reuters reported at the time the Syngenta-ChemChina merger was secured.
But since then, investment in technology and innovation from new (and relatively early) market entrants has surged. Startup funding that totaled $8.2 billion in 2016 had doubled by 2018, reaching nearly $17 billion, according to AgFunder’s latest report on agrifood tech investing.
Recognizing the pipeline potential of food and agtech startups, corporate venture firms like Syngenta’s own Syngenta Ventures, have been incubating, investing in and acquiring these promising technologies and their founders. Last year alone, the range of Syngenta Ventures agtech investments included India’s fresh food delivery company Ninjacart, Denmark’s bio-pest control product company BioPhero, and Argentina’s agribusiness marketplace Agrofy.
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