Pioneering Ventures, a Switzerland-based agri-food investment firm, announced that it has acquired Lateral Praxis, an Indian agri-tech company, according to a Mint report. Financial details of the transaction remain undisclosed.
The acquisition will help improve the firm’s downstream reach of tech-enabled solutions for food supply chain including information access, apps, data analytics and risk mitigation, said Pablo Erat, co-founder of Pioneering Ventures.
“Our initial focus was to integrate supply chains end-to-end to facilitate data-driven transformation from farm to fork. To create a positive change by reshaping the ecosystem, we need to reimagine the way food is produced and supplied, while empowering and connecting all system partners in a highly inclusive way. The acquisition of Lateral Praxis is an important milestone in the execution of our technology and data-centric strategy,” he said.
Founded in 1999 by Suniti Gupta, Lateral Praxis works closely with central and state governments, private firms and farmer communities at village/panchayat level to build, configure and implement innovative knowledge-based systems for legal compliance, audit tracking and risk management.
“As Indian agriculture and food sector gets ready to embrace next generation, tech-enabled future, the time is ripe for positive disruption. Our experience and core competencies will be augmented well by Pioneering Ventures’ expertise and presence across the food supply chain, helping us jointly scale up our solutions and delivery,” said Suniti Gupta, Founder of Lateral Praxis.
Till now, Pioneering Ventures has invested in five tech-enabled agri-focused firms and two pilot ventures in India. Its portfolio includes firms such as FarmLink, Citrus Processing India, MilkLane, Desai Fruits & Vegetables, Samaaru and DistriCo.
“We have been working successfully with Lateral Praxis for many years and I am confident that the team will further boost our technology and data expertise. Our partnership will help us accelerate the development of our fully integrated food technology platform,” said Erat.
Pioneering Ventures is a food, finance and technology platform company that has been investing in the Indian food ecosystem to provide people healthy food in a sustainable manner. Through its portfolio firms in India, Pioneer produces 450 tonnes of food daily that reaches over 1.5 million consumers.
