Second fund of NABVENTURES, the venture capital arm of the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD), has announced the first close at $450 Cr.
NABARD, India’s apex agriculture-focused financial institution, is an anchor investor in the fund. The firm invests in early- to growth-stage agritech startups and is now targeting a ₹1500 Cr fund corpus. Greenshoe is also an option.
The investment aims to double early-stage and growth-stage startups, using tech to address challenges across the agriculture value chain and rural market sectors, including agritech, food, and agribusiness, supply chain and logistics, rural fintech, climate-smart solutions,, and other businesses focused on rural transformation.
“The fund will also focus on businesses across sustainability, climate resilience, financial inclusion and livelihood creation,” said Dr Shaji Krishnan V, Chairman of NABARD.
NABVENTURES was incorporated on April 23, 2018. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of NABARD, established to invest in businesses across agriculture and rural development. NABVENTURES backs startups through Fund I & AgriSURE.
NABVENTURES claimed that its earlier funds have collectively backed 23 enterprises, such as Unnati, Eggoz, Beyond Snack, Jai Kisan, etc. The investment backed many companies, such as aquaculture-focused agritech startup Aquapulse, which raised ₹25 Cr in an ongoing Series A led by NABVENTURES and Kisaan through its AgriSURE Fund earlier this year.
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When the sector has lost some of its allure for investors, that’s when the firm focuses on agritech. Agritech startups raised $202 Mn across 36 deals in 2025, nearly 25% down from $269 Mn in 2024 and sharply below $728 Mn and $840 Mn raised in 2021 and 2022.
However, Agritech has seen some sizable bets recently. Balwaan Krishi has raised $10.4 Mn in a Series B round in September, while Ninjacart raised $6 Mn in July.
