Abhilash Sethi

Abhilash Sethi is an Investment Director at Omnivore, India's pioneering agrifoodtech venture capital fund, where he has been instrumental in shaping the country's agricultural technology investment landscape since joining as a Principal in 2018. In September 2023, Sethi was promoted to Investment Director in recognition of his significant contributions to the firm, including leading successful exits from portfolio companies Eruvaka and MITRA, overseeing multiple transactions, scouting new opportunities, and maintaining strategic relationships with ecosystem partners across the agritech sector.

Before entering venture capital, Sethi was a founding member of Mahindra & Mahindra's Precision Farming Team, where he mapped the global landscape of precision agriculture technologies and developed partnerships with multiple agritech startups. This operational experience gave him deep insights into the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of agriculture and technology. His career spans multiple sectors including oil & gas, logistics, and automobiles, across operations, sales, marketing, strategy, and investment functions, providing him with a comprehensive understanding of complex industrial ecosystems.

Sethi earned his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Warangal, where he topped his batch and won the Institute gold medal. He subsequently obtained his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore in 2013, one of India's premier business schools. Beyond his professional work, Sethi describes himself as working "at the intersection of agriculture, technology and international relations" and is an avid follower of geopolitics. He stays current through publications including Omnivore's newsletter, Foreign Affairs, The Ken, Wall Street Journal, Indian Express, AgFunder, and Bits x Bites. In 2021, he was recognized as part of Entrepreneur India's Tech 25 Class, highlighting rising leaders in technology and innovation.

Abhilash Sethi focuses on funding breakthrough technologies that transform food, agriculture, climate, and the rural economy in India. His investment philosophy centers on supporting entrepreneurs building scalable solutions that deliver a disproportionate impact on the lives of farmers and rural communities. At Omnivore, he is responsible for developing future strategies for existing portfolio companies, scouting new deals, conducting due diligence, and overseeing deal pipeline tracking for the firm.

Sethi has identified nine key technology application areas in agriculture that guide his investment approach: (1) Farmer platforms providing e-commerce for inputs and produce sales; (2) Rural fintech enabling institutional finance access for farmers; (3) Agribusiness SaaS offering digital bookkeeping and advisory solutions; (4) Precision agriculture using sensors and robotics to optimize input application; (5) B2B marketplaces creating transparent agricultural logistics; (6) Farm-to-consumer brands shortening supply chains for branded produce; (7) Agri biotech leveraging genetic technologies like CRISPR for stress-resistant crops; (8) Innovative foods including alternate proteins for sustainability; and (9) Post-harvest technologies for quality assurance and spoilage prevention.

His investment sectors include agriculture inputs, mechanization, precision agriculture, agricultural biotechnology, market linkage, climate mitigation, and climate adaptation. Sethi emphasizes that "technology is removing guesswork from farming and thereby optimizing input usage," making agriculture more sustainable. He advocates for precision technologies that enable farmers to apply inputs "at the right time and even at the exact location where it is needed." Looking forward, he projects substantial efficiency improvements through digital technologies while maintaining core value chains, including increased farm mechanization and automation, sensor-prescribed fertilizer application, transparent post-harvest supply chains reducing food waste, and predictable farmer revenues with improved institutional finance access.