Unity founder Nicholas Francis and Investbridge Capital launch AgTech fund

Leveraging his deep experience in the tech industry, and together with Investbridge Capital, former chief creative officer and founder of Unity Technologies, Nicholas Francis is launching a new fund specifically dedicated to agricultural technologies. No word was given if the fund will focus on European startups, or reach a global audience, nor on a typical ticket size.

According to the AgFunder 2021 report, 2020 saw agriculture tech-focused startups raise $26.1 billion on a global scale, a number up 15.5% year-over-year, and if we take a peek back just a few months into the European agtech scene, the numbers speak for themselves.

Seeking to drive both innovation and the funding needed to fuel it, Investbridge Capital now has a powerful resource at its fingertips via Nicholas Francis. Having spent over a decade predicting how software will develop and driving Unity to be, arguably, the development platform of choice, Francis is now calling AgTech is the place to be.

And it’s not just talk, Francis himself has committed $10 million to cornerstone the fund as well as provide his time and experience in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and the global tech market to help portfolio companies progress and scale at speed.

"We are standing at the crossroads of two megatrends. On one hand, software is eating the world, and agriculture is one of the last hold-outs. On the other hand, there is a global push to mitigate the climate impact of one of the most important industries of our planet, an industry that contributes almost a quarter of the world's greenhouse emissions. Over the next decade, we will see tremendous investment influx into the sector, making this the perfect time to help these nascent companies grow,” explained Francis.

Via the Investbridge fund, Francis will be joined by former Velcourt technical director Keith Norman, who brings 40 years of experience in agriculture and AgTech to the table, and Cell Capital Partners partner Kelvin Au.

"Welcoming Nicholas to the team marks a significant new venture for us. With his unrivalled experience in the tech market and his leadership of our new fund, we are extremely well-positioned to capitalise on the investment opportunities within AgTech,” concluded Investbrige Capital’s Oliver Hogg.