Yara Growth Ventures have invested in SP Venture's new AgVentures Fund II focused on investing in leading agri-food tech startups across Latin America. Joining Yara Growth Ventures in the fund include IFC, IADB, BASF, Syngenta, Capria, and Adisseo.

Leading SP Ventures is Francisco Jardim and his team who bring deep agriculture and technology focus with cumulative decades of experience in the Latin American agri-food startup community. Started in 2007 as a way to tap into the rapidly growing Brazilian market, SP Ventures has grown to be one of Latin America's top venture capital firms.

Erkki Aaltonen, head of Yara Growth Ventures, says, "Francisco has a proven track record of doing excellent deals in Latin America. As a limited partner, we hope to help Francisco and the SP ventures team do even more by providing financial support and bringing them into the Yara ecosystem."

Some of the key benefits to Yara of being a limited partner in SP Ventures include the opportunity to gain access to the SP Venture's high quality deal flow, potential to co-invest on deals, and gain a more comprehensive understanding of Latin American startups for market intelligence purposes.

"The Brazilian and Latin America startup ecosystem has been remarkably dynamic and rapidly growing for the last decade," says Cleiton Vargas, VP of Farming Solutions. "Being able to work with the SP Ventures team to better understand and operate within this ecosystem is a tremendous opportunity."

Yara is the leading crop nutrition company in Brazil with a product footprint in nearly every Latin American country. Especially in Brazil, a fiercely competitive market has evolved between large multinationals looking to gain a leading position, as well as from a digital perspective of startups looking to establish themselves as new players. Being able to identify disruptions and participate in a new way through venture investing is something that will empower Yara for future success.

"We are thrilled to work with Yara Growth Ventures and be part of the Yara family," says Francisco Jardim, Manager Partner of SP Ventures. "Yara is very well known in Latin America and we look forward to growing the startup community together.”

SP Ventures is a venture capital firm that seeks to acquire equity in innovative early-stage companies operating in the agricultural technologies, information and communication technologies, health technologies, new materials and nanotechnologies sectors. The firm was founded in 2007 and is based in São Paulo, Brazil.

More information at www.spventures.com.br