S02 E03: Connecting the Dots for Catalytic Capital

<p>Agriculture forms a significant bulk of the Indian workforce, with over half of our workforce dependent on the sector. Relentless urbanization notwithstanding, low and middle-income countries like India will have to nurture their rural populations’ agricultural contribution in the coming years to feed all of us sustainably. The potential to leverage agricultural output and biodiversity for new, exciting sectors like alternative protein is immense. But without the necessary infrastructure or investment, entrepreneurs can find themselves face to face with a valley of death between product innovation and commercialization. This just ends up crippling momentum and blunts opportunities in emerging sectors. Today’s guest on Feeding 10 Billion, Hemendra Mathur, is a Venture Partner at Bharat Innovation Fund and Co-Founder of corporate innovation platform ThinkAg. Hemendra has successfully built pathways among what he calls the pancha tatva (five essential ingredients of any ecosystem) of government, industry, R&amp;D, investors or incubation, and entrepreneurs to forge patient, ecosystem-enabling, “catalytic capital” for vital sectors like agri-technology. We talk to Hemendra about how we can replicate this success with ecosystem building for alternative protein.</p><p>NOTES:</p><p>Companies &amp; Organisations Mentioned:</p><p><a href="https://www.thinkag.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ThinkAg</a></p><p><a href="https://bharat.fund/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bharat Innovation Fund</a></p><p>Indian Council of Agriculture Research (<a href="https://icar.org.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ICAR</a>) </p><p>Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (<a href="https://www.csir.res.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CSIR</a>)</p><p><a href="https://www.ju.st/en-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">JUST Egg</a></p><p>Definition:<br>Catalytic Capital falls on the impact investing end of the spectrum of investment, just shy of philanthropic grants and is