Cavallo Ventures

Name

Cavallo Ventures

Legal name

Cavallo Ventures

Website

https://cavallovc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cavallo Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Wilbur-Ellis, investing early-stage capital in agriculture, animal health/nutrition, and novel ingredients startups while providing market access through Wilbur-Ellis' distribution network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Strategic Real Assets & Infrastructure Venture Investing (FSANAHAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated) (FSANAAAM)

Keywords

• Venture capital
• Agtech investing
• Corporate venture capital
• Agriculture technology
• Animal nutrition investing

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns: Cavallo Ventures generates returns through equity investments in early-stage startups across agriculture, animal health nutrition, and novel ingredients sectors. They provide capital, strategic expertise, and market access through Wilbur-Ellis' global distribution network.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Cavallo Ventures is the venture capital arm of Wilbur-Ellis, providing early-stage equity capital to technology startups operating across three markets: Agriculture (Wilbur-Ellis' Agribusiness division), Animal Health & Nutrition, and Novel Ingredients (through Connell). Beyond capital, the firm delivers strategic expertise, board involvement, and direct market access through Wilbur-Ellis' distribution network, helping founders launch products, run trials, expand operations, and recruit talent.

Product overview

Cavallo Ventures is the venture capital arm of Wilbur-Ellis, founded in 2017. It is not a product company but rather an investment vehicle that provides capital, strategic expertise, and market access to early-stage technology companies. Beyond capital, Cavallo Ventures delivers deep expertise and market knowledge, enabling portfolio founders to launch new products and services, run trials, expand operations, and recruit talent. The firm focuses on three primary markets: Agriculture (Wilbur-Ellis' Agribusiness division), Animal Health & Nutrition, and Novel Ingredients (through Connell). Wilbur-Ellis itself operates several divisions including the Agribusiness division providing crop protection, nutrition and seed technology; Connell as a specialty chemicals distributor in Asia-Pacific; and Nachurs Alpine Solutions (NAS) as a specialty liquid chemical manufacturer serving precision agriculture, transportation, energy and industrial sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Partnership has potential to reduce nitrogen application by 7.5 million metric tons annually in China alone, equivalent to removing 220 million tons of CO2 or 50 million cars from the road

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• SyngentacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2020Sound Agriculture (portfolio company) formed strategic partnership with Syngenta to explore opportunities to decrease nitrogen fertilizer use in China by up to 30% while maintaining on-farm productivity. Sound Agriculture's SOURCE product stimulates soil microbes to provide access to more nitrogen and phosphorus at the root zone.
• DIC CorporationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDIC Corporation and Debut Biotech (portfolio company) entered second phase of joint development agreement focusing on creating natural red colorants for food, nutrition, and cosmetics industries. Debut Biotech's proprietary continuous technology overcomes traditional biomanufacturing barriers through a cell-free approach.
• Guardian AgriculturecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGuardian Agriculture secured a multi-million-dollar partnership with Wilbur-Ellis to bring fully autonomous crop protection aircraft system to growers across America. The partnership gives Wilbur-Ellis customers access to state-of-the-art autonomous aerial application technology before anyone else.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Pontifax AgTech: Venture capital firm focused on agriculture and food technology. Direct peer: another pure-play agtech VC backing early- to growth-stage companies in crop inputs, animal health, and digital agriculture.
• Cargill Ventures: Strategic investment arm of Cargill in food, ag, and bio-industrial startups. Direct peer: a major ag merchant running a CVC with global distribution and customer relationships that mirror Wilbur-Ellis's role for Cavallo portfolio companies.
• Leaps by Bayer: Corporate venture capital arm of Bayer AG investing in health and agriculture breakthroughs. Directly comparable as a corporate strategic CVC deploying capital into adjacent deep-tech and life-science verticals, with hands-on company building similar to Cavallo's model.
• Anterra Capital: Specialist venture capital firm investing globally in food and agriculture technology. Direct peer: a dedicated agtech VC operating in the same thematic universe of crop inputs, animal health, and food innovation.
• Syngenta Group Ventures: Corporate venture arm of Syngenta Group focused on agricultural innovation. Directly comparable: it is the ag-input multinational's CVC counterpart to Cavallo, investing into startups aligned with the parent's crop protection and seeds strategy.
• Continental Grain / Conti Ventures: Long-standing agricultural merchant with venture investing in food, agtech, and protein innovation. Comparable as a strategic, distribution-backed investor in early-stage companies across the same protein/ingredient verticals Cavallo targets.
• S2G Ventures: Venture capital fund focused on food, agriculture, and clean energy. Direct peer: a sector-dedicated VC backing early- and growth-stage companies across food, agtech, and bioeconomy themes.
• ADM Ventures: Corporate venture arm of Archer Daniels Midland focused on agriculture, food, and nutrition innovation. Directly comparable as a strategic CVC investing in ag and nutrition adjacencies with operational parent support similar to Cavallo.
• Corteva Catalyst: CVC platform of Corteva (DowDuPont's ag spinoff) investing in early-stage agtech. Direct peer: another large ag-input major running an externally-facing CVC in the same agriculture and novel-inputs theses Cavallo pursues.

Emerging players

• Novozymes / Novo Holdings (Industrial Biotech): Strategic investment arm of the Novo Nordisk Foundation investing in biotech, food, and industrial biology. Comparable as a long-duration, science-driven strategic investor backing novel ingredient and biomanufacturing plays overlapping with Cavallo's Novel Ingredients vertical.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/wilburelliscompany
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cavallo-ventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments54 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cavallo Ventures