Syngenta Ventures FAQs
Who is Syngenta Ventures?
- Carol Marino, Vice-President. Prior to Syngenta Ventures, VP Venture Investments at JJDC, Johnson & Johnson’s corporate venture capital group. Twenty-five years of biopharmaceutical industry experience in executive positions (Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co., Inc.). Master of Science degree in Organic Chemistry ( University of New Hampshire) and B.S. in Chemistry (Merrimack College)
- Ignacio Martinez, Principal. Former CFO Progenika Biopharma (Europe, US). Five years in early stage venture capital investing in technology companies (Najeti Ventures, Seed Capital). Degree in Business Administration and Economics (Deusto University) and International MBA (IE Business School)
- Derek Norman, Investment Manager. Prior to Syngenta Ventures, Associate at Hatteras Venture Partners. Three years strategy consulting at Dean & Co. Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University. Undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Stanford University.
What specific areas is Syngenta Ventures interested in investing?
The areas where we are seeking to invest embrace all the core areas of Syngenta’s business, as well as those which touch these areas. For information on these areas, please visit www.syngenta.com.
What are the key criteria Syngenta Ventures is seeking in an investment?
Overall a solid and well constructed financial opportunity balanced with the opportunity to provide immediate or future strategic benefits to Syngenta as well as helping grow the value of the investee Company.
The main specific guidelines are:
- There has to be a strategic fit of the proposal to Syngenta’s activities
- Preference to invest as part of a syndicate
- Investment amount: between $500.000 and $5.000.000
- Geographical preference: North America and Europe but also looking in Asia and South America
- Strong protectable technology or business model
How will we review your proposal?
The process consists of the following key steps:
- You submit your business plan to syngenta.ventures@syngenta.com
- We perform our preliminary screening, which usually take 2-4 weeks, depending on work already in progress
- If initial review is positive, we will contact you and arrange further discussions to evaluate the company and its management team. If not positive we will let you know that we will not be proceeding
- If we then mutually wish to go forward we will perform an in-depth analysis and will seek agreement on the main terms and conditions of the potential investment through a term-sheet
- Once outline terms are concluded, we will then perform due diligence
- The detailed terms and conditions of the investment will be finalised
The total process generally takes between 6 to 9 months.
Why does Syngenta start its own venture capital business?
Syngenta has been involved with venturing since its formation and Syngenta Ventures has been established to accelerate the search for external innovation, new technologies and new business models in core and close to core areas.
How can Syngenta Ventures be trusted to protect my ideas since my Company competes with yours?
Syngenta Ventures has been set up as a separate subsidiary in order to protect proprietary information. Syngenta Ventures will seek to establish a formal confidentiality agreement as soon as it is necessary to start reviewing confidential and proprietary data which sets out our mutual obligations. However, Syngenta, as a global leader in its field, may be working on projects which are the same as, or similar to, those submitted for evaluation.
For more information on Syngenta Ventures click here.