A member of the top 100 from the Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist
Derek Norman took over from Alex Steel as head of Switzerland-based agricultural company Syngenta’s corporate venturing unit at the start of the month.
It has been one of the most active investors in agriculture, having invested more than $100m in early-stage companies since 2006. Investments include AgBiome, AgriMetis, Blue River Technologies, Agrivida, Planet Labs and Phytech. Norman is chairman of AgriMetis and on the board of one of this year’s new investments, the AgTech Accelerator.
A managing director at the unit, Norman was named a GCV Rising Star 2016 and has been with Syngenta for nearly seven years. He joined shortly after its corporate venturing arm was established, attracted by his interest in the agriculture industry following his PhD from Harvard University in chemistry after graduating in the subject from Stanford. He said: “There was the question of whether VC could have a meaningful impact in the agricultural industry.
“This was a question I was interested to explore. In 2009, the agricultural VC sector was much smaller. While there were many interesting parallels to the pharma industry, there was a dearth of agricultural investing relative to pharma. I think I am a contrarian by nature, so I found this disconnect compelling.”
Norman has a BSc in chemistry from Stanford University and a PhD in chemistry and chemical biology from Harvard University.
