Team
Innova's investment committee is small by design. Jan and Dean have been investing in agriculture for more than ten years, and our advisors add decades of operating experience on top of that.
Investment committee
Partner
Jan has been an early-stage investor since 2002 and has invested in more than 100 startups. Before entering the venture industry he was the founder and an executive of two startups, and spent over ten years in high tech across engineering, marketing and sales.
Partner
After working as an advisor for five years, Dean joined Innova in 2017 and focuses on AgTech startups. Before entering the venture industry he was a senior executive in the food safety and specialty chemical industry at The Vincit Group, Synergy, OmniLytics and Buckman Labs.
Advisors
To complement more than ten years of our own investing in Ag and gain even deeper insight, we work with operators who have run production at scale, sold through the input channel, and advised farmers across the Mid-South.
Helena Agri-Enterprises, former EVP
Phil recently retired from Helena Agri-Enterprises, where he was Executive Vice President overseeing several business units. Across 30 years he held many roles in the Helena organization, giving him a deep and wide knowledge of the industry — his experience in how to sell in Ag through distributors and dealers is second to none. He now runs his own advisory firm.
Fremont Farms, former CEO
Steve recently retired as CEO of Fremont Farms, where he ran one of the nation's largest liquid egg farming and production operations. Before that he worked in corporate development and private equity across several industries.
Mississippi
Southern Ag Services is a leading Ag services and consulting firm based in Mississippi, trusted by farmers across the Mid-South. Its leadership team has more than 90 years of combined industry experience. Services include soil fertility management, soil sampling, planting prescriptions, yield data analysis, irrigation management, and equipment sales and service.