Heavy-equipment maker CNH Industrial has a long history of mergers and acquisitions and once oversaw legendary brands like Ferrari, but five years ago, at the height of agtech's boom, the global giant struggled to make inroads in the startup world.
The conglomerate turned to one of its longest-tenured executives, Italian businessman Michele Lombardi.
Lombardi rose through the ranks in CNH's business development group, where he was part of the “black belt team” that built top-tier corporate partnerships, and when the company approached him for this new role in 2019, he was essentially starting a new chapter “from scratch.”
“They were stuck and couldn't really build a pipeline of successful deals,” Lombardi told TechCrunch. “When we started, we knew our reach was very limited. We didn't have a network.”
How do you build it? Just start talking, Lombardi explained. He went to venture capital firms right away, knowing that many of them were looking for an outlet to invest in startups developing things like autonomous farming equipment and precision agriculture data.
These conversations led to many more connections, and in just a few years his growing team (now about 14 employees) built a missing pipeline to interesting startups and founders.
That effort has led to 12 transactions over the past five years, split between six acquisitions and six mostly minority investments, across a wide range of technologies, from farm management software to AI-powered drone imagery, satellite navigation and even a tractor company.
Lombardi's team's success comes at a tough time for venture investment in agriculture technology, as in many other sectors: Valuations, total investments, and exits are all down from highs a few years ago, according to PitchBook data.
The drought has created a golden opportunity for companies like CNH, creating a sort of arms race of investment and acquisitions to corner the market for new technologies.
“It's a really great time for corporate venture capital,” he said. “Now is the time to really contribute and come in and be a good partner. There's great opportunity out there and a lot of anxious entrepreneurs, and it's a great time to find good ideas that might be more affordable.”
Lombardi said that like other industries, agtech went through a “hot period” three or four years ago that caused valuations to “get a little bit over the top.”
“This downturn will hurt, but we can make it a little better.” [of] “You're going to see a shift in the landscape, both from investors who don't have the knowledge or experience to get into this space, and from startups who maybe never had a clear enough idea or a competitive advantage to be a sustainable company,” he said. “The whole space is going to be a lot stronger, and I think it's great to be coming into this space with the experience we've gained over this period.”
The career he aimed for
To build his network, Lombardi drew on his 20 years of experience at CNH running various divisions of the multinational company's extensive agricultural and construction equipment business.
When he joined, the company was undergoing a major restructuring that included the merger of Case and New Holland (the now combined name), and he spent his early years with Italy's CNH business development group, which he describes as a holding company that sat atop a myriad of companies including Fiat, Ferrari and even newspapers.
Over the next 20 years, he managed parts of CNH's operations in Switzerland, Thailand, China, Australia and New Zealand. In each post, Lombardi developed new skills: In Thailand, for example, he oversaw the conglomerate's entire Southeast Asian operations, growing the business from $40 million to $400 million.
That breadth of experience, he says, has directly influenced the work he's been doing since he was “poached” to Chicago in 2019 to lead CNH's investment and M&A team.
On the investment side, Lombardi emphasizes an important difference between being a venture capitalist and running a corporate venture shop. “Our job isn't just to invest and make a profit,” he explains, gesturing slightly from side to side at his standing desk. “My perspective is different, right? I invest in companies that I think can accelerate their technology roadmap.”
CNH has generated roughly $20 billion in revenue each of the past three years, so Lombardi doesn't have to focus so much on returns, which allows him to be more strategic about who he gives his team money to — a luxury other investors may not have, especially as fundraising markets have dried up.
On the M&A side, Lombardi says he likes to bring together talent from across CNH's organizations when evaluating startups: “Yes, I like the tech team. I like the solution. I like the product. I think this company will make a difference in the industry,” Lombardi says.
Lombardi says his team often looks beyond investments and M&A to bolster CNH's capabilities, and also leverages the company's global reach to track trends in different markets.
“Before advisors come and pitch us anything, we map existing startups at different maturity levels, and then proactively reach out to entrepreneurs to chat and understand what they're doing,” he said. “We often build collaboration opportunities that don't necessarily lead to investment, but help startups and help the industry around us develop with more confidence, which in turn educates us ourselves.”
Lombardi likes to make eye contact with these entrepreneurs, so he prefers to meet them in person or over a video call when possible. He said he needs to look someone in the eye and see how they answer his questions to decide if he wants to work with them.
“I learn more from that than I would from a speech,” he mused. “Entrepreneurs are so good at giving 10-minute speeches. I'm not really interested in that. I mean, I can sell you anything. It's not what I want. I don't learn anything from it. I wouldn't understand if I could help.”
He added that it's more important to him to see how the other person reacts when he opens up and shows his vulnerability.
“And through that, I get a sense of whether I want to spend more time with that person,” he said. “I mean, that's really important. There are a lot of people out there, right? So how do you choose? I choose by what I see as smart and whether I'm ready to collaborate.”