Smart Agro R&D Partnership (TASE: SMAG.L) has appointed Dganit Vered as CEO. She will replace Omri Rothman who stepped down at the start of the month. Vered, 54, brings with her 30 years of experience in the industry, of which five years were in the venture capital industry, both investing and managing startups. In her most recent position, she served for two years as a partner at the Entrée Capital venture capital fund and was responsible for the food-tech and agro-tech sector. Vered currently serves as chairperson of the ViAqua Therapeutics biotech startup and sits on the board of directors of the Viridix and Arugga startups on behalf of Entrée Capital.
Prior to that, Dganit Vered headed the R&D Division of Hazera Seeds and was VP R&D of the Active Ingredients Division (API) of Perrigo. She has also served in senior management positions for Intel for 17 years including head of operations and infrastructures for the company's plants in Israel.
Smart Agro Chairman Erez Meltzer said: "Dganit Vered possesses an exceptional combination of abilities and proven experience in agri-tech investments and senior management positions in leading companies in the economy. I am convinced that Smart Agro, under the management of Dganit, can realize the vision that we have set her: to be a significant factor in agri-tech activities in Israel.
Smart Agro focuses on agri-tech companies from the Israeli market, which is considered innovative in agricultural industry technologies, among other things, due to the country's broad agricultural background, its international level agronomical institutions (The Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University, the Technion, and Vulcani Institute), its unique geographical location and topographical structure with very different cultivation environments within short distances. There are currently almost 440 agri-tech companies in Israel according to the Start-Up National Central data bank.
Smart Agro held its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in November 2020 and raised NIS 26.2 million. The Partnership has so far invested in one company: CanBreed, which was founded at the start of 2017 and has developed technology for enhancing cannabis and hemp seeds. The company's first product, stable cannabis seeds, will be ready for marketing in Israel during the current quarter of the year.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 18, 2021
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