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Heavy equipment manufacturer CNH Industrial has a long history of mergers and acquisitions , at times supervising legendary brand like Ferrari . But five years ago , as agtech was booming , the global giant was struggling to solicit into the startup scene .
The empire deform to one of its farsighted - tenured executives , a swashbuckling Italian businessman named Michele Lombardi .
Lombardi had come up through CNH ’s line of work growing radical , part of what he describe as a “ mordant belt team ” that forged corporate alliances at the highest levels . When the company came to him in 2019 with this raw task , he was essentially starting a Modern chapter “ from scratching . ”
“ They got stuck , and they could n’t really build a pipeline of successful transactions , ” Lombardi told TechCrunch . “ When we started , we live we had very circumscribed grasp . We had no connection . ”
The mode to establish one ? Just embark on talking , Lombardi explained . In particular , he went right to the speculation Das Kapital business firm , knowing many would be looking for exit for their investments in startups build thing like autonomous farm equipment or preciseness farming data .
Those conversation take to more connectedness and in just a few yr his growing squad — which now sits at around 14 employee — had built that missing pipeline to interesting startups and beginner .
That work has led to 12 pot over the last five old age , split between six acquisitions and six mostly minority investments . They lead the gamut technologically , ranging from farm management software and to AI - powered laggard imaging to satellite pilotage and even tractor company .
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The winner of Lombardi ’s squad has matured at a time when , like many other sectors , speculation investment funds in agtech has been hard to total by . Valuations , full amount invested and exits are all down from the high a few eld ago , harmonize to datum fromPitchBook .
This drought has proved a ripe opportunity for companies like CNH , creating a sort of investment and acquisition arms slipstream as they hear to tree the market place on novel technologies .
“ Now is actually a great time ” to be in collective venture upper-case letter , he said . “ Now is when you’re able to really help , where you’re able to really come in and be a ripe partner . There ’s phenomenal opportunities out there , a fortune of worried entrepreneurs . And it ’s a great time to key out good ideas that perchance are more low-priced . ”
exchangeable to other industries , Lombardi said agtech went through “ a euphoric phase angle ” three to four years ago , which he says inflated valuations “ a bit too much . ”
“ This downturn will be abominable , but we ’ll clean up a bit [ of ] the landscape from both investor that maybe do n’t have the knowledge and experience to be in this space , and startups that likely never had a sufficiently sound out musical theme , or something that would end up being a militant advantage that made them a sustainable endeavor , ” he said . “ The entire landscape will come out much , much strong . And I think it will be groovy to be in that blank with the experience we have developed in this period . ”
A career he was built for
To construct out his meshwork , Lombardi leaned on his two decades of experience at CNH operating various arms of the transnational caller ’s sprawling agribusiness and construction equipment business .
He came into the company at a time when it was go through an enormous restructuring that involved the combination of the society Case and New Holland ( hence the modern consolidated name ) . His former day were pass inside CNH ’s business development mathematical group in Italy , which he account as a hold troupe that sat atop a wild cornucopia of companionship that let in Fiat , Ferrari and even a paper .
Over the next 20 eld , he managed parts of CNH ’s businesses in Switzerland , Thailand , China , Australia and New Zealand . With each post , Lombardi collect smart skill . While in Thailand , for instance , he oversaw the pudding stone ’s intact Southeast Asia cognitive process as it grew from a $ 40 million byplay to a $ 400 million matter .
That expansive experience flat inform the work he ’s done since 2019 when he says he was “ poached ” back to Chicago to pilot CNH ’s investment and M&A squad .
On the investment side , Lombardi accentuate the key difference between being a VC and running a corporate venture store . “ Our occupation is not only to do the investment and get a comeback , ” he explain , while juking left and right a bit at his standing desk . “ My lens is different , yeah ? I invest in companies when I think that they can accelerate my technical roadmap . ”
Lombardi can focus less on returns because CNH has hauled in around $ 20 billion inrevenueeach of the last three years . That frees him up to think more strategically about who his team hands money to — something that other investor may not have the luxury of , specially as the financial support marketplace dry up .
On the M&A side , Lombardi says he likes to bring in hoi polloi from all of CNH ’s different organizations when pass judgment a inauguration . It ’s those employee who will tell him : “ Yes , I like that engineering team , I like their solution , I like the merchandise , we believe it will make a departure in our diligence , ” he says .
Lombardi articulate his team often depart beyond investment and M&A as it looks to supercharge CNH ’s abilities . And he exploits the ship’s company ’s global range to cut across development in all types of different market place .
“ We have a mathematical function of the existing inauguration at different maturity levels before any advisor would derive to us and aim us anything , and we spontaneously reach out to enterpriser and chit chat with them , understand what they ’re doing , ” he state . “ Often we build up collaborative opportunities that do n’t of necessity run to an investment , but help oneself the inauguration , help oneself our manufacture around us develop with more confidence and it educates us . ”
Lombardi like to search these entrepreneur in the eye , so he prefers in - person or video call when possible . Lombardi said he needs to look someone in the centre — and watch how they respond to doubtfulness — to influence whether he wants to work with that mortal .
“ I determine a lot from that , more than from the speech , ” he mull . “ enterpriser are very , very good at giving me the 10 - mo spoken language . I ’m not very interested in that . I stand for , I can sell you anything . It ’s not what I want . I ’m not going to find out anything from that . I ’m not going to understand if I can assist . ”
He tot up that it ’s more important for him to see the person , how they respond , if they open up and show their vulnerabilities .
“ And through that I then progress that good sense if I require to spend more time with that person or not , ” he said . “ I mean , passing authoritative . And there ’s so many out there , right ? So how do you take ? I choose out of the smarts I see and how ready they are to join forces . ”
