The Reservoir Grows Path for More Ag Tech Startups

The Reservoir has announced Nicola Kerslake has joined the firm as general partner following Reservoir’s acquisition of the agriculture finance and data platform: Contain, Inc. Kerslake will chair Reservoir Venture Capital’s investment committee and lead its due diligence and underwriting functions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The transaction marks Reservoir’s first acquisition and adds a new layer to its value creation model for startups. By adding Contain’s marketplace, underwriting, financing experience and market intelligence capabilities, Reservoir is expanding how it can help startups move from pilot to commercial scale. The deal also expands its footprint into agricultural equipment and controlled environmental agriculture (CEA).

“Reservoir invests where AI, hardware and agriculture meet in the field, and those companies need capital partners who understand deployment, unit economics and business models,” says Danny Bernstein, founder and CEO of Reservoir and managing partner of Reservoir VC. “Nicola built that discipline at Contain. Bringing her and the Contain platform into Reservoir can offer startups models that better align with the realities of scaling rugged AI-enabled technology.”

Kerslake is an experienced capital allocator in agricultural technology. Through Contain, she built the single application platform the CEA sector turned to for financing, including connecting startups with growers, more than 30 lenders and more than 70 equipment vendors. Contain also operates a marketplace for preowned indoor farm equipment and an industry data platform and insights hub built on more than a decade of work in agriculture.

For more details, visit reservoir.co.