Memphis, Tennessee, USA
January 2, 2019
After pitching in last month's AgLaunch Row Crop Challenge at the Farm Journal AgTech Expo, a panel of farmers and investors have chosen six startup companies to participate in the AgLaunch365 accelerator and to receive investment from Innova Memphis and Ag Ventures Alliance.
The AgLaunch Row Crop Challenge winners are:
- Agrynex: A Cornell University startup, Agrynex packs and deploys antimicrobial systems for efficient crop protection with fewer chemicals.
- Continuum Ag: Continuum Ag quantifies and improves soil health by integrating diverse soil data into the online platform, resulting in actionable results.
- Lepidext: Lepidext is revolutionizing corn earworm pest control with an organic method for suppressing adult moths.
- Nexyst360: A mobile solution for crop storage and transportation, Nexyst360 provides high-quality crops with full traceability to field of origin and date with the crop.
- Nori: Nori is a platform that makes it easy for farmers to get paid for storing carbon in their soils.
- Sigma0: Sigma0 enables crop management companies to access agronomic insights from radar technology, enabling them to zero in on crop details and provide better decisions for farmers.
“We are excited about the caliber and vision of these teams, and their capacity to totally transform the future of row crop agriculture,” said Schuyler Dalton, Director of Farmer Network and Entrepreneurship at AgLaunch.
In addition to receiving investments, these companies will spend four weeks in Memphis, refining their business strategy and planning for summer field trials with AgLaunch’s Farmer Network. These companies will be directly supported through on-farm trials backed by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and investment from Innova Ag Innovation Fund IV and AgVentures Alliance. They will also receive accelerator support as part of the AgLaunch365 program, designed with farmers at the center of this commercialization pathway.
Innova Ag Innovation Fund IV, a $31 million, USDA-certified Rural Business Investment Company backed by eight Farm Credit banks, is based in Memphis and invests in early-stage agtech startups headquartered in rural locations across the country. Ag Ventures Alliance is an Iowa-based and nationally recognized farmer-owned organization focused on increasing farm profitability. Ag Ventures Alliance finds agtech investment opportunities for farmers, makes early-stage investments in startups, and is building a farmer network to bring farmers to the center of technology development in agriculture with support from AgLaunch.
AgLaunch alumni teams were also highlighted at AgTech Expo as part of the Emerging Tech Aisle. Companies such as Rabbit Tractors, Earthsense, Telesense, Shepherd, RxMaker, GroGuru, and Rantizo were featured on panels and on the exhibit floor.
AgLaunch and its teams are supported by the following sponsors and partners: Innova Memphis, Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Archer Malmo, Baker Donelson, StartCo, Agricenter International, and Ag Ventures Alliance.
About AgLaunch Initiative
AgLaunch is revolutionizing the way that innovations in agriculture and food are brought to market by bridging the present and future to grow a more diverse and sustainable farm economy and provide healthy food for all. AgLaunch leverages its distributed network of farm incubators, entrepreneurial farmers, aligned capital partners, research consortia, technical consulting, and best-in-class accelerator programming to effectively challenge the status quo and thoughtfully create value for farmers and the communities they serve. The AgLaunch vision is a transformed regional agriculture and food economy centered around farmers, innovation, and prosperity.
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