Disclosure: AFN is the official media partner to GROW, which is backed by AFN’s parent company AgFunder.
US-based VC firm AgFunder and Singapore-based ecosystem builder GROW are now taking applications for the fourth cohort of their Impact Accelerator. Agrifoodtech startups working to build a more sustainable, reliable agrifood system are invited to apply.
How it works:
The five-month-long program, which starts in mid-April, will provide startups with the resources needed to rapidly scale, including an upfront $100,000 cash investment from AgFunder in the form of a SAFE (simple agreement for future equity).
Participants will also be able to form connections to the AgFunder and GROW networks, and work with strategic investors such as Meiji Holdings, Asahi and a number of agrifood corporations.
Applicants should have an established market fit as well as a proven minimum viable product; they should be operating in at least one market.
Additionally, they should also be able to demonstrate a scalable business model that can deliver positive, tangible environmental and/or social impacts.
Areas of particular interest for our 2023 intake include (but are not limited to):
- Food as medicine (e.g., functional foods/extended lifespan)
- Automation and robotics
- Waste reduction and circular economies
- Agrifintech and marketplaces
- Synthetic biotech and precision nutrition
- Decarbonization solutions
Twenty nine companies from 16 countries have graduated from the AgFunder GROW Impact accelerator since its launch in 2019. Collectively these startups have raised more than $60 million. Notable names among them include Australia’s LYRO Robotics, Philippines-based Mayani, Canadian startup Future Fields (Canada), Indonesia’s Green Rebel Foods, India’s Intello Labs and Cellular Agriculture in the UK.
What startup alumni are saying:
“[As a result of the programme] we’ve realigned our business model [and] we’ve refined our [investor] pitch, and with that feel that our narrative as a company is clearer and less technical… The deep-dive on impact was a worthwhile exercise to understand so much more than the impact of our core technology, and gives us a much more rounded understanding of our impact as a company.”
Illtud Dunsford, co-founder and CEO, Cellular Agriculture
“The programme really helped my business by connecting me to a variety of different corporations. It has given me a fantastic opportunity to refine my business model and get robots out there from Australia into Southeast Asia. The best part of the programme was being able to work with amazingly experienced investors and mentors specialised in agri-tech and agri-food, so they really understood my business, what I was trying to achieve from growth and the opportunity to connect our business to clients and corporations.”
Dr. Nicole Robinson, founder and CEO, LYRO Robotics
Mr. Toru Kawahatsu, associate general manager of corporate development at Meiji Holdings, added, “We are excited to meet through this event a lot of enthusiastic entrepreneurs and their cutting edge technologies and business models which will greatly contribute to addressing and solving the problems we think are most challenging.”
Applications for the AgFunder GROW Impact Accelerator are open until 26 February 2023. Apply here or register for the info session on February 8.
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