May 26, 2016

Iowa State University announced it has established Ag Startup Engine, a new accelerator that will identify and fund highly promising agricultural startups, reports the Pork Network.

Launched from the Iowa State University Research Park, Ag Startup Engine will be a private-sector entity while remaining a part of the wider Iowa State program, the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative in Iowa State’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

The accelerator will be governed by a number of agricultural investors including Ag Ventures Alliance, Summit Agricultural Group, and Ag Leader Technology, and will supply agricultural entrepreneurs with the support that will bring their venture from a concept stage enterprise to one ready for investment. To accomplish this, Ag Startup Engine will offer mentoring, assistance with prototyping, product development, customer development, and funding.

“Ag Startup Engine will deliver funding, mentorship and support to agricultural entrepreneurs with promising business concepts,” said Kevin Kimle, director of the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative in Iowa State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in a recent press statement. “Because of our rich network of entrepreneurs and agribusiness leaders, the launch of this business startup program is a very natural and significant progression of our support of agricultural entrepreneurs.”

Founded in 2005, the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative strives to broaden the business skills and entrepreneurial understanding among the faculty and students of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the university. Success of the initiative has been evident in that in both 2015 and 2016 the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Entrepreneur of the Year had been a student from the program.

“This program will help identify the next generation of innovators and leaders in agriculture and we are so pleased to be part of it,” said Al Myers, founder and president of Ames-based Ag Leader Technology, a technology innovator of precision agriculture hardware and software. “Entrepreneurs will shape the future of agriculture, and we look forward to supporting development of the technologies and businesses they create.”

With the increasing number of ag and agtech startups, and an increasing need for venture capital, comes the increasing need for organized guidance and structured funding in order to responsibly bring new concepts to commercialization.

Anheuser-Busch has most recently joined the ranks of General Mills, Campbell’s, and Coca Cola who are aiming to profit from disruption and innovation within their sector through the launch of the joint accelerator, Techstars Connection in partnership with Boulder-based Techstars,

The new venture, which will be fully funded by AB InBev’s venture arm, ZX Ventures, was created to facilitate the connection of people to each other, products, and places resulting in an improved experience in the marketplace.

Additionally, AgTech Accelerator™, a new accelerator focusing on growing agtech startups that are positioned to sustainably improve agricultural productivity along the farm-to-market value chain has been launched out of Triangle Park, North Carolina.

The accelerator was established with an initial close of $11.5 million, which was led by Alexandria Venture Investments, the venture arm of real estate investment trust, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. Other investors include some of the leading and most prominent agricultural firms and venture investors in the space such as Bayer, Syngenta Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, Hatteras Venture Partners, Mountain Group Capital, Harris & Harris Group Inc., and Papas Capital.

“The time is really right for early-stage ag investing to come to life,” said John Dombrosky, chief executive of AgTech Accelerator told the New York Times. “It’s happening before our very eyes”

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Lynda Kiernan