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Press Release: Twelve Early-Stage Food & Ag Startups Selected for Village Capital Investment-Readiness Program

Written by Ben Wrobel | Apr 16, 2018 3:24:55 PM

Washington, DC - April 16, 2018 - Village Capital today announced the twelve early-stage food and agriculture startups that were selected to take part in Food and Agriculture: US 2018, an investment-readiness program run in partnership with Campbell Soup Company, QBE and UBS.

The program will train and invest in food and agriculture startups that expanding access sustainable, healthy and accessible agricultural goods to drive a better food and agriculture system.

The startups are:

    • Athena Intelligence: Provides data driven services for the food and agriculture market, delivering insights that improve quality, crop yield and sustainability.
    • Augean Robotics: On a mission to solve the crippling labor problem faced by farmers by making robots like Wall-E a reality, beginning first with Burro, a robotic following platform for work outdoors.
    • Cerahelix: Manufactures advanced molecular filters that simplify the wastewater re-use process.
    • Goodr: A sustainable surplus food management company, leveraging technology to combat hunger and reduce food waste.
    • Grow Bioplastics: Developing a platform of naturally degradable and compostable plastics made from lignin, a waste product of the paper and biofuel industry, for applications in agriculture, food service packaging, and beyond.
    • ProteoSense: Provides food processors with a biosensor technology that detects pathogens at the front end of the supply chain in 90 minutes or less.
    • Pulp Pantry: On a mission to transform juice pulp, a neglected resource, into delicious and nutritious snacks that make it easy to eat more servings of fruits, vegetables, and fiber.
    • Seal the Seasons: Brings farm-to-table products to grocers year-round by freezing and marketing local food from local farms.
    • SwineTech: Provides technologies to prevent piglet deaths due to disease, starvation, and crushing
    • Vega Coffee: The first specialty coffee roasted at origin and delivered directly to customers in the US within 5 days of roasting. Vega Coffee upends the coffee supply chain by training women farmers in Latin America to roast and package their own coffee; customers receive unique curated coffees via subscription, and Vega's farmer roasters earn up to 4x more income than they would through the typical supply chain.
    • Wexus Technologies: Wexus Technologies Inc is an IoT software company that empowers farmers and food processors to automate tasks and reporting, reduce waste and costs, and drive energy and water efficiency with its technology platform that remotely accesses utility data and billing systems.

This is Village Capital’s seventh investment-readiness program focused on food and agriculture - which has yielded investments in 14 companies, including Masienda, Kuli Kuli Foods and Spensa Technologies, which was acquired last week by DTN. At the end of the program, the top two companies in the cohort, as selected by their peers, will receive an offer of US$75,000 each.

“Big data has opened up a new world of ideas around the way we grow and transport food, and entrepreneurs are rethinking the science and business of sustainable farming, transforming a food and agriculture sector that just a decade ago, was stuck in the mud when it comes to innovation,,” said Village Capital Managing Director Allie Burns. “Thee twelve food and agriculture startups selected to participate in this year’s cohort have significant potential for growth and impact.”

“We’re thrilled to be supporting these twelve startups that are spearheading innovation in the food and agriculture industry,” said Daniel Sonke, Director of Sustainable Agriculture, Campbell Soup Company. “Consumers are paying more attention than ever to how and where their food is grown. At Campbell, we’re focused on supplementing conventional agricultural wisdom with fresh thinking, new business models, and an ecosystem of innovative partners.”

“At QBE we look forward to applying our expertise in crop, agricultural technology and innovation to advise start-up entrepreneurs creating solutions in food security and addressing the challenges faced by small farmers,” said Josie Barnett, QBE’s Foundation Manager. “The QBE Foundation, Crop and Ventures teams are excited to partner with Village Capital to assist in implementing market-based solutions to de-risk our global food system.”

“We’re excited to support a diverse group of early-stage entrepreneurs solving some of the biggest challenges in food and agriculture," said Jamie Sears, Head of Community Affairs and Corporate Responsibility – Americas, UBS. "UBS' partnership with Village Capital is an extension of our firm-wide focus on supporting communities through impact investing, inclusive entrepreneurship and strategic philanthropy initiatives.”

The twelve companies will participate in three four-day workshops where they will work with Village Capital’s award-winning investment-readiness curriculum and engage with potential customers, strategic partners, investors, and sector experts. The programs will feature:

  • Guidance through Village Capital’s VIRAL curriculum. Many entrepreneurs struggle to communicate their level of success to investors. Every entrepreneur received training on the VIRAL (Venture Investment Readiness Awareness Level) curriculum, which is designed to help entrepreneurs set and surpass specific milestones to make them competitive when raising capital.
  • Advice from investors, mentors and potential customers. Entrepreneurs spend more than 20 hours in “mock board meetings” and one-on-one sessions with investors, industry experts and potential customers (including Campbell and QBE employees and senior leaders) to get feedback on product design, regulatory challenges and potential partnerships.
  • Peer feedback. Village Capital programs incorporate an element of peer review - the top two entrepreneurs in each program, selected by their peers, receive offers of investment from VilCap Investments.
  • Tangible business support. The program also provided resources for building a business, including Amazon Web Services (up to $5000 in credits), Hubspot for Startups (90% scholarship), connections to pro bono legal support through TrustLaw, and an investment analyst that works closely with their team to strengthen their case for investment.

UBS is supporting the program as part of a larger project, VC Pathways, that supports the pipeline of diverse startups in several US cities by giving underrepresented (Black, Latinx, female) founders access to investors and strategic partners in their area.

Reach out to Ben Wrobel (ben.wrobel@vilcap.com) to learn more about the program.

 

About Village Capital:

Village Capital builds bridges for entrepreneurs who are creating an inclusive and sustainable world. Our programs connect high potential, early-stage entrepreneurs with the people, institutions, and capital they need to succeed. Since 2009, Village Capital has supported more than 1,000 entrepreneurs through our programs, and partnered with affiliated investment funds, including VilCap Investments, that have invested seed capital in more than 90 program graduates.

About Campbell Soup Company:

Campbell (NYSE:CPB) is driven and inspired by our Purpose, “Real food that matters for life’s moments.” We make a range of high-quality soups and simple meals, beverages, snacks and packaged fresh foods. For generations, people have trusted Campbell to provide authentic, flavorful and readily available foods and beverages that connect them to each other, to warm memories and to what’s important today. Led by our iconic Campbell’s brand, our portfolio includes Pepperidge Farm, Bolthouse Farms, Arnott’s, V8, Swanson, Pace, Prego, Plum, Royal Dansk, Kjeldsens, Garden Fresh Gourmet, Pacific Foods, Snyder's of Hanover, Lance, Kettle Brand, KETTLE Chips, Cape Cod, Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps, Pop Secret, Emerald, Late July and other brand names. Founded in 1869, Campbell has a heritage of giving back and acting as a good steward of the planet’s natural resources. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. For more information, visit www.campbellsoupcompany.com or follow company news on Twitter via @CampbellSoupCo. To learn more about how we make our food and the choices behind the ingredients we use, visit www.whatsinmyfood.com.

About QBE Foundation:

QBE North America is an integrated specialist insurer, which is part of QBE Insurance Group Limited, one of the largest insurers and reinsurers worldwide. QBE NA reported Gross Written Premiums in 2017 of $4.6 billion. QBE Insurance Group's 2017 results can be found at www.qbena.com. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, QBE operates out of 31 countries around the globe, with a presence in every key insurance market. The North America division, headquartered in New York, conducts business through its property and casualty insurance subsidiaries. QBE insurance companies are rated "A" (Excellent) by A.M. Best and "A+" by Standard & Poor's. Additional information can be found at www.qbena.com, or follow QBE North America on Twitter.

About UBS:

UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. The operational structure of the Group is comprised of our Corporate Center and five business divisions: Wealth Management, Wealth Management Americas, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management and the Investment Bank. UBS's strategy builds on the strengths of all of its businesses and focuses its efforts on areas in which it excels, while seeking to capitalize on the compelling growth prospects in the businesses and regions in which it operates, in order to generate attractive and sustainable returns for its shareholders. All of its businesses are capital-efficient and benefit from a strong competitive position in their targeted markets.

UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 52 countries, with about 34% of its employees working in the Americas, 34% in Switzerland, 18% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 14% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG employs approximately 61,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).