*Also read: Don't Bet Against Experience: What we learned from sourcing for Food & Agriculture US 2018

Two startups, Vega Coffee and Wexus Technologies, have been selected by their peers to receive offers of $100,000 investment each, at the end of Village Capital’s Food and Agriculture: US 2018 program, which was run in partnership with Campbell Soup Company, QBE and UBS.

The three-month investment-readiness program featured 12 early-stage food and agriculture startups from across the United States. The program was designed to train and invest in food and agriculture startups that are expanding access sustainable, healthy and accessible agricultural goods to drive a better food and agriculture system.

On the final day of the program, July 20, the companies in the cohort participated in Village Capital’s unique “peer-selected investment” process, to determine which two of their peers would receive offers of investment. VilCap Investments pre-committed $75,000 to each of the two peer-selected companies, and Green Spark LLC pre-committed $25,000 to each. The two companies were:

• 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.

Village Capital runs the longest-running program for ventures tackling challenges in the food and agriculture sector: this was the fifth iteration. These programs have yielded seed-stage investments in 14 companies, including Masienda, Kuli Kuli Foods and Spensa Technologies, which was acquired this spring by DTN.

“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. “The twelve startups that participated 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 traditional agricultural wisdom with fresh thinking, new business models, and an ecosystem of innovative partners.”

“At QBE we have enjoyed 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 have been excited to partner with Village Capital to assist in implementing market-based solutions to de-risk our global food system.”

Village Capital will be releasing a report on learnings from the program early this fall. For inquiries please contact Ben Wrobel, at ben.wrobel@vilcap.com.

The Food and Ag US 2018 Cohort

• 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.
• Cambridge Crops Technologies: Creates natural and edible coatings for extending the shelf-life of perishable goods.
• 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.