Imagine a breakfast bar that controls type 2 Diabetes due to identifying key peptides in the food’s natural ingredients. What if supermarket customers recycled all their organics, turning them into fertilizer that helps farmers and growers maintain healthier soils? These are the hopes of innovative startup AgTech and FoodTech companies, and the heart of what THRIVE Accelerator is all about.
“The goal of the program is to create a hub where startups, investors and AgTech corporations come together and collaborate in an environment where innovation in the AgTech sector can thrive,” said Mareese Keane, of SVG Partners and Program Manager of the THRIVE Accelerator.
This international business program aimed at AgTech and FoodTech startups is an intensive, hands on experience according to Keane.
Going into its second year, THRIVE Accelerator started out in Salinas, California, where fresh agriculture is bountiful. While the program is located in the Golden State, it is not geographically limited.
“We had nearly 200 companies from 36 countries apply. The 12 finalists on the eight-week program are from all over California, and the United States, Ireland and the U.K.,” explained Keane.
“Startups who earn a place in the THRIVE Accelerator engage in a program designed to give them access to training and mentoring from top entrepreneurial and agricultural experts. This takes place through weekly “virtual” meetings where high level tech executives and investors present and engage with THRIVE startups. The startups also have access to potential investment from the THRIVE fund and from our partners” Keane elaborated.
This year, 12 companies made the cut. The startups vary from Wheyhey, a company aimed at creating the world’s first high protein, sugar free but great tasting ice cream to Food Origins, a company that provides meter resolution data and unique labor productivity data in hand harvested specialty crops.
These companies and ten others will participate in the Forbes AgTech Summit, which is in Salinas in July, and according to Keane is the pinnacle of the program.
“They will be able to showcase their company at the Summit Expo and the winners of the accelerator program will be announced in front of 500+ AgTech executives.”
For more information:
Mareese Keane
SVG Partners/Thrive Accelerator Program