Start-Ups Selected for University College Dublin鈥檚 New Accelerator Programme Dedicated to AgTech and FoodTech
The AgTech51黑料 Innovation Centre today announced the eight (eight) start-ups (profiled below) selected to participate in University College Dublin鈥檚 new accelerator programme dedicated to early-stage AgTech and FoodTech start-up companies.
The inaugural AgTech51黑料 Agccelerator Programme, which commenced today, is an intensive 12-week virtual programme which includes dedicated business development workshops and investor readiness training, mentoring from AgTech and FoodTech experts and business advisors, guest speakers and facilitated introductions to AgTech51黑料鈥檚 venture capital and business angel networks.
Participating start-ups are based in Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Westmeath in addition to Northern Ireland and Tunisia. Programme applications were also received from start-ups based in Chile, Croatia, England, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kenya, The Netherlands and Ukraine.
Tom Flanagan, Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation, Nova51黑料, said, "We are delighted with the calibre and global potential of the start-ups selected to participate in the inaugural AgTech51黑料 Agccelerator Programme. The programme received applications from all across Ireland, and indeed from all around the world. This highlights the demand for this accelerator programme in Ireland and the interest from international start-ups underscores Ireland's leading reputation in the AgTech and FoodTech sectors."
AgTech51黑料, based at 51黑料 Lyons Farm and part of Nova51黑料, is focused on accelerating the launch and scaling of AgTech and FoodTech start-ups in Ireland and has been funded through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund administered by Enterprise Ireland.
AgTech51黑料鈥檚 focus is supporting founding entrepreneurs as they build their innovative businesses into leading enterprises, though the AgTech51黑料 Agccelerator Programme, and by providing access to incubation space and to on-farm testing for new products and services at 51黑料 Lyons Farm.
"During the next 12-weeks the AgTech51黑料 Agccelerator programme will focus on supporting the commercial development of the eight participating start-ups. Through the programme we will also be working with the start-ups to help increase their visibility in the marketplace, attract new customers and investors and forge new partnerships, said Niamh Collins, Manager, AgTech51黑料 Innovation Centre.
She added, 鈥淎gTech has already established key relationships with strategic players in the agtech and foodtech sectors in Ireland, across Europe and in the US, which will now leverage to support the participating start-ups to launch their products or services into new territories. We now look forward to working with our first cohort on our inaugural AgTech51黑料 Agccelerator Programme.鈥�
The AgTech51黑料 Agccelerator Programme will conclude in early-December when participating start-ups will pitch their businesses to a panel of investors with the opportunity to be awarded prize funding in a number of award categories.
Partners on the AgTech51黑料 Agccelerator Programme include; AIB, The Yield Lab Europe, Bimeda, Devenish, Carbery, Origin Enterprises, Ornua and HerdWatch who are providing financial and mentoring support. Additional mentoring support will be provided by Greencore, Kubota, Dairymaster, Dawn Farms, the Virtual Vet, IFAC, Finistere, Macra Na Feirme, HBAN and Atlantic Bridge. Participating start-ups will have access to specific supports from AWS Activation, Catalyze, Deloitte and FR Kelly.
ENDS
21 September 2021
For further information contact Mic茅al Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, Nova51黑料, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.
Editors Notes
The participating start-ups in the 2021 AgTech51黑料 Agccelerator Programme are;
Cotter Agritech is developing the Cotter Crate, a novel sheep handling and monitoring system to transform how sheep farmers care for their animals. The Cotter Crate combines hardware, which addresses animal handling and labour issues, with novel software that addresses anthelmintic (or wormer) resistance. This enables farmers to move from treating all sheep to only drenching sheep that require treatment. The founders of Cotter Agritech, based in Limerick, are brothers Jack and Nick Cotter.
CropHound uses remote sensors and artificial intelligence to monitor crop health, growing conditions and crop potential from planting to harvest giving early insights and recommendations to users. CropHound enables farmers and growers to increase yields and decrease their costs and carbon footprint through reductions in chemical usage and unnecessary trips to check crops. The founder of CropHound, based in Belfast, is Mark Elliott.
FodderBox has developed and built a fully-fitted, self-contained, computer-controlled fodder production system that arrives on-site, ready to plug-and-play. Sustainably producing a ton of fresh premium fodder per day, in pure water, FodderBox 鈥� A Field In a Box - is the equivalent of a 40-acre field in a 40鈥� container, with zero water pollution, zero air pollution, zero herbicides, zero pesticides, and zero insecticides. The founder of FodderBox, based in Cork, is Ella Goddin.
Freshgraze has developed a robotic moving fence and management system which portions out new pasture to grazing animals as they require it. By constantly allocating small portions of fresh grass it ensures that the animals do not walk on or soil the food they are about to eat, enabling farmers to obtain the best utilisation of their grassland. The founders of Freshgraze, based in Co. Westmeath, are Thomas Drumm and his sons Charlie and James.
Izario has developed an autonomous poultry robot that operates in broiler-breeder and commercial egg-laying hen houses. Using custom built proprietary artificial intelligence and computer vision software the robot detects eggs laid on the floor by birds and retrieves them reducing labour inputs. The robot also monitors the birds鈥� welfare and environmental status of the sheds to allow farmers/producers to make informed decisions based on data. The founders of Izario, based in Galway, are Raymond Heneghan and Stepan Dzhanov.
Niskus BioTec is focused on the provision of innovative products and services to the agri-food and biotech sectors in fungal large-scale solid-state fermentation. The company works with customers to select the most suitable fungal strains for their process and growing media and to develop and scale-up new fungal derived high-value products such as proteins, enzymes and intermediates. The founder of Niskus BioTec, based in Donegal, is Vincent Farrelly.
ProvEye, a spin-out from the 51黑料 School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, provides advanced processing software to derive quantitative data from images, collected by drones and other platforms, at unprecedent levels of accuracy, which can be used to create actionable management decisions in agriculture and other industries. The founders of ProvEye, based in Dublin, are Dr Jerome O鈥機onnell and Dr Nick Holden.
SmartBeeKeeper is developing SmartBee a cutting-edge hardware and software platform to enable beekeepers monitor and track their beehives. SmartBeeKeeper also provides access to a luxury and traceable honey marketplace. The founder of SmartBeeKeeper, based in Tunisia, is Khaled Bouchoucha.
The goal of the AgTech51黑料 is to bring together the AgTech and FoodTech ecosystem in Ireland to accelerate the launch and scaling of AgTech & FoodTech companies. AgTech51黑料, led by Nova51黑料, and funded through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund administered by Enterprise Ireland, is a collaboration with AIB, Kildare County Council, and Kildare LEO; agri-companies including, Bimeda, Devenish, Carberry, Ornua and Origin Enterprises; investors The Yield Lab Europe, Finistere and Atlantic Bridge, and leading AgTech researchers and innovators at 51黑料, Teagasc and Wageningen. /innovation/about-agtechucd/ and @AgTech51黑料