This investor is looking for Irish startups that want to solve world food problems
Galway-based accelerator Yield Lab will put €100,000 into the winning entrants.
A STARTUP ACCELERATOR that exclusively backs ag-tech startups has put out an open call for Irish applicants.
Yield Lab Europe, which is run out of the organisation’s European headquarters in Galway, is an ag-tech venture capital programme.
The initiative is a mirror version of a similar programme in the US and Latin America, which was created in 2017, that invests in early stage startups in the ag-tech sector.
Both funds are focused on backing startups trying to solve issues like food security and sustainability. The European programme, which is in its second year, accepted four startups during its inaugural run in 2017.
One of last year’s participants was Irish startup Hexafly – a Meath-based firm using insects to convert waste materials into ingredients for animal feed.
Other Irish-based firms to secure funding as part of the first cohort were fish vaccine startup Microsynbiotix and ApisProtect, which helps beekeepers maintain their beehives.
Yield Lab has committed to back up to eight companies for this year’s programme and invest €100,000 in each participant.
Startups that are accepted onto the programme will also receive intensive mentoring and be part of training programmes that will teach company founders how to scale their businesses internationally.
Companies that bag a space on the six-month programme will also get all-expenses-paid trips to three ag-tech conferences that are attended by some of the world’s leading venture capital firms that invest in the sector.
Funds
A number of agriculture-focused investment funds have been launched over the past six months.
Last August, Enterprise Ireland opened a new €200,000 fund to invest in Irish farms that are interested in exploring ways to diversify their businesses.
A more significant ag-tech fund was announced the following month by venture capital firm Finistere Ventures, which revealed plans to invest up to €20 million in Irish ag-tech startups.
The state-backed Ireland Strategic Investment Fund has committed to bankroll this large investment fund, which is being managed by Finistere from its new Irish office.
