On Wednesday, AgStart and Bayer Crop Science announced a new competition for AgriFoodTech startup companies to accelerate the commercialization of their innovations and advance innovation in the global food system.
According to an AgStart press release, the competition winner will receive fully paid access to lab space and equipment in one of the premier U.S. AgriFoodTech innovation ecosystems and connect to Bayer mentors and experts in Bayer's global innovator network.
AgStart is a 501(c)(3) non-profit incubator focused on supporting entrepreneurs and startups advancing innovation in AgriFood technologies. Since its inception in 2012, AgStart has supported hundreds of AgriFood startups through its combination of mentorship, education, community building and its nearly 13,000 square-foot Lab@AgStart incubator facility.
Located in downtown Woodland at 1100 Main St., Suite 300, The Lab@AgStart offers wet lab, food lab, fermentation and tissue-culture facilities to lower development costs for early-stage startup companies.
In January 2023, Lab@AgStart opened up a new wing known as the Bayer Lifehub California@AgStart, more than doubling the facility's laboratory space.
Since opening in May of 2021, Lab@AgStart has been a one-of-a-kind startup agriculture incubator facility that has offered collaborative programs designed to help new startup companies succeed. According to AgStart, the lab's mission is to accelerate agriculture, food and health innovation in the western region.
The Bayer Crop Science LifeHub California Golden Ticket competition is open to startups from anywhere in the world, from pre-seed to Series A, in the areas of regenerative agriculture, novel crop protection and efficiency approaches, advanced breeding technologies and applications of synthetic biology.
The successful winner of the competition will receive a year of fully paid use of lab space, shared instruments and equipment, incubation, refrigeration, and other facilities at the Bayer LifeHub California @AgStart facility in Woodland.
Applications from startup companies will be accepted starting on Friday, March 1, with the application window closing on April 30.
The competition's winner could be commencing work as early as June 1, with fully subsidized lab facilities available for twelve months from their starting date.
"Bayer has been a long-time partner of our AgStart program, and we're pleased at Bayer's support of startup innovators working to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of our global food system," stated Lab Director of AgStart Sudhee Lakshmana. "AgStart currently hosts the largest wet-lab incubator for startup companies in California's Central Valley region, and we offer a tremendous level of equipment, resources, and mentorship to help startups lower their costs in achieving their next milestone in the bench-level commercialization of their technologies.
"The non-dilutive funding to startups provided through this LifeHub California Golden Ticket program will further lower the costs for the winner to bring their technology to market."
More information about the LifeHub California Golden Ticket competition and the link for startup companies to apply can be found at https://www.halo.science/startup_program/lifehub-golden-ticket.
A webinar providing more information to startup companies looking to apply will be held on April 4. Registration for the webinar is available at https://info.halo.science/bayercropscience-04.04.24.
Learn more at www.agstart.org.
"Our Greater Sacramento region is home to the UC Davis, the top research institution in the country for agriculture and forestry, and anchors California's Central Valley region, home to one of the largest and most productive agricultural regions in the country, with a focus on high-value specialty crops," stated the Director of Business Development in Ag and Food for the Greater Sacramento Economic Council Lucy Lu Roberts. "With Northern California's thriving ecosystem for startup companies and entrepreneurship, we see our region as a premier innovation hub where startup companies can accelerate the commercialization of their innovations and bring their ideas to market."
No comments:
Post a Comment