Ag Tech Sunday - $50 million available for Ag Tech start-ups

By: "Farm Tender" News
Ag Company News
Feb 23, 2019
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Australian grain growers are set to reap benefits of a $50 million venture capital fund to draw the best and brightest tech start-ups from across the globe to focus on innovative solutions for grain growers’ hardest to solve problems.

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and Artesian have partnered to establish the $50 million GrainInnovate (www.graininnovate.com) fund to boost innovation in the grains industry.

Goondiwindi grain grower and GRDC Chairman Mr John Woods said the driving reason for GrainInnovate is to flush out innovation and technology from throughout Australia and around the world to deliver transformational impact on grain grower profitability.

“Australian grain growers are some of the most innovative in the world. We have seen an increase in the gross value of grain production from an average of $6 billion to approximately $15 billion in the past 15 years – most of which has come from grain growers adopting new and novel technologies,” he said.

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“To stay competitive we need to seek new innovations, new technologies and bright ideas from Australia and around the world and get it into grower hands as quickly as possible so we maintain our competitive advantage.

“Whether you’re a grower, breeder, research scientist, agronomist or ag tech developer – if you’ve got an innovation that can improve production or address a grains industry constraint– we want to hear from you so we can capitalise on those opportunities and maximise the productiveness of our systems.

“GrainInnovate is bringing disruption to the grains RD&E environment.

“While GRDC has a strong and diverse investment portfolio, this initiative will give grain growers access to cutting edge ideas and technologies whether developed in a shed in the back paddock in Parkes, or discovery in a Germany based international life science company, or an agri-tech company in the Silicon valley.”

“This initiative is unique in that its focussed entirely on the Australian grains industry. It also represents one of the largest institutional capital pools in Australia. It will act as a beacon to attract world-class agri technologies to boost innovation and modernisation across the grains industry,” Mr Woods said.

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GrainInnovate, the agritech innovation fund has been established to nurture, support and resource start-ups that show the potential and commitment to deliver transformational impact to Australian grain grower profitability. The goal of the initiative is to drive the future profitability and sustainability of Australia’s grain growers, acknowledging the expanding need to attract the best and brightest minds to work on future-facing solutions implemented in real-time.

Artesian Managing Partner Jeremy Colless said the company – a full stack venture capital firm with offices across the Asia-Pacific region – was excited about investing in world-leading agr-tech start-ups delivering innovations most applicable to grain growers.

“Artesian Venture Partners has raised $50 million to establish the fund, including a $25 million cornerstone investment from GRDC, the largest single investor in grains research in the country, and $25 million from Artesian,” Mr Colless said.

GrainInnovate will target scalable, high growth potential start-ups from all facets of the grains production and processing chain.

The initiative is setting its sights for entrepreneurs and start-ups working across a spectrum of areas including genetic tools and technologies, crop and environmental sensing, grain storage logistics, renewable technologies, managing frost and heat, task automation and crop protection technologies.

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These start-ups can be founded anywhere, but as part of the fund's investment due diligence, start-ups will need to demonstrate their commitment to delivering solutions to Australian grain grower issues.

“This new fund will play an integral role in propelling a vibrant and sustainable grains ecosystem in Australia,” he said.

He said the co-investment funding model employed by Artesian Venture Partners would encourage collaboration across a wide range of participants that will ultimately deliver enduring profitability to Australian grains industry.

Artesian Venture Partners (Artesian)

Artesian is a leading global alternative investment management firm with approximately 40 employees and offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Shanghai, New York and London. Artesian was spun out of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) in 2004 and is focused on fixed income and venture capital markets.

Artesian’s venture capital business offers an end-to-end venture capital platform for start-ups at seed, angel and growth stages in Australia, China and South East Asia. Artesian partners with leading accelerators, incubators, angel groups and university programs to develop a pre-screened and de-risked pipeline for larger later stage investments from its own late stage funds and also facilitates additional direct investments from its Limited Partners (LPs).

Grain Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is one of the world’s leading grains research organisations, responsible for planning, investing in and overseeing RD&E to deliver improvements in production, sustainability and profitability across the Australian grains industry. GRDC’s purpose is to invest in research, development and extension to create enduring profitability for Australian grain growers.

www.grdc.com.au