Eight start-ups were chosen from 66 entries nationwide, double the number expected, to take part in the 5-month accelerated programme run by agritech business incubator BCC.
Sprout programme manager James Bell-Booth said people accounted for half the selection weighting, 25% was placed on the status of the company’s product, and 25% on its potential market.
“We were looking for people that are coachable, that want to learn and adapt,” he said. “Generally no business plan survives its first contact with customers and what the programme does is put a team around them and they need to be able to take advice, be happy to be challenged, and make business changes if needed.”
The eight companies chosen include Bee’z Thingz, Logic Labs, AgTract, Sensee, Nature Matters Milk Company, Health & Safety App, Dairy Max, and Agritrack. Their technology includes feed budgeting software, software to make agricultural contractors lives more efficient, a farm monitoring sensor, and a business model that allows small-scale dairy farms to sell directly to trade and consumer channels in big urban populations.
Each company received a cash investment of $20,000 pooled from a group of investors comprising Gallagher, LIC, Enterprise Angels, Manawatu Investment Group, and Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 investment vehicle. The investors have an option to convert the money into equity in the companies post-programme.
Sprout is planned to become a yearly event because of the global demand for agricultural technologies. “Whether it’s corporate partners or investors, a lot of people are interested in these companies coming out of New Zealand,” said Bell-Booth.
Participants access a pool of experts and mentors, many of whom are involved in agritech, along with networks and partnerships that could help them get a distribution deal or channel partners to take their product to market.
Half the participants only work part-time in their companies but all are required to attend two-day block courses in Ashburton, Palmerston North, Hamilton, and Invercargill, which are also open for a fee to the other agritech start-ups which missed getting selected into the programme and any other interested companies.
Sprout culminates in an opportunity to pitch for capital from a selected group of investors at the Central Districts Field Days agri investment showcase on Mar. 17.
Bell-Booth said the programme differed from BCC’s normal incubation because it was for a fixed period and sped up to grow the start-ups quickly to scale. The aim is for them all to achieve their initial business plans within the five months, which will vary between them but include securing additional investment or a distribution deal, he said.
