Winners of the EBRD AgVenture startup competition announced
Istanbul, October 1 (Hibya) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has revealed the winners and runners-up of EBRD AgVenture 2024, the Bank’s competition for startups developing innovative technology to make the agricultural and food sector greener. The announcement was made on Tuesday at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London.
In the statement made by EBRD, the winning companies were introduced as follows:
Proofminder provides an easy-to-use, AI-powered platform based in Hungary and designed to help growers achieve their production goals sustainably. By analysing hyper-precise drone images, Proofminder provides growers with time-sensitive information about each plant and leaf in the field. This results in increased yield and decreased use of chemicals, preventing biodiversity loss and enabling seed or crop producers and farmers to meet their production goals sustainably.
Green Growth is a Latvian startup, that provides food producers with the simplest way to track their harvest and provide proof of carbon capture, sustainability levels and crop origin. The essential data from machinery guides producers on how to reduce their use of fertiliser by up to 30 per cent and track the efficiency of their sustainability practices.
Algebra Intelligence is a Jordanian startup specialising in an IoT-based approach to optimising energy management and providing software-as-a-service solutions for digitising maintenance management. By implementing real-time monitoring, forecasting and proactive alerts on energy and water resources, agrifood clients can achieve significant improvements in efficiency and reduce their costs.
Winners were selected based on a variety of criteria, including the relevance of the problem that each company is trying to solve; the differentiation between its products or services and others in the market; the firms’ go-to-market strategy; their progress and traction; the experience of each team; and the firms’ financing.
The runners-up for the competition are BeeHold, Farmolog and Cropsa.
BeeHold is an innovative Serbian agri-tech startup dedicated to transforming beekeeping through the use of advanced artificial intelligence.
Farmolog is a Turkish start-up that collects primary data from farms and simplifies the related analysis and reporting around certification and operations.
Cropsa is a leading Egyptian financial platform that links companies, traders and farmers in the agricultural and veterinary sectors and facilitates buying and selling production inputs.
The winning start-ups will benefit from tailored advisory support worth up to €80,000 through the EBRD’s Star Venture programme. They will also receive a €10,000 grant for additional services, including mentoring sessions with growth experts and opportunities for networking and visibility at global agrifood tech forums. The runners-up will receive up to €50,000 for tailored advisory services and a further €10,000 grant for business growth needs.