Call out to farm entrepreneurs
Sprout is scouting the Waikato region to find the next agritech superstar to take part in the second serving of its accelerator programme. The national agritech business accelerator is searching for eight entrepreneurs with embryonic agritech businesses operating in the paddock to the plate space, and using technologies that improve yield, efficiency and profitability. The chosen eight would receive a cash investment of $20,000 and be placed in a five month part time and remotely delivered programme.
They would be flown around the country for mentoring and training from world-class leaders in technology, research and business growth. The programme would culminate in an opportunity to pitch for investment to a handpicked group of potential investors, corporate partners and potential customers. Sprout Business Strategy Advisor Stu Bradbury said they want to help entrepreneurs grow their startups from great ideas into investment-ready early stage companies. ‘‘We know that many early-stage entrepreneurs find it difficult to articulate their ideas and in turn gain support from customers, stakeholders and investors,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve addressed this with the Sprout programme and are happy to report that our first group of eight alumni all experienced
‘‘The support and advice has allowed us to develop all areas of our business plan’’
strong business growth as a result.’’ AgriTrack was one of the eight companies that participated in the 2015 programme that pitched to a broad range of investors from Auckland to Otago. It secured $550,000 of capital and is on track to grow sales by 80 per cent year on year, and has achieved a 100 per cent conversion rate from product trial to sales with Australian farmers this year. AgriTrack chief executive Andrew Humphries said that when they started with Sprout, they had a product on the market but didn’t have a plan for growth, talent strategy, working capital or a strong sales and distribution model.
‘‘Those five months were the hardest I’ve worked in my life, but the support and advice has allowed us to develop all areas of our business plan and now the capital we’ve raised means we’re well-equipped to take our business to the next level.’’ he said.
Registrations are available now at sproutagritech.com.
The programme starts on October 6.