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HudsonAlpha and gener8tor Welcome Five Companies to Second Agtech Investment Accelerator Cohort
Agtech Investment Accelerator kicks off its second cohort with five high-growth startups to receive $100K each and 12 weeks of concierge mentorship and coaching
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (April 24, 2023) – HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, in partnership with global venture firm and startup accelerator, gener8tor, announced the five startup companies selected for the Spring 2023 cohort of the HudsonAlpha AgTech Accelerator. The 12-week accelerator began earlier this month and invests $100K in five startups at the forefront of the agriculture technology industry.
The concierge business accelerator connects the startups with an engaged program team, a global community, and regional resources from both HudsonAlpha and gener8tor. Participating founders also receive comprehensive and individualized coaching along with access to gener8tor’s national network of mentors, customers, corporate partners and investors, to help them secure customers, accelerate their revenue growth and attract additional funding.
The companies selected for the second cohort in the Huntsville-based program are Terra Bioforge, Khepra, OmniVis, SAVRpak and Bloom Labs. This cohort was selected from among hundreds of applications from around the world. Each went through a rigorous application and interview process before being selected because of their strong performance in four key elements: team, traction, product/service and market opportunity.
“It’s no secret that many of our world’s most pressing challenges are in the agriculture, food security and sustainability sectors,” said Alex Cate, director of entrepreneurship programs for HudsonAlpha. “The companies participating in this cohort are directly addressing these global challenges with unique technologies and solutions and are aligned with HudsonAlpha’s mission to improve life through discovery and application of breakthrough technologies.”
Together, gener8tor and HudsonAlpha aim to bring economic diversity and job growth to north Alabama. The HudsonAlpha Agtech Investment Accelerator is supported by the Growing Alabama Credit program through the Alabama Department of Commerce. Sponsors of the HudsonAlpha AgTech Accelerator include Breland Homes, Fuqua & Partners, Keel Point, Pearce Construction, Regions Bank, Synovus, as well as individual contributors.
“Low crop yields coming out of 2021 have us on the precipice of a new wave of food-related conflict. Moving the needle in solving the world food crisis is what our VC investments and accelerator program are set to accomplish,” said Christopher Udall, managing director of the HudsonAlpha Agtech Investment Accelerator. “Scouting the global startup market for the best deeptech and hard science startups is both humbling and invigorating. We selected top founders whose ventures solve for food scarcity, nutrition, crop yield, sustainability, deep space exploration, and more, and then brought them to Huntsville, Alabama, for our program. As managing director, I am excited to invest in deeptech AgTech and serve the founders that are undoubtedly changing the world.”
The accelerator will conclude on June 29, with a showcase event at HudsonAlpha, highlighting each of the five startups. Founders will have the opportunity to pitch their companies to investors, community partners and the public. Investors, mentors and community members interested in connecting with the startup companies and programs are encouraged to contact Udall.
David Mead, CEO | dmead@terrabioforge.com | http://terrabioforge.com
Terra Bioforge has pioneered a synthetic biology platform for the rapid overproduction and discovery of valuable bioactive natural products that are beneficial to humans, plants, and animals. Plant pathogens cause 300 billion dollars per year in crop losses worldwide, a problem we will solve by engineering beneficial microbial strains that replace expensive and toxic chemicals.
Julie Kring, CEO | julie@khepra.io | https://www.khepra.io
Khepra is a sustainable manufacturing platform for chemicals that is fully electrified and enables low cost production of bio-derived alternatives. Petrochemicals cause pollution with negative impacts on human and planetary health, and Khepra is aiding in solving this by decoupling petroleum from the chemicals supply chain.
Katherine Clayton | kclayton@omnivistech.com | https://www.omnivistech.com
1 in 6 Americans gets a foodborne illness every year, but OmniVis wants that to be 0. OmniVis created a handheld device to rapidly detect foodborne pathogens from the industry standard of 3 days, to under 30 minutes, saving facilities 99% of the costs associated with downtime due to foodborne outbreaks.
Bill Birgen | bill@savrpak.com | https://savrpak.com
SAVRpak, recently named a “World’s Most Innovative Company” by Fast Company, leverages thermodynamics to fight food’s #1 enemy, condensation. We keep your food fresher longer, helping fight food waste on a global scale. Technology born of aerospace and defense technology; SAVRpak is 100% chemical free and quite literally…rocket science for food.
Simardev S. Gulati | sim@bloomlabs.bio | https://www.bloomlabs.bio/
Bloom Labs is accelerating the transition toward a circular economy. Global fiber production accounts for 10% of Global Carbon Emissions and 35% of micro-plastic pollution. Bloom Labs offers a way to catalyze the value in waste by regenerating it as versatile and desirable bio-plastics and textile fibers. It sees a future where old, resource-intensive processes are replaced with cutting-edge, sustainable, scalable alternatives.
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About gener8tor
gener8tor is a global venture firm and accelerator network that supports startups, founders, workers, employers, artists and musicians across race, place and gender. gener8tor partners with companies, governments, universities and nonprofits to operate programs in more than 41 communities across 22 states and two countries. Fast Company named gener8tor one of the Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2021 and 2022.
About HudsonAlpha Agtech Accelerator
HudsonAlpha Agtech powered by gener8tor leverages HudsonAlpha’s deep experience in agriscience, specifically agriculture genomics, plant breeding and crop diversity, with gener8tor’s national network of mentors and investors, and Huntsville’s innate strengths as a technology hub. The program invests in the best and brightest startups tackling the challenges of sustainably feeding and powering a growing planet.
About HudsonAlpha
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit institute dedicated to developing and applying scientific advances to health, agriculture, education and commercialization. The HudsonAlpha biotechnology campus consists of 152 acres nestled within Cummings Research Park, the nation’s second-largest research park. The state-of-the-art facilities co-locate nonprofit scientific researchers with entrepreneurs and educators. HudsonAlpha is a national and international leader in genetics and genomics research and biotech education and fosters more than 45 diverse biotech companies on campus.
