Infusing start-up energy: Cargill and Ecolab accelerate food industry innovation

16 Jul 2019 --- Cargill and Ecolab, are supporting a second class of start-ups through the Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator. By cultivating innovation in this sector, the program hopes to facilitate a “safer and more sustainable food system.” Each of the companies will present its projects at Demo Day on October 15, during Twin Cities Start-up Week (October 9 - 16), held in Minnesota, US.

Techstars is branded as a start-up incubator with a global network that engages both early stage entrepreneurs and late stage start-ups that are focused on advancing key aspects of the food system, including food security and safety, agritech, consumer goods and supply chain management. Techstars founders connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders and corporations to grow their companies. 

The incubator’s accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,700 companies with a market cap of US$20 billion. Start-ups receive mentor support from Cargill and Ecolab executives and access to the companies’ market expertise, global connections and investment capital.

“Solving the greatest food and sustainability challenges the world faces today requires partnership and fresh, innovative ideas. These are the two key ingredients of the Techstars Farm-to-Fork program,” says Justin Kershaw, Cargill CIO. “Having the brightest minds in food and agritech in Cargill and Ecolab’s backyards provides an amazing opportunity to infuse start-up energy into our company, while also helping bring critical solutions to scale.”

Techstars operates three divisions: Techstars Start-up Programs, Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Programs and Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships. 

“While we're here to mentor these start-ups, we're also learning from their approach to problem-solving and are excited to help bring their energy to the Twin Cities start-up community,” said Katie Peterson, Ecolab marketing vice president and Techstars program lead. “Their passion and innovation, combined with the global scale and reach of Ecolab and Cargill, can help solve the challenges of safely feeding the world's population.”

The 11 companies selected to participate in the 2019 Farm to Fork class include Contain (Nevada, US), Conversight (Indiana, US), EcoPlant (Tel Aviv, Israel), Food for All (Massacheusets / New York, US), Imago AI (Gurgaon, India), Magic AI (Seattle, Wash), Otrafy (Melbourne, Australia / Vancouver, Canada), Phood (Massacheusets, US), PurPics (Texas, US), Trackter (Georgia, US) and Transparent Kitchen (Ottawa, Canada).

“Together we are helping entrepreneurs build their business, secure capital, expand their reach and ultimately have a positive impact on the food industry and society,” says Brett Brohl, Techstars Farm-to-Fork Managing Director. “We’re excited to build on last year’s success, leveraging the expertise of Cargill and Ecolab, Techstars’ proven accelerator model, and the entrepreneurial energy of each of the start-up companies’ founders.”

Small players, big mindset
The role of start-ups in shaping the future of the agriculture, food and beverage industries is nothing less than significant. And as large and established players increasingly venture into the funding space, the scope for fast-to-market innovation rises prominently.

However, the start-up scene has not only proliferated with new entrants due to good timing or ease of launching, but also because smaller players are able to respond more quickly to popular consumer trends. Big brands that used to dominate commerce are essentially operating for efficiency – meaning attaining economies of scale and high output in the most cost-effective manner.

Innova Market Insights pegged “Small Player Mindset” as its number nine top trend for the year, reflecting an industry where small players are shaking up the norm and taking on classic FMCG giants. A 2018 Innova Market Insights trends survey found that two in five US and UK consumers prefer small brands “because they are more dedicated to their products and have a personal story.” This is notably on trend as 20 percent growth has been reported in food and beverage launches with a social ethical claim (Global, 2017 vs. 2016).

“Upstream innovation is rapidly picking up steam in Europe,” particularly in farm software and sensing technologies, as well as robotics and novel farming systems. European food tech and agri-tech start-ups last year raised US$1.6 billion in funding across 421 deals, according to the inaugural report from global Venture Capital platform AgFunder, in collaboration with F&A Next. This value was on par with the total in 2017 and a growth of 23 percent was noted in the number of deals, with the majority of activity taking place at the earliest stages. 

Earlier this month, EIT Food, a pan–European consortium with focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation in the food sector, accepted 14 agri-food start-ups from 10 different countries in its third cohort of the EIT Food RisingFoodStars community. The RisingFoodStars Association is an umbrella organization for “high potential, game-changing” mature agrifood start-ups and early scale-ups, enabling its members to participate as partners in all EIT Food activities. The consortium says it’s committed to transforming the food system by scaling agrifood companies in an international context in a bid to drive future innovations.

By Benjamin Ferrer