THEY don’t need breaks, are small and nimble and come trained and ready to work. The future of agriculture is autonomous and it’s robotic.
Highlighting the ag tech revolution in agriculture, 38 innovative startups have been selected to showcase their agricultural technologies at evokeAG. in Melbourne in February 2020.
As part of the evokeAG. Startup Program, the selected startups will present their ideas, products and services in front of more than 1300 delegates at evokeAG., the Asia Pacific’s premier agrifood tech event.
Held in Melbourne at the Royal Exhibition Building on 18-19 February 2020, the startups will demonstrate how technology and innovation are helping to address global challenges facing our agricultural industry.
AgriFutures Australia managing director, John Harvey, said the Startup Program was an incredible opportunity for startups and was also beneficial to the farmers and producers attending the event.
“There will be an impressive display of the most game-changing technologies and solutions for agriculture. Farmers in the room will be able to speak directly with the innovators in our industry and find out how the technology presented to them will help on-farm,” he said.
“Agtech adoption across our industry is not happening at the rate it needs to. Opportunities like this where entrepreneurs are cross-pollinating with producers will help us overcome this challenge.”
Investor Pitch and Startup Alley finalist, Olaf Bork from Mastaplex, said he was looking forward to connecting with other entrepreneurs and igniting conversations with investors who were scanning the agtech space.
“It’s great exposure and hopefully it will lead to a range of new networks and opportunities,” said Mr Bork.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has come on board as the official evokeAG. Startup Alley sponsor, and is excited to see the innovative companies and ideas on show at the event.
“AWS is committed to growing the quantity and quality of startups across Australia, and agriculture provides a fertile ground for this innovation. From smart farming to give us better food production and more efficient use of water, to robotics and drones that are alleviating the physical burden on our farmers, cloud technology is helping these startups not just succeed and grow, but make a real difference to the lives of people on the land and everyone relying on our food system,” Amazon Web Services Head of Startups in Australia and New Zealand, Rachael Neumann, said.
Founder and chief executive officer of Smart Paddock, Darren Wolchyn, said the evokeAG. Startup Program was important for addressing global challenges for our agriculture industry.
“Events such as evokeAG. allows for the exposure for established and upcoming companies to display their solutions to an international crowd. When a new technology is proven to solve a problem for an Australian farmer, it is likely to solve the same problem for farmers in other parts of the world. We are looking to meet with other solution providers in the agriculture industry to explore collaborations or partnerships,” said Mr Wolchyn.
Bee Innovative chief executive officer and co-founder, David Lyall, echoed these sentiments.
“We are looking forward to meeting key industry figures, with a view of working together. evokeAG. provides an amazing opportunity to network and gain a strong understanding of the challenges the agricultural sector is working to solve,” Mr Lyall said.
The following finalists and their respective streams are:
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Startup Showcase
The Startup Showcase has two streams:
Local Ecosystem – this stream provides a platform for local (Australia, New Zealand and/or the Pacific Islands) startups to showcase their ideas in front of an international audience.
Finalists:
Go Micro, Sivam Krish, Adelaide, Australia
Bee Innovative, David Lyall, Branxton, Australia
Thinkbio, Lisa Anderson, Sydney, Australia
Escavox, Luke Wood, Sydney, Australia
thingc Robotics, Cameron Leeson, Melbourne, Australia
NextFarm, Sammi Stewart, Otago, New Zealand
Zetifi, Dan Winson, Wagga Wagga, Australia
BioScout, Lewis Collins, Sydney, Australia
International Scale-ups – this stream provides a platform for international startups who are solving global problems facing the Australian agricultural sector and/or expanding their business into Australia.
Finalists:
Nectar, Marc-André Roberge, Montreal, Canada
Farmable, Lars Blikom, Oslo, Norway
Edete Precision Technologies for Agriculture, Ori Inbar, Basmat Tivon, Israel
Arugga AI Farming, Iddo Geltner, Yokneam, Israel
Startup Alley
Startup Alley returns to evokeAG.2020 and 38 businesses will showcase their startups in exhibition style to all evokeAG.delegates.
Finalists:
Pairtree, Hamish Munro, Orange, Australia
Agerris, Salah Sukkarieh, Sydney, Australia
Sparrows, Andrea Watson, Wellington, New Zealand
AgUnity, David Davies, Surfers Paradise, Australia
Smart Paddock, Darren Wolchyn, Melbourne, Australia
MALDI-ID, Sofie De Meyer, Perth, Australia
FarmLab, Sam Duncan, Armidale, Australia
NEXGEN Plants, Philippe Herve, Brisbane, Australia
Hillridge Technology, Dale Schilling, Sydney, Australia
SWAN Systems, Tim Hyde, Perth, Australia
Hive Haven, Ann and Jeff Ross, Beerburrum, Australia
NuPoint, Lance Nuttall, Blenheim, New Zealand
Has Algae, Tim Gardner, Brisbane, Australia
Ally’s Basket, Ally Tehan, Wheelers Hill, Australia
GoannaAg, Alicia Garden, Goondiwindi, Australia
Athena Irrigation, Fran Doerflinger, Tonsley, Australia
The Aeration Manager, Henk de Graaf, Perth, Australia
LIVEstock Pricing, Rob Kelly, Perth, Australia
AgKonect, Dr Pete Whittle, Toowong, Australia
LYRO Robotics, Juxi Leitner, Brisbane, Australia
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Investor Pitch
This pitch is a standalone event on the eve of evokeAG. 2020 aiming to facilitate curated conversations and connections between international and local investors, and Australian and New Zealand companies. Startups will pitch directly to an invitation-only investor audience over dinner.
Finalists:
RapidAim, Nancy Schellhorn, Brisbane, Australia
Safe Ag Systems, Katy Landt, Adelaide, Australia
Farmbot Australia, Andrew Coppin, Sydney, Australia
Mastaplex, Olaf Bork, Dunedin, New Zealand
SwarmFarm Robotics, Andrew Bate, Emerald, Australia
Source: AgriFutures
Visit https://evokeag.com/2020-startup-program/ to find out more about the evokeAG. 2020 Startup Program.
evokeAG. 2020 will take place in Melbourne at the iconic Royal Exhibition Building on 18-19 February 2020. Tickets are available online, with discounted group, student and primary producer delegate passes also available.
Contribute to the food, farm and future conversations by using our #evokeAG hashtag and follow evokeAG. on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
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