Rockstart announces startups from the 1st edition of the AgriFood 2019 program

Rockstart has selected the ten startups for its first edition of the Agrifood Program located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Talented women and men from 6 different countries will spend the next six months building and refining their products, talking to mentors, and connecting to potential investors and customers. Rockstart AgriFood is the first domain where Rockstart offers support from the initial phase all the way up to Series B. By closing this €15 million AgriFood fund, Rockstart is staying true to its commitment to support and empower startups and provide unparalleled access to capital.

“We are really excited that we are now able to offer long-term support for the participating startups in our programs - starting with AgriFood. AgriFood is a domain where there is lots of room for innovation and we, therefore, expect to see many startups turning into global businesses in upcoming years. With Rockstart AgriFood, we want to take a hands-on active role in building these businesses.”, said Rune Theill, CEO at Rockstart.

The program is made up of 7 Deep Dive Week sessions, each of which has a specific focus designed to take the startups through the various stages of business development to make them investment-ready. The startups also gain access to dedicated partners from different industries within the AgriFood ecosystem. Our AgriFood partners include BAYER, Danske Bank, Danish Food Cluster, The Greenery, Grodan, Kramp, and LifeX. Apart from our stellar lineup of partners, we have a network of experienced mentors. The mentors will support and guide the startups chosen for this year’s program through business challenges and preparing the teams for global scaling.

“No two businesses are the same, and the Rockstart program reflects this by customizing the program content based on the needs of the startups. It’s our goal to help the startups scale to their full potential by focusing attention on the company and team structure, commercial growth, and fundraising”, said Mark Durno, Partner Rockstart AgriFood.

Rockstart AgriFood is backed by direct investors from 6 countries, and a wider international network of syndication partners and co-investors. In order to drive access to capital for the program startups, the Rockstart AgriFood fund will be co-investing in future rounds of the cohort startups with investors from the fund and broader network.

The ten startups taking part in the AgriFood 2019 program come from multiple backgrounds and originate from 6 countries across three continents.

Agranimo (Chile)

Agranimo provides real-time micro-climate intelligence to farmers, retailers, and insurance companies in the fresh produce industry. We use real-time micro-climate data to help farmers increase yields, use water and fertilizer more precisely; retailers forecast supply of fresh produce, improve food pricing and reduce food waste; and insurance companies offer parametric crop insurance.

ChefMe (Denmark)

ChefMe is the leading danish marketplace platform for hiring a private chef. ChefMe makes it possible for you to browse through various chefs and menus, to find the perfect private chef for your next event. The chef will come to the location of your choosing, cook the food, serve it and present it for you and your guest. So sit back relax and enjoy a culinary experience, with the people you care about. 

Råhandel (Denmark)

Råhandel creates better conditions for small-scale food producers by making their trade to businesses smarter. Their goal is to create a better transparent food system. As a modern alternative to the traditional food wholesaler, they have a user-friendly online marketplace, that enables small food producers to easily sell their products and gathers ordering, payment, and delivery for their customers. 

KrishiHub (India)

Technology-driven Agricultural Ecosystem for Indian Farmers. From increasing farmer income by removing middlemen from the existing agri supply chain to providing location-aware advisory for increasing farm productivity, KrishiHub is solving some of the most complex problems present in the Indian agricultural sector.

Miils (Finland)

Miils goal is to have an impact on people’s wellbeing through healthier product recommendations, and at the same time improve and optimize the basket contents for online food retailers. Miils Healthy Food Suggestion Engine (patent pending) can be implemented to any existing online food store globally and the guidance of the user happens in a unique way at the point of purchase. 

Nordetect (Denmark)

Nordetect is a Lab-on-a-chip nanosensor solution for the agriculture and environmental industry, giving the precision of a professional chemistry lab with the speed and convenience of a paper-test strip.

Vultus (Sweden)

Today, over 55% of nitrogen goes to waste, leading to environmental and crop damages. Vultus addresses this problem, with its patent-pending method to prescribe variable rate applications of nitrogen fertilizers. Based on current and historical satellite data, our algorithms determine the optimal spread of fertilizers for each individual field. As a result, farmers reduce the use of nitrogen by 30% of nitrogen, and € 35 per hectare, through improved yields, evenness in crop quality.

Tractor Junction (India)

Tractor Junction is India’s leading digital marketplace for tractors and farm equipment. They bring price and comparison transparency to farmers for farm equipment, creating the go-to online hub for farmers to gain market data about farm machinery.

Wenda (Italy)

Wenda helps food retailers, producers, and restaurants with a shared and plug&play platform to support company decisions, tracking the integrity of food & beverage along the supply-chain.

The Apple Girl (Denmark)

The Apple Girl is solving the leather problem with food waste. They are committed to producing quality textiles made in sustainable processes by utilizing food waste streams to make alternative leather and textiles.