- Four finalists were selected from more than 190 applicants in over 40 countries to compete for one of two US$750,000 investments at a pitch day event at the Women in Agribusiness Summit (WIA) on September 28th in Nashville, TN.
SAN DIEGO, Calif., August 29th, 2023 – Nutrien, the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services, and Radicle Growth, a company-building platform for early-stage ag and food start-up companies, are pleased to announce four finalists for the second ever Radicle Inclusion Challenge Presented by Nutrien.
With a goal to leverage investments to drive innovation and inclusion, Nutrien is focused on supporting underrepresented groups in accessing the capital and resources essential to building successful agtech companies. The challenge seeks to find and fund two early-stage food and agtech companies or entrepreneurs committed to diversity and inclusion while advancing a sustainable food value chain.
Out of more than 190 entries from across the globe, four finalists have been selected to showcase their work at a pitch day on September 28th at the Women in Agribusiness Summit in Nashville, Tennessee. The finalists will compete for one of two U.S. $750,000 investments, valuable collaboration with senior executives at Radicle Growth and Nutrien, and access to Radicle’s company-building platform.
Following the success of the 2022 Inclusion Challenge, Nutrien and Radicle Growth have partnered again to continue to drive a more sustainable food value chain while advancing diversity and inclusion. Assisting diverse groups in agriculture in attaining venture capital and access to resources will help bring new technologies to market that have the potential to impact sustainability in growers’ fields around the world.
Register here to attend the 2023 Radicle Inclusion Challenge presented by Nutrien Pitch Day.
Noralee Bradley, Nutrien Executive Vice President, External Affairs and Chief Sustainability and Legal Officer, said, “The future of agriculture depends on our ability to drive innovation in sustainability. Without efforts like the Radicle Inclusion Challenge, many game-changing sustainable concepts and technologies are going unfunded due to a lack of visibility among diverse entrepreneurs. Nutrien’s goal in partnering with Radicle is to shed light on just some of this work in hopes to drive awareness around what we see as wealth of largely untapped potential.”
Kirk Haney, Managing Partner at Radicle Growth, said: “We are very impressed with the high-quality entrepreneurs and technologies we have identified through the Radicle Challenge process. This Challenge has resulted in data-driven market intelligence on diversity and inclusion in agtech. We look forward to leveraging these insights to drive systemic change and lead the next wave of innovation in agtech.”
Finalists (Learn more about our Finalists here)
FarmSense:
Founded in 2016, FarmSense helps farmers simplify pest management and take the guesswork out of insect monitoring. The company’s patented FlightSensor™ technology provides real-time insect counts and classifications, giving immediate access for farmers to make mission-critical decisions on crop and pest control.
PheroSyn:
PheroSyn uses sustainable “green chemistry” to produce complex structured, high value, unavailable insect pheromones, formulated and sold to distributors for monitoring of crop pests in agriculture and horticulture.
Reazent:
Reazent has developed a patented agri-biological technology platform that provides high-efficacy sustainable alternatives to synthetic agrochemicals. Our biological technology utilizes specific Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria strains that exhibit improved root colonization in the soil and increased production of plant-beneficial metabolites enabling them to exhibit enhanced plant growth and crop protection effects.
Vitiport:
Vitiport is developing first-of-a-kind marking pheromones – sprayable zero-residue products that prevent pests from laying eggs on crops, pose no health risk to farmers and the environment.
Judges (Learn more about our Judges here)
Each finalist organization will present to a panel of global agribusiness judges, including Bradley and Haney.
For more information on the 2023 Radicle Inclusion Challenge Presented by Nutrien, visit https://radicle.vc/the-radicle-challenge/.
Media Contacts:
Damaris Mozo for Radicle Growth – dmozo@radicle.vc
Jordan Eldridge for Nutrien – jordan.eldridge@nutrien.com
About Radicle Growth:
Radicle Growth selects innovative, early-stage companies for investment, ensuring that disruptive AgTech & Food Tech companies reach their full potential. In addition to providing seed-stage capital, Radicle Growth provides a fertile environment for visionaries in the ag and food space to flourish. Their proprietary platform is one of a kind in the ag and food industry, filling a huge void in the market by identifying the most innovative technologies and accelerating them with a range of value-creation initiatives. To connect and learn more about Radicle Growth follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
About Nutrien:
Nutrien is the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services, helping to safely and sustainably feed a growing world. We operate a world-class network of production, distribution and retail facilities that positions us to efficiently serve the needs of growers. We focus on creating long-term value for all stakeholders by advancing our key environmental, social and governance priorities. www.nutrien.com
About Women in Agribusiness Summit (WIA):
The Women in Agribusiness Summit in the U.S., introduced by parent company HighQuest Partners in 2012, is renowned for annually convening close to 1,000 of the country’s female agribusiness decision-makers for knowledge-sharing and unparalleled networking. WIA initiatives have grown to include WIA Membership, WIA Career Connector, WIA Demeter Award of Excellence, WIA Scholarships, and the WIA Today blog. Learn more at womeninag.com.
