Agro Innovation Lab: 252 applications for start-up programme
German cooperative BayWa and Austrian cooperative RWA Raiffeisen Ware have received 252 applications from 53 countries for this year’s Acceleration & Market Entry Programme offered by the Agro Innovation Lab (AIL).
BayWa is a globally active cooperative originating from Germany that distributes Agco brands in various countries. For the 3rd consecutive year, BayWa AG and RWA launched the AIL to identify innovations for the agricultural sector early and to be able to support the most promising start-ups with their further development and market strategies.
By far the highest number of applications was submitted for the agriculture technology field with 173 entrants, with many entries in the fields of organic agriculture, crop production overall, nutrition and trade of produce.
Most applications from USA and India
38 out of the 252 applying start-ups are from the USA. India follows in 2nd place with 33 and Germany takes place 3 with 22 start-ups. Applications were received from companies on all continents. 43% of the applicants are headquartered in Europe.
The AIL will internally select the 100 most promising start-ups. The firdt milestones in the competition among the remaining young companies will be their remote pitches, which are scheduled for June. In their pitch, the competing companies will be asked to convince their potential mentors for the Acceleration & Market Entry Programme in a presentation only lasting a few minutes. The finalists will then be invited to the next round, the Finalist Days in Munich the names of the start-ups that will have made it into this year’s programme will be presented in August 2018.
