AN expo-style networking event featuring the latest businesses looking to innovate in the agtech industry was held in Perth recently.
More than 100 people attended the Agtech Innovation Showcase which provided a chance for agricultural start-ups in the realm of technology to put their innovations on display and pitch for investment opportunities.
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The businesses had all been participants in AgriStart's HARVEST Agtech Accelerator program, which is Western Austraia's leading business development program for businesses looking to innovate in the agtech industry.
The event was hosted in collaboration with WA Agtech Meetups, a project led by Beanstalk AgTech and supported by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and Agrifutures.
Beanstalk director Cal Archibald led a panel of two successful WA agtech business founders - Frank D'Emden, from Living Farm, and Tim Hyde, from Swan Systems - who shared their journey of traversing the startup landscape and the challenges they faced in raising capital and the nuances in the agri sector compared to other sectors.
"The venture capitalists don't want to see anyone else but you, so it has to be founder-led," Mr Hyde said.
"So, it's nothing other than rolling up your sleeves and making it happen."
The key insight from both speakers was the importance of refining the product/market fit.
To do this startups need to spend a lot of time with their customers, which may mean packing a suitcase to wherever their potential market is and spending time to see how they operate.
"You have to do the hard yards, particularly if you don't come from an ag background, to understand what it is they need, so the user driven development is the key," Mr D'Emden said.
Seven businesses have taken part in the latest HARVEST program, with five of them giving a three-minute pitch on their idea on the night.
The pitches included Technol's new equipment to identify and manage fires in valuable farming assets such as headers, Agriweiss' wireless sensors that work deep in the soil, Hemp Squared's product which sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, Nork Solutions' innovation to profitably recycle hundreds of tonnes of food manufacturers' by-products, and S5's user friendly, non-invasive, end to end and energy harvested sensors.
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