SproutX featured in Startup Genome 2022 Report as a key player in the Australian Agri/foodtech ecosystem
03 June 2022, AU: It’s not news that there is a clear need for innovation given the rapidly growing global population, disparity in access to food, soil degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. The urgency for innovative solutions became even more profound with COVID-19 pandemic, spiraling fertilizer costs, supply chain disruption, and recent geopolitical events. (For those outside the agri/food space, have you noticed that 1kg of broccoli at Coles is $9 at the moment?). Solution seekers across the world are filling the gap to feed the world and improve the sustainability of our agricultural systems through initiatives such as crop gene modifications, revamping logistics, or tapping into the plant-based food space and many of them need support in terms of access to market, communities and capital.
Cue Startup Genome, the world-leading policy advisory and research organisation for public and private organisations committed to accelerating the success of their startup ecosystem. Their mission is to accelerate startup success and ecosystem performance everywhere by working together with global thought leaders and practitioners to define and execute robust policies and programs that drive lasting change.
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“The Global Startup Ecosystem Report: Agtech & New Food Edition” by Startup Genome is a comprehensive report covering the landscape of Agtech & New Food tech ecosystems and players around the world. All with a focus on improving agricultural efficiency and sustainability, including field, sensors, drones, farm-management software, robotics, vertical farming, and more.
Ecosystems provide a collaborative pathway to global success for research and startups and Startup Genome found that Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world with Sydney’s ecosystem ranking at 21 while Melbourne’s ecosystem ranking below top 30 😥
The report highlights the need for investment into and structuring of a strong Agtech ecosystem in Australia in order to catch up with the rest of the world. The majority of the Top 10 Global Accelerators and Incubators are in North America. Similarly, the majority of the Top 10 Venture Capital Firms and Investors are in North America. North America and Asia dominate the top 25 Agtech & New Food ranking, with 48% and 20% respectively. Europe has four ecosystems in the top 25, Oceania has two, and MENA one.
SproutX is proud to be the only still-running Agri/foodtech Accelerator & Incubator listed in the report.
We firmly stand by the call for greater agri/food tech ecosystem investment in Australia and are happy to see some recent attention towards the sector from awareness around climate change, alertness from food security/ supply chain issues from the pandemic, and very recently positive indicators on policies movement.
