Funding available for high-growth agri-tech businesses

From 24 July 2023, agri-tech companies within the UK will have the ability to apply for a share of £5 million to additional their enterprise by way of the Farming Innovation Investor Partnership competitors. 

This new competitors is aimed toward firms that develop and implement new expertise to make farming extra environment friendly within the UK (agri-tech companies).  

Particularly, we’re in search of agri-tech companies that may reveal the potential to develop and generate income by way of their farm-focused improvements which clear up the challenges of productiveness, sustainability and web zero emissions. 

The competitors paperwork can be found to learn now and the window to use will open 24 July.

The competitors

The Farming Innovation Investor Partnership competitors, developed with Innovate UK, is exclusive. It combines grant funding from Defra with fairness funding from non-public traders and a big contribution from a member of Innovate UK’s Investor Associate pool. 

The Investor Associate pool includes round 80 entities with the credibility, functionality and urge for food to spend money on revolutionary, technology-led companies. 

This mixture gives profitable candidates with monetary assist to develop revolutionary expertise. It additionally gives worthwhile business intelligence and entry to market alternatives to develop and scale. 

Eligibility 

Initiatives should be in late-stage Analysis & Improvement and search late seed or Sequence A stage funding. 

For instance, you is perhaps a start-up or medium-sized enterprise with an experimental expertise near market. 

Eligible challenge prices should be between £750,000 and £3,000,000. They have to final 18 months.  

As tasks are anticipated to be nearer to market, funding obtainable for eligible challenge prices shall be as much as 45%, and 35% for micro or small and medium-sized firms respectively. 

These tasks ought to have hyperlinks to farmers, growers and agri-business. They have to have the ability to reveal the advantages to farmers and growers in England and should be led by a sole UK-registered micro, small or medium enterprise. 

The appliance course of 

Proposals should reveal an ambition to finalise late-stage innovation, the potential to develop and scale by way of profitable negotiation of funding and supply a coherent challenge plan, which integrates your small business technique.  

The challenge should handle a big farm-focused problem referring to livestock, vegetation, novel meals manufacturing methods, and bioeconomy and agroforestry. 

Purposes ought to be made by way of Innovate UK’s on-line Innovation Funding Service.

Purposes will then be assessed by Innovate UK’s skilled unbiased assessors. The assessors are drawn from enterprise and academia. All of them have business experience to make sure a good and clear evaluation course of. 

Initiatives that meet the brink shall be notified in October.

They may then have till January to succeed in heads of phrases with a lead investor. Profitable candidates will then be notified in February. 

Dates in your diary 

Innovate UK will host a Q&A session on 25 July. I will add the hyperlink to register for the session under.

This new fund enhances different competitions below our Farming Innovation Programme which you’ll learn extra about in final month’s weblog publish.