Registration for Sprout Accelerator open; $500,000 up for grabs

Registrations are now open for Sprout Accelerator, with $500,000 on offer to innovators working on New Zealand's agricultural and food challenges.

Innovations at all stages of development are encouraged to come forward, with registration open to both traditional agritech and future-food focussed start-ups from New Zealand and abroad, and innovations at all stages of development are encouraged to come forward and work with the Sprout Accelerator.

Eight New Zealand start-ups will be selected to join the six-month accelerator, which starts in January 2020. The Accelerator offers $75,000 worth of business coaching, mentoring, network access and MBA-style block courses held around New Zealand.

A range of partners have stepped up to subsidise this for New Zealand's most promising innovations, including the government's innovation support agency, Callaghan Innovation, agricultural innovation funder AGMARDT, and a host of New Zealand's most prominent agribusinesses including Fonterra, Zespri, Gallagher, Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC), PGG Wrightson, Massey University and KPMG.

Entrepreneurs will receive business mentoring and workshops from business owners and directors from across the technology, agricultural and food industries. Upon completion of the accelerator, participants will also have access to an investment pool of $500,000.

Agritech and future-food start-ups have gone through the accelerator since 2015 with alumni raising a total of $11.5M in capital, going on to grow their revenue by 50% and achieve their biggest sales on record at the end of the accelerator.

Registrations for the Accelerator close on 22 November 2019.