Agri-food tech accelerator, SparkLabs Cultiv8, has held its 2024 Showcase in Orange, enticing 200 agtech investors, innovators and researchers to its pitch event.
This year was its sixth accelerator program, supporting 10 companies ranging from early-stage founders to growth and commercialisation companies, and the second clean-technology specific program which focuses on agriculture and food production.
The 2024 accelerator brought the number of companies supported by SparkLabs Cultiv8 to over 50. More than $750 million has been raised by their portfolio companies, which boast a combined value of more than $1.75 billion and have created over 750 jobs globally.
SparkLabs Cultiv8 co-founder and partner, Jonathon Quigley, said the companies offered a range of ways to reduce emissions from the global agri-food system.
“We’re really excited by the range of innovations we’re showcasing in Orange this week,” said Quigley.
“From companies making high-value nutraceutical ingredients from food waste; to brewing palm oil from yeast; to reducing methane from cattle – all these companies can help us produce food more sustainably and support a more climate resilient agriculture system.”
Created in 2017 in partnership with Asia’s largest accelerator, SparkLabs Group, SparkLabs Cultiv8 has become a leader in supporting sustainable agriculture and food production through innovation.
Participant Tom Collier, whose company, Levur, is developing a sustainable, yeast-based alternative to palm oil, said the program is helping them drive global traction.
“SparkLabs Cultiv8 has been a game-changer as we progress on our journey to market,” said Collier.
“Their access to world-class strategic and technical expertise has been essential in positioning Levur for rapid growth.”
The 2024 graduating companies are:
- Alkiira Therapeutics specialises in Australian grown, Australian made botanical extracts and nutraceutical ingredients for global markets, valorising untapped waste streams from local agriculture.
- Bovotica is adding mass and reducing gas in cattle via a proprietary technology probiotic/prebiotic feed supplement that decreases methane production by 80 per cent and increases weight gain by 10 per cent.
- Carbon Friendly provides end-to-end carbon technology solutions that enable the agricultural industry to develop and monetise large-scale carbon inset and offset projects.
- Levur is changing the oil industry with its sustainable, yeast-based alternative to palm oil to replace unsustainable plant and animal oils in the cosmetics and food sectors, offering a scalable solution to pressing environmental challenges.
- Nitronic is developing technology to produce on-site, zero-carbon fertilisers, reducing the emissions associated with the production and transport of nitrogen-based fertilisers.
- NonTox has developed plant-based bioherbicides and disinfectants to replace more harmful chemicals in agriculture, food production and community applications.
- Pyx Global is developing advanced digital architecture to ensure secure exchange of data and credentials along supply chains.
- Teramax has developed environmentally-compliant biodegradable mulch films for agriculture, replacing plastic with a compostable, soil-friendly alternative in a range of horticultural production settings.
- Unibaio has created a microparticle from natural origins that makes agricultural chemicals more effective. Unibaio’s particles can be added to herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers to reduce the amount required by 80 per cent.
