Pork Checkoff Embraces Startup Innovation for First Time with New MidWest THRIVE Accelerator Program

The Pork Checkoff is partnering alongside animal health group Elanco , Indiana’s agbiosciences promoter AgriNovus , and entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator Purdue Foundry . THRIVE’s existing partner on its Californian program Land O’Lakes is also part of the new program, which aims to focus on animal health startups and foster innovation in the MidWest.

Some of these partners will be investing in SVG Partners’ third fund. This will be the first time NPB has dedicated resources to focus on new innovation, including the creation of a new job role internally, according to John Hartnett, partner at SVG Partners.

Land O’Lakes and new partners like NPB and Elanco have driven our interest in this expansion into the animal health and livestock area,” Hartnett added. Intensive pig farming has many high-tech elements to it, but tasks such as record-keeping are mostly done with pen and paper. In 2017, Iowan agtech startup SwineTech secured $1.3 million in Series A backing for its wearable device for sows to prevent them crushing their piglets.

The wealth of farmtech entrepreneurs have in addition tended to focus on the cropping industries: in 2016, just $152 million of the total $1.4 billion raised by holding technology startups went towards businesses innovating specifically for animal agriculture, excluding seafood, per to AgFunder data . With this expansion, THRIVE aims to develop a targeted pipeline of livestock management and animal health startups, validating and scaling new technologies for the livestock vertical.

It will also grow its support of emerging plant science and biotechnology startups, according to Hartnett. “The new THRIVE vertical will focus on biotechnology in plant science and animal health as well as other technologies related to livestock management,” he told reporters. “THRIVE has always had an interest in row plantings and biotechnology with partners such as Land O’Lakes and Corteva. Our new partnership deepens these relationships and leverages additional interest. Expertise inherent to the Indiana ecosystem.” MidWest Partner Expertise Based in Greenfield, Indiana, Elanco, a leading animal health firm with its headquarters in Greenfield, Indiana, in addition joins the Midwest partnership. The business works to provide veterinarians, food growers, and pet owners with the tools needed to help animals live healthy lives.

Elanco, which is based in Greenfield, Indiana is no stranger to the agtech startup ecosystem, leading an $8.5 million round in Research Triangle Park-based AgTech Accelerator’s early stage funding vehicle in 2016. A THRIVE partner since 2016, major dairy cooperative Land O’Lakes has as well been active in boosting entrepreneurship in agriculture, running its own dairy-focused accelerator program and hosting a drone competition in 2017. Indiana State-backed initiative AgriNovus Indiana, which has focused on advancing the agbiosciences sector in the region, will help provide THRIVE with access to the Midwest’s agtech ecosystem. “AgriNovus has built a great ecosystem in the Midwest with many similar partners to THRIVE.

THRIVE has the expertise in venture investing and running a global accelerator and we are thrilled to partner with AgriNovus to bring additional depth to the program,” explained Hartnett. SVG Partners’ Californian THRIVE accelerator launched in 2014 with a particular focus on accelerating technologies relevant to the West Coast with early partners including Taylor Farms, Driscoll’s Berries, JV Smith and Western Growers Assocation.

With the recent Forbes AgTech Summit in Indianapolis, SVG Partners recognized the opportunity to widen THRIVE into the Midwest in order to more readily address the geography’s robust livestock trade and biotechnology expertise. Its Salinas-based accelerator program has run several cohorts of agtech startups covering a broad range of technology sectors.

The eight-week program culminates in a classic demo day where judges select winners who are then featured at the Forbes AgTech Summit that takes place in the same region to highlight the ag and food-focused technology and entrepreneurship coming out of California’s fertile heartland. Since launching, the program has grown to attract applicants from around the globe.