Agtech Startups - Grants, Programs & Investment | LaunchVic

Help & Support For Agtech Startups In Victoria

Victoria is Australia’s largest agricultural producer, but despite our reputation as the nation’s food bowl, our Agtech sector remains small and underdeveloped.

LaunchVic has partnered with Agriculture Victoria to provide support, funding and investment opportunities to Victorian Agtech startups building farming technology. Applications of these technologies can include: automation, drones, robotics, AI.

Our partnership is all about boosting the number of Victorian AgTech startups and building entrepreneurial culture and capability in this crucial sector.

What Is Agtech?

Agtech is the collection of technologies that provide the agricultural industry with the tools, data and knowledge to make more informed, timely on-farm decisions and improve productivity and sustainability.

Grant Recipients

The Agtech Grants Program provides equity-free funding to help startups move to their next phase of growth and access mentoring advice to build their businesses, hire staff and support Victoria’s economic growth.

4Zero Technologies

4Zero is helping farmers minimise supply chain disruptions and increase production efficiency.

AEI

AEI is developing sophisticated energy solutions for the agriculture sector that work behind the meter to provide automated optimisation and participation in the energy marketplace

Air Agri

AirAgri is a agricultural platform inspired by social networks, market places and Agri software. The product offers a variety of safety record keeping solutions, the key focus is on protecting and keeping farmers safe and ensure that every farmer returns home at the end of the day.

Ambit Robotics

The Ambit robot wakes up each night to count and grade each piece of fruit in a crop row. Taking these measurements every 24 hours gives grower users an unprecedented level of insight into both short-term (one day) and longer-term (multiweek) yields.

AlterraTech

Building the IKEA for farming automation.

AquaTerra

AquaTerra combines new soil sensing hardware developed and manufactured in Australia, an IoT platform for power efficient connectivity over long distances, and a user-friendly analytics interface providing farms with valuable data and actionable insights to make informed decisions.

BioIQ

BioIQ’s aim is to reduce the use of synthetic fertilisers whilst improving soil health, migrating farmers to something more cost effective and sustainable in farm management.

Drone Hand

The first commercially available, user friendly, AI driven, automated flight-app for livestock monitoring.

Engenia Solutions

Boodbox is a thermal image-based pollination management system for the commercial agriculture sector. They are addressing the lack of non-invasive, bio-safe and reliable colony counting method to estimate bee population in the hives used in the commercial agriculture industry.

Farmo

Farmo is designing products utilising cutting edge technology to address the pain points on farm. Monitoring water supply to livestock is especially challenging with labour shortages, time pressure, petrol prices etc putting the welfare of animals at risk. Farmo is solving this problem with a floating water trough sensor like the Water Rat which communicates by Cat-M1/NB-IoT in real-time when the level drops and action is required.

Gaia PROJECT

Gaia’s world first Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) channel, produces industry leading crop densities without the need for transplantation. Competitors use human and robot assistance to create high densities to combat low profitability. But these techniques increase CAPEX/OPEX costs, Gaia’s NFT channel creates the higher output without the need for transplanting.

Jane’s Weather

Unlocking productivity and driving efficiency through precise and actionable data. Curated by meteorologist and weather presenter Jane Bunn.

LB AgTech

A hive management platform for beekeepers. BeeSTAR provides the best conditions for honey to be sold on the global market whilst it helps beekeepers to manage their hive in the smartest, economical, and environmental way.

Mobble

Mobble is an AgTech startup that has developed a cloud-based livestock farm management software with a mission to make farmers’ lives easier and more successful. Mobble has created a user-friendly platform that streamlines farm management and strongly focuses on connection and simplicity.

Rubens Technologies

Rubens has developed a first in class non-destructive technology for determining fruit quality and consistency. This provides the fresh fruit industry with an intelligence system for real-time and non-destructive fruit quality assessment along the supply chain, in a user-friendly product.

Leaf Protein Co

The Leaf Protein Co. has developed platform-technology to extract leaf protein from any plant source to increase the biodiversity of our plant protein ingredients, enabling farmers to generate revenue from a wider range of crops, both cash and cover crops.

PHNXX

PHNXX’s modular microgrid system provides farmers with mobile and scalable solutions to ensure they have reliable access to clean energy generated through solar and wind systems. Our integrated system includes battery storage to ensure that their energy needs are covered even when there is no sun or wind.

Tie Up Farming

Tie Up Farming is focused on offering data-driven solutions to optimize farming operations and enhance agricultural productivity. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and IoT devices, we aim to address the challenge of making data-driven, timely decisions in the agricultural sector.

Vimana Tech

Vimana employs a unique blend of IoT sensors, smart farm equipment, computer vision, and edge AI processing so Beekeepers can see the real-time health of all their hives, no matter how far away. This solution enables informed, precise and timely on-farm decisions to minimise hive inspections.

Ralo Automation

AgTech startup using vision systems to reduce farm labour

CELLYSIS PTY LTD

CELLYSIS PTY LTD has developed and is commercialising a Food Safety and Shelf-Life extension gas phase technology that targets most perishable food categories from fruit and vegetables through to processed meats.

Hart Bioenergy

Hart Bioenergy designs and builds biogas and related systems to convert organic waste into energy, clean water, biofertilizers and other bioproducts.

Natural Branding Australia

We brand fruit, naturally.

BaleTime

BaleTime provides innovative, easy-to-use monitoring solutions for farmers, optimising hay baling and flood irrigation efficiency.

Platform Zero

Platform zero is a market leading company connecting waste to businesses.

Check Please Pty Ltd

Refining technology to power your pricing data.

TerraLab

Developing the @ STA Logger, Automatic & Efficient Data Logging of Weed Management Activities

HayShepherd

Monitoring for environmental changes in hay sheds.

Founder Programs To Support Agtech Startup Growth

LaunchVic and Agriculture Victoria also fund free business entrepreneurship programs helping Agtech startups test their ideas, find their first customers and access new networks.

An Australian farmer and his worker behind crops and picking produce

INVESTMENT SUPPORT FOR AGTECH STARTUPS

The Hugh Victor McKay Fund provides seed funding to Agtech startups ready to raise venture capital. The fund can invest up to $200,000 and 15% of our contribution goes to the startup as a non-dilutive grant.

Learn more

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