Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based Founder operating in the Agriculture space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Amol Deshpande
CEO & Co-Founder of Farmers Business Network
Amol is CEO and Co-Founder of the FBN network and has a passion for helping feed the world and helping farmers. Amol has spent the better part of his career in and around agriculture at start-up companies, large companies, such as Cargill, and most recently as a partner at Kleiner Perkins Cau feld & Byers. Amol has a chemical engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Cornell, where he was a Park Fellow.
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About Farmers Business Network: FBN is an AgTech and commerce platform that helps its members make confident decisions to ensure the economic viability of their farms.
Charles Baron
Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer of Farmers Business Network
Charles is Co-Founder & VP of Product of Farmers Business Network (FBN), where he guides the development of the breakthrough farmer-to-farmer network. The FBN network is creating a digital farm economy for its over 21 m acres of member farms. By networking thousands of farms in the US & Canada, the FBN network helps farmers make better agronomic decisions, reduce input costs with e-commerce, and get premium prices for their crops through its global buyer network. Previously, Charles was a program manager at Google where he started and led product, investment and research initiatives in advanced energy technologies. Charles’ passion for farming developed after a working a corn harvest on his brother-in-law’s farm in Arapahoe, Nebraska, prior to joining Google. Charles earned an AB from Dartmouth and an MBA from Harvard with coursework at MIT.
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About Farmers Business Network: FBN is an AgTech and commerce platform that helps its members make confident decisions to ensure the economic viability of their farms.
Jonathan Webb
Founder & CEO of AppHarvest
A Kentucky native and University of Kentucky graduate, Jonathan Webb is turning his dream of a high-tech farming hub in Appalachia into reality with AppHarvest. The company is building some of the largest indoor farms in the world, combining conventional agricultural techniques with today’s technology to grow non-GMO, chemical-free produce to be sold to the top 25 U.S. grocers. The company’s first greenhouse will span 60 acres and open in 2020 in Morehead, Ky.The greenhouse will operate entirely on rainwater using a 10-acre retention pond, reducing water usage by 80% compared to a typical farm. Why locate in Appalachia? Like every Kentuckian, Jonathan grew up knowing of the devastating job losses in the region. His grandmother grew up in Whitley County, where a coal mining accident killed his great-grandfather. Jonathan strives to work alongside the hard-working men and women of Eastern Kentucky and build an inclusive economy for the future. By locating within Appalachia, the company is also less than a day’s drive to more than two-thirds of the U.S. population. That lowers transportation costs by 75%, allowing AppHarvest’s fresher produce to better compete against low-cost foreign imports. Before founding AppHarvest, Jonathan worked with the U.S. Department of Defense on the largest solar project in the Southeastern United States. The project aimed to help achieve an Obama-era goal of ensuring the military’s hundreds of installations develop resilient on-site power generation and receive 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. While living in Washington D.C. developing sustainable energy farms, Jonathan researched another type of farming — the Netherlands and its high-tech greenhouses that in a single acre yield as much as 10 outdoor acres and virtually eliminate the use of chemicals. In February 2018, encouraged by investors, advisors including Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, and politicians of both parties, Jonathan left Washington and came home to Kentucky, where he now works tirelessly to make the eastern part of the state the AgTech capital of America.
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About AppHarvest: AppHarvest is an AgTech company that specializes in the fields of agriculture, farming, and technology.
Carter Malloy
CEO and Founder, Board of Directors of AcreTrader
Carter grew up in an Arkansas farming family, which inspired a lifelong passion for agriculture and conservation. Prior to AcreTrader, he was part of a long/short equity investment firm for 5 years. Before joining in 2013, Carter was a Managing Director with Stephens Inc., a large private investment bank, where he was an equity research analyst focused on the Internet, Data & Analytics and Real Estate Processing sectors. Prior to Stephens, he owned small businesses focused on internet marketing and sustainable fuel technologies. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Physics.
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About AcreTrader: AcreTrader is a technology company connecting investors, land, and farmers.
Caithrin Rintoul
Co-Founder/CEO of Provender
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About Provender: Provender is an online platform that enables farmers to create direct-trade associations with buyers.
Philip Silverman
Founder, CEO of Berkshire Kind
Philip Silverman is the Founder and CEO at Berkshire Kind.
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About Berkshire Kind: Berkshire Kind operates a marijuana cultivation farm intended to offer marijuana.
Michael Steinmetz
Founder and CEO of Flow Cannabis Co.
Michael Steinmetz is the founder and CEO of Flow Kana, California’s largest distributor of sun-grown organic cannabis from small craft farmers. The company aims to transform cannabis into the world’s first fully sustainable agricultural product, advancing a farming ecosystem rooted in transparency, integrity, and shared equity. Originally from Caracas, Steinmetz built and sold a Venezuelan national food marketing and distribution company, and worked as an investment analyst at Merrill Lynch and a data analyst at NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory.
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About Flow Cannabis Co., Sweet Valley, SAS.: Flow Cannabis Co. offers a wide range of California’s top-selling cannabis CPG brands and a series of services
Adam Steinberg
Co-Founder, Business Development & Marketing of Flow Cannabis Co.
Business Development & Marketing
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About Flow Cannabis Co.: Flow Cannabis Co. offers a wide range of California’s top-selling cannabis CPG brands and a series of services
Diego Zimet
Co-Founder, Head of Engineering of Flow Cannabis Co.
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About Flow Cannabis Co.: Flow Cannabis Co. offers a wide range of California’s top-selling cannabis CPG brands and a series of services
Bret Chilcott
Founder of AgEagle Aerial Systems
Bret founded AgEagle in 2013 as a spin off of Kansas State University research project. Prior to founding the Company, Mr. Chilcott held sales and marketing positions with Cessna Aircraft and Cobalt Boats. In addition, he led product Development & Engineering for Snap-on for 12 years.
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About AgEagle Aerial Systems: AgEagle is a technologically advanced aerial imagery-based data collection and analytics solutions.
John Roberts
Founder of Impact Hub Accra
John Roberts is a serial social entrepreneur. He has spent 10 years growing non-profit, hybrid and for-profit models with a focus in sub-Saharan Africa. John is also an expert in online education with regards to the African market. The various ventures he has co-founded have raised over one million dollars in philanthropic and social impact investment capital. John co-founded and ran the Open University of West Africa (OUWA). OUWA worked with institutions like Udacity, Coursera, edX, University of the People and EPFL. OUWA aided these institutions’ online education offerings to penetrate the African market, retain their students, as well as localize learning. OUWA later spun off their campus to become Impact Hub Accra (IHA). John was instrumental in getting IHA off the ground. He helped fundraise when IHA was getting started and helped negotiate key partnerships which have now led to sustainability. John spent 10 years living, studying and working abroad. He speaks fluent French, traveler’s Spanish, and basic Mandarin. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Affairs from the American University of Paris and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore. John has consulted for the University of California at Irvine (on establishing an African focused research institute). John is a Fellow of the Unreasonable Institute and a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum.
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About Impact Hub Accra: Impact Hub Accra is a leading social entrepreneurship and innovation center.
Pradeep Elankumaran
Co-Founder & CEO of Farmstead
Pradeep Elankumaran is the CEO and co-founder of Farmstead, the new AI-powered digital micro-grocer reinventing the supermarket model with technology that sources and delivers local food from farm-to-fridge in 60 minutes.Prior to founding Farmstead, he spent many years building and running design and operations-focused consumer technology products. Notably, Pradeep led mobile video monetization and Livetext at Yahoo, managed the driver growth product team at Lyft and also co-founded a YC-backed mobile photo-sharing product. Pradeep received his BS in Physics & Astronomy from the University of Maryland.
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About Farmstead: Farmstead is an artificial intelligence-powered farm to doorstep grocery delivery startup.
Kevin Li
Co-Founder of Farmstead
Kevin Li is the Co-founder of Farmstead.
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About Farmstead: Farmstead is an artificial intelligence-powered farm to doorstep grocery delivery startup.
Aarti Kochhar Kaji
Co-Founder of Taali Foods
Aarti Kochhar Kaji co-founded Taali Foods in 2017.
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About Taali Foods: Taali Foods is a food company that offers products made from Non GMO, whole, and natural ingredients.
Ashton Braun
Co-Founder & CEO of Silo
Ashton Braun is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Silo.
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About Silo: Silo is a wholesale food marketplace that enables customers to buy and sell produce, protein, dairy, and shelf-stable food quickly.
Antonio Bustamante
Co-Founder and Head of Product & Design of Silo
Antonio Bustamante is the Co-Founder and Head of Product and Design at Silo.
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About Silo: Silo is a wholesale food marketplace that enables customers to buy and sell produce, protein, dairy, and shelf-stable food quickly.
Matt Schwartz
CEO & Co-Founder of Afresh Technologies
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About Afresh Technologies: Afresh is an AI-powered company selling software to track demand and manage orders for fresh produce in grocery stores.
Jorge Heraud
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Blue River Technology
Jorge is the co-founder and CEO of Blue River Technology Inc. (www.bluerivert.com), a start-up company that intends to revolutionize weeding and dramatically reduce chemical use.
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About Blue River Technology: Blue River Technology employs computer vision and robotics technologies to build intelligent solutions for the agricultural industries.
Matthew Wadiak
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cooks Venture
Matthew Wadiak has been pursuing his passion for food for over 20 years. He began his career by cooking for chefs Charlie Trotter and Paul Bertolli and later spent several years sourcing and importing rare ingredients, such as white truffles, for chefs and food companies around the world. In 2004, Matthew founded Cooks’ Venture, a catering and events company. As Executive Chef, he and his team hosted and cooked for culinary events for a wide array of clientele including Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Matthew’s ideals of cooking have always been based on sustainability, local ingredients, and simple yet expertly prepared cuisine. Matthew is a graduate of The Culinary institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and believes that the best food is made at home.
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About Blue Apron, Cooks Venture: Cooks Venture is a vertically integrated agricultural company to operate solely on regenerative agriculture.
Philip Erlanger
Founder & Managing Partner of Pontifax AgTech
Philip Erlanger is co-founder and managing partner at Pontifax AgTech.
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About Pontifax AgTech: Pontifax AgTech is a pioneering growth capital investor in food and agriculture technology.
Chuck Templeton
Founder & Managing Director of S2G Ventures
Chuck Templeton is passionate about early stage and emerging companies, and is focused on using business principles to find solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. He has had the pleasure of being involved with over two-dozen startups as an investor, board member, or advisor, but spends the majority of his time helping impact companies as the Managing Director of Impact Engine. He took his first big step as an entrepreneur in San Francisco when he founded OpenTable, which went public on the NASDAQ in May of 2009 (OPEN). He helped build an industry leading company that changed the way full-service restaurants manage their top-line growth and diners make their dinner reservations. While CEO, he recruited and hired the first management team, obtained and allocated company resources, led the business and product strategy, and carefully crafted a highly dedicated culture. OpenTable is the global leader in restaurant reservations with customers in all 50 states and more than a dozen countries. He used that experience to support the GrubHub team as an Advisor and Director. They grew to be a national leader in providing hungry diners with food delivery and take-out options, while also helping independent restaurants use technology to operate more profitably. Chuck serves as Chairman of the Board for GrubHub and is on the Board of Directors for Getable.com, TaskRabbit, and PVPower. He spent three years serving in the US Army, becoming Ranger and Sniper qualified. Most importantly, he has an amazing wife and two awesome daughters.
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About S2G Ventures, ThinkCERCA: S2G Ventures is a multi-stage venture fund focusing on investments in food and agriculture industries.
Sanjeev Krishnan
Founder, Managing Director & CIO of S2G Ventures
Sanjeev Krishnan is maanaging director and chief information officer at Seed 2 Growth Ventures (S2G).
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About S2G Ventures: S2G Ventures is a multi-stage venture fund focusing on investments in food and agriculture industries.
Adam Smith
Co-Founder, Head of Strategy of Descartes Labs
Adam has 20 years of executive experience in technology, finance, and entrepreneurship. He built and launched his first company (software QA) while in college. He’s worked in management consulting, investment banking, the hedge fund industry, and most recently with two startups in the Education Technology sector. He has a BA from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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About Descartes Labs: Optimizing sustainable sourcing, commodity price forecasting, & mineral exploration through the automated analysis of geospatial data
Barry Brand
Founder and CEO of Brand Farms LLC
Barry Brand is a Dutch-American businessman and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Brand Farms LLC and has been part of an esteemed farming family for eight generations. He moved to the United States in the 1980s and launched BH Flowers with his brother, growing snapdragons. He then moved to Carpinteria, California and became one of the first e-commerce flower shippers. From here, he started a company producing romaine lettuce, which eventually expanded to herbs as well. In more recent years, Brand began growing and selling legal marijuana, starting small with nine plants and growing quickly. His CBD and THC (7:1) anti-seizure oil was sold to create medicine for children with seizures and successfully helped to curb the incidence of seizures. He has also been growing GEM avocados and standard avocados through drip irrigation. Most recently, he has been working with his son, Charlie, to protect wild bees by collecting and placing them hives located around the orchard.
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About Brand Farms LLC: Brand Farms specializes in growing high-density, gem-variety avocados and produces year-round fresh herbs.
Kirk Haney
Founder & Managing Partner of Radicle Growth
Kirk Haney is President and Chief Executive Officer of SGB, Inc. Mr. Haney has a successful track record developing sustainable, for-profit projects, and extensive experience in both established and start-up companies. As President of Green Millennium, he raised over $100M in private equity and successfully built and scaled a sustainable forestry company from start-up to over 100 employees. His role consisted of managing all aspects of the business including strategy, operations, and finance. Green Millennium’s mission is to initiate and manage precious wood reforestation programs in Central America. Thousands of hectares of land that were devastated by years of deforestation have been reclaimed by Green Millennium and returned to their original forested state. Mr. Haney has held senior and executive management positions for 3Com Corporation, ArrowPoint Communications (acquired by Cisco Systems), Cisco Systems and Green Millennium, Ltd. At ArrowPoint, he held general management responsibility for the Western area. In this role, he built and led an organization that grew revenue from $0 to an $80 million run-rate. This was critical for ArrowPoint’s ability to go public in March of 2000 and Cisco’s $5.9 billion acquisition. In addition to leading several of Cisco’s enterprise and advanced technology organizations, he was instrumental in creating Cisco’s global security sales strategy, which resulted in Cisco surpassing $1 billion in security sales. He was also an advisor to Cisco’s Corporate Business Development team on various investment and acquisition candidates. Mr. Haney serves on the board of SGB, is Chairman of the Board of Cloud Break Advisors, Inc., a Latin American investment firm and he is Chairman of the Board of Green Millennium, Ltd., a sustainable forestry company. He is a member of the board of advisors for the Inter-American Dialogue and serves on the Dean’s Leadership Council for the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. He was named one of the Top 50 People in Bioenergy by Biofuels Digest and is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
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About 3Com, ArrowPoint Communications, Cisco, Green Millennium, Radicle Growth, SG Biofuels: Radicle Growth is a San Diego, California based accelerator and venture capital firm focused early-stage ag and food tech startups.
Matthew Stuber
Co-Founder, Director of WaterFX
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About WaterFX: Expanding the availability and reliability of freshwater generation.
Gabe Sibley
Founder & CEO of Verdant Robotics
Gabe Sibley is the Founder & CEO at Verdant Robotics, Inc.
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About University of Colorado Boulder, Verdant Robotics, Zippy.ai: Verdant Robotics manufactures robotics systems; the company’s current platform delivers transformative agricultural services.
Jon Binney
Co-Founder & CTO of Iron Ox
Jon Binney is a Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Iron Ox.
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About Iron Ox: Iron Ox operates autonomous robotic greenhouses that grow every plant at its best from seed to harvest.
Brandon Alexander
Co-Founder & CEO of Iron Ox
Brandon Alexander is the CEO and cofounder of Iron Ox, a company building robotic greenhouses to make premium produce accessible to everyone. Inspired by his family farm and his career in robotics, Brandon sought to find a sustainable approach to feeding the world’s growing population in an industry that’s challenged with a declining labor force and extreme weather conditions. With his cofounder Jon Binney, he traveled all across California to talk with local farmers about the challenges facing the industry and how robotics can provide modern solutions. Brandon has a track record of laying the groundwork for successful robotic deployment. He previously played a key role in Google[x]’s drone delivery program, Project Wing, where he developed the flight mission control software. He has also worked at the robotics think tank Willow Garage.
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About Iron Ox: Iron Ox operates autonomous robotic greenhouses that grow every plant at its best from seed to harvest.
Lucas Mann
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Acre Venture Partners
Lucas Mann is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Acre Venture Partners.
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About Acre Venture Partners: Acre is a venture capital fund investing in the future of food and agriculture
Pablo Schwarzbeck
Founder & CEO of ProducePay
Pablo Schwarzbeck is the Co-Founder and CEO at ProducePay.
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About ProducePay: ProducePay is an agriculture fin-tech start-up providing financing, analytics, and marketplace tools for the fresh produce market.
Al Eisaian
Co-Founder & CEO of IntelinAir
Al Eisaian is the Co-Founder & CEO at IntelinAir.
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About IntelinAir: IntelinAir is an agriculture focused aerial imagery analytics company that delivers actionable intelligence to help farmers make decisions.
Daniel Dolgin
Founder of Eaton Hemp
Daniel Dolgin is a co-owner of JD Farms, one of the most cutting edge, sustainable, and transparent agricultural operations in New York. Dan has made a unique and varied career spanning multiple interests and industries, from farming to national security. In 2016 Dan joined Mark Justh as a principal owner and operator of the farm, comprising 1500 acres of USDA certified organic land in Eaton. NY. Mark purchased the property in 2008, transforming it from a defunct dairy farm to the largest producer of organic hay in NY. Together, they also operate a robust pastured meat operation that gets sold throughout the state via partnerships with Fleishers Craft Butchery and The Piggery. In March 2016, they became the first private farm licensed to grow hemp under New York’s pilot program and have worked closely with state officials to establish hemp as a viable industry for the state. Dan came to farming after a successful career in government having previously worked in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff and then the National Counterterrorism Center, where he managed complex interagency plans designed to achieve specific US policy objectives. Dan received his Masters in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and his BA from the Gallatin School at New York University. He splits his time between New York City and JD Farms in Eaton, NY.
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About Eaton Hemp, JD Farms: Eaton Hemp is a licensed hemp farm that offers its own line of USDA Organic CBD.
Jacqueline Novogratz
Founder & CEO of Acumen
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About Acumen: Acumen is a non-profit venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty.
Marc Oshima
Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer of AeroFarms
Marc co-founded AeroFarms with the intention of making healthy, delicious food more accessible to the urban communities around the world. Marc has an extensive marketing background in retail, brand management, and media with leading companies including Toys R Us, L’Oreal, and Turner Broadcasting. He headed up marketing for The Food Emporium, a supermarket chain in the Northeast and for Citarella gourmet markets, that has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Specialty Food Retailers in the United States. An established leader in marketing, he has developed award-winning marketing campaigns that have been recognized by AdWeek, AdAge, Creativity, AICP, and Webby. Marc is a member of the United Fresh Marketing Merchandising Council and the Marketing Advisory Committee of the Food Bank for NYC. He has a B.A. from Columbia College and a M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
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About AeroFarms: AeroFarms is an urban cleantech company that provides aeroponic growing systems to produce plants without sun or soil.
David Rosenberg
Co-Founder & CEO of AeroFarms
David, a serial entrepreneur, co-founded and leads AeroFarms, a clean-technology company that builds and operates advanced vertical farms in urban environments. AeroFarms has been recognized as a Circular Economy 100 company, won the World Technology Award for most impactful Environmental Company, was voted Most Innovative Company at the Future of Agriculture conference, the Best Growth Company to invest in at the Wall Street Journal’s ECO:nomics conference, and was a finalist for The Circular Awards of The World Economic Forum. David is also the founder of Hycrete, Inc., a nanotechnology cleantech company.
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About AeroFarms: AeroFarms is an urban cleantech company that provides aeroponic growing systems to produce plants without sun or soil.
Michael Guirguis
Founder & CEO of SESO
Michael Guirguis is Co-founder and CEO at SESO.
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About SESO: SESO is a labor marketplace for agriculture.
David Barber
Founder & Managing Partner of Almanac Insights
David is the Founder and Managing Partner of Almanac Insights. He is also a co-owner of Blue Hill–a working farm, restaurant, and consulting company supporting agriculture that positively contributes to the world’s food system. The 138-acre farm in Great Barrington, Massachusetts has been in the Barber family for four generations. Blue Hill restaurant has locations in Greenwich Village and Pocantico Hills, New York. David is a founding partner of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Westchester County. This unique nonprofit advances community and ecologically based food production-demonstrating alternative ways to farm and eat. Stone Barns Center works in association with Blue Hill’s second restaurant located on the campus. Blue Hill (NYC) received the James Beard Outstanding Restaurant Award in 2013. Blue Hill at Stone Barns received the same honor in 2015 and was added to the San Pellegrino World 50 list. David is an early stage investor in the food and hospitality space through Almanac Investments and advisor to S2G Ventures and Acre Investments. He serves on the Board of BlueCart Corp, and is a Trustee for Stone Barns Center, Caramoor Center for the Arts and the Collegiate School in New York City.
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About Almanac Insights, Blue Hill: Almanac Insights is a food and tech venture fund seeking companies making a positive, transformative impact on food systems.
Craig Rupp
Founder/CEO/CTO/Farmer of Sabanto
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About Sabanto: Farming-as-a-Service using low-cost autonomous machines
Brooks J. Kelly
Founder; Director of MycoTechnology
Dr. Kelly began his career as a healer in medical and environmental mycology doing cancer research after earning a PhD studying DNA Repair and the Cell Cycle from Pennsylvania State University’s Dept. of Molecular Biology.
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About MycoTechnology: MycoTechnology utilizes fungi-based food-processing platforms to transform the flavor and value of agricultural products.
James P. Langan
Founder & VP Innovation of MycoTechnology
Jim holds a degree in Chemistry from Hamilton College. Rigorously trained in scientific theory, his knowledge has been critical in the company’s research and development department.
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About MycoTechnology: MycoTechnology utilizes fungi-based food-processing platforms to transform the flavor and value of agricultural products.
Bryton Shang
Founder & CEO of Aquabyte
A graduate of Princeton University, Bryton has led several venture-backed startups. Bryton built deep learning algorithms to diagnose cancer as CTO of HistoWiz, a biotechnology firm. He also co-founded iQ License, a brand licensing platform, and Nikao Investments, an algorithmic trading firm. Bryton enjoys singing a capella and has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.
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About Aquabyte: Aquabyte builds machine learning camera IOT software to directly solve the world’s food sustainability issues
Samuel Jurist
Co-Founder & CEO of SHO Products
Samuel Jurist is the CEO of SHO Products, an international ancillary product distributor for the cannabis industry housing the brands Rosin Tech Products, Dab Nation and Masterminded Distribution.
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About SHO Products: SHO Products is the leading equipment and technology provider in the world for solventless agricultural equipment
James Rogers
Founder & CEO of Apeel Sciences
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About Apeel Sciences, The World Economic Forum: Apeel Sciences develops plant-derived shelf life extension technology for fresh produce that improves quality and reduces food waste.
Sofia Elizondo
Co-Founder and COO of Brightseed
Sofia Elizondo is the Co-founder and COO at Brightseed.
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About Brightseed: Brightseed features artificial intelligence that reveals powerful compounds hidden in nature.
Lee Chae
Co-Founder and CTO of Brightseed
Lee Chae is the Co-founder and CTO at Brightseed.
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About Brightseed: Brightseed features artificial intelligence that reveals powerful compounds hidden in nature.
Daniel Koppel
Co-Founder & CEO of Prospera Technologies
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About Prospera Technologies: Prospera is an agriculture technology data company that develops intelligent solutions.
Dom Savino
Founder of Ferry Farm Capital Management
Dom Savino is a Founding Partner at Ferry Farm Capital Management.
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About Ferry Farm Capital Management: Ferry Farm is an Investment Firm.
Thomas Palomares
Co-Founder and CTO of FarmWise
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About FarmWise: Feeding our World, and our Future.
Thomas Jonas
Co-Founder & CEO of Nature’s Fynd
Thomas Jonas is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Nature’s Fynd.
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About Nature’s Fynd: Nature’s Fynd is a food company that makes nutritional vegan protein from a microbe.
Mark Kozubal
Co-Founder & CSO of Nature’s Fynd
Mark Kozubal is a Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at Nature’s Fynd.
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About Nature’s Fynd: Nature’s Fynd is a food company that makes nutritional vegan protein from a microbe.
Matthew Strongin
Co-Founder & CFO of Nature’s Fynd
Matthew Strongin is a Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer at Nature’s Fynd.
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About Lotic Labs, Nature’s Fynd: Nature’s Fynd is a food company that makes nutritional vegan protein from a microbe.
Bruce Friedrich
Founder and CEO of The Good Food Institute
Bruce Friedrich is co-founder and executive director of The Good Food Institute, a 501(c)(3) that promotes innovative alternatives to industrial animal agriculture, and co-founder of New Crop Capital, a $25 million venture fund that invests in companies that are using food technology to create products that will outcompete the products of factory farming. USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and many other publications spotlight his work. Bruce has presented repeatedly at most of the nation’s top universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. Bruce graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law and Phi Beta Kappa from Grinnell College. He also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics.
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About Clear Current Capital, New Crop Capital, The Good Food Institute: The Good Food Institute focuses on developing sustainable and secure protein supply and supports innovators, investors, and companies.
Ralf Schoenherr
Co-Founder of Neatleaf
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About Neatleaf: Data-driven & autonomous agriculture for yield optimization.
Elmar Mair
Co-Founder of Neatleaf
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About Neatleaf: Data-driven & autonomous agriculture for yield optimization.
Arama Kukutai
Partner & Co-Founder of Finistere Ventures
Arama Kukutai joined Finistere Ventures as Partner & Co-Founder in 2005.As Managing Director, Kukutai is responsible for Finistere Venture’s agricultural technology and green energy portfolio investments and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining Finistere, Kukutai served as Regional Director – North America for the New Zealand government’s trade development agency in North America, establishing multiple pathways for New Zealand businesses to access this key market. Kukutai has had an active career in investment, both in commercial banking at Westpac Banking Corporation, and as a Director of PKW Incorporation, a successful $300 million agribusiness and diversified investment entity involved in agriculture, aquaculture and property development with activities in New Zealand, Asia and Australia. He has served as Chairman of PKW Farms, a large pastoral dairy agribusiness in New Zealand. He currently serves on the boards of Hawaii BioEnergy, LLC, Somark Innovations, Inc. and Tiller Cohen Farms, LP. He is also Chairman of the Larta Institute’s advisory board for the USDA Commercialization program for SBIR grantee companies and has been closely involved in the development of the Ag Innovation Showcase, the leading event for innovation in the Agriculture sector, where he is Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board.
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About Farmer’s Fridge, Finistere Ventures, Growers Edge, PKW Incorporation, Plenty, Westpac: Finistere Ventures is a venture capital firm that seeks investments in the agriculture sector.
Jay Brumfield
Co-Founder and Managing Director of Finistere Ventures
Co-Founder and Managing Director at Finistere Ventures.
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About Finistere Ventures: Finistere Ventures is a venture capital firm that seeks investments in the agriculture sector.
Andrew Ungerleider
Founder of Growstone
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About Earthstone International, Growstone, Xzentreks Art Gallery: Growstone operates to acquire and exploit a series of patents and technical know-how.
Kef Kasdin
Co-Founder & CEO of Proterro
As a general partner of Battelle Ventures and Innovation Valley Partners, Kef focuses on investments in cleantech and communication technologies, working closely on identifying promising technologies, projects and synergies with the National Laboratories that sole limited partner Battelle Memorial Institute manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy around the country. Kef currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Aldis, Inc.; Ampulse Corp.; and Rajant Corp. She also is CEO of Proterro, Inc., and was named among “the top 100 people in bioenergy” for 2011-2012 by Biofuels Digest. Active in the venture community, besides sitting on the NASVF board, she also is a Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania board member, and is a coauthor of Inside the Minds: Green Venture Capital (Aspatore Books, Nov. 1, 2009). Kef has been involved in developing and executing strategy for high-technology companies for more than 20 years, including Sarnoff Corp. and 3Com Corp., where she was the company’s first Executive in Residence, Office of the Chairman. She became a technology-startup consultant in the late 1990s, a venture capitalist in 2000 and a founding member of the management team forming Battelle Ventures in 2003. Kef holds a B.S.E degree in operations research from Princeton University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.
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About Proterro: Proterro is the only biofeedstock company that makes sucrose instead of extracting it from crops
Albert Abedi
Head of Product and Co-Founder of FarmRaise
Albert Abedi is a Co-Founder and Head of Product at FarmRaise. Albert comes to FarmRaise after having spent years gaining experience in software engineering and product management at Microsoft, Amazon, PivotalLabs, and Expanse. Albert’s vision for products that customers love ensures that FarmRaise commitment to farmer obsession will be upheld.
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About FarmRaise: FarmRaise is a digital platform that offers financial resources for farmers and ranchers to make on-farm improvements.
Jayce Hafner
CEO and Co-Founder of FarmRaise
Jayce Hafner is a Co-Founder and CEO at FarmRaise. Jayce grew up on a livestock farm in Virginia and worked for half a decade in environmental policy, lobbying U.S. Congress and organizing civil society delegations to the United Nations. A Fulbright Fellow, Jayce has experience in organic farmland investing and on Apple’s Environment, Policy & Social Initiatives team. She holds an MBA/MS from Stanford.
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About FarmRaise: FarmRaise is a digital platform that offers financial resources for farmers and ranchers to make on-farm improvements.
Sami Tellatin
COO and Co-Founder of FarmRaise
Sami Tellatin is a Co-Founder and COO at FarmRaise. Sami worked at the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education program and the University of Missouri-Extension before enrolling in the joint MBA/MS program at Stanford. Her prior work focused on soil health practice adoption across Midwestern row crop acreage. She has experience working on farms in both Missouri and Costa Rica and for a large agribusiness cooperative.
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About FarmRaise: FarmRaise is a digital platform that offers financial resources for farmers and ranchers to make on-farm improvements.
Pedro Coelho
CEO & Founder of Provivi
Mr. Pedro S. L. Coelho, Ph.D., Co- Founded Provivi, Inc in 2013 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Coelho enrolled at Caltech from 2008 to 2013, where he quickly realized the potential of synthetic biology for chemical synthesis and joined the Arnold laboratory for his graduate studies. During his research at Caltech he discovered and developed biocatalytic olefin cyclopropanation. His work was recognized with the Demetriades and the McCoy prizes for the best PhD thesis in biotechnology and chemistry, respectively. He left Brazil to attend high school in Devon, England. He read chemistry at Magdalen College, Oxford from 2004 to 2008, where he graduated with a first class degree (M. Chem.).
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About Provivi: Provivi develops biopesticides for agriculture, commercial, household, and public health pest management.
Peter Meinhold
Co-Founder & CTO of Provivi
Mr. Peter Meinhold, Ph.D., serves as Chief Technology Officer of Provivi, Inc. Mr. Meinhold was a co-founder and Director of Research at Gevo, Inc. since 2005 until May 2013. He has 12 years of experience in research and development of biotechnology for fuels and chemicals production. For his thesis research, Mr. Meinhold engineered the fatty acid hydroxylating cytochrome P450 BM-3 into an alkane hydroxylating one that accepts substrates as short as ethane. In 2010, he was recognized by MIT’s Technology Review magazine as one of the world’s top innovators. He holds nine issued patents in the U.S. alone with dozens more pending. Mr. Meinhold received his Diploma (equivalent to a B.Sc.) in Biotechnology from the University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan, Germany and a PhD in Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology.
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About Provivi: Provivi develops biopesticides for agriculture, commercial, household, and public health pest management.
Christine Moseley
Founder & CEO of Full Harvest
Christine Moseley, Full Harvest Founder + CEO, is a passionate serial social entrepreneur. At age 17, she started a music education non-profit, which is still growing 14 years later. Currently, at Full Harvest, she is solving the food waste problem at the farm level. Full Harvest is the first institutional B2B platform connecting large farms to food companies to sell surplus and imperfect produce. Christine has over 10 years of experience in the logistics and food industries at both Fortune 100 companies (P&G, Maersk- world’s largest logistics company) as well as high-growth food start-ups. In her last corporate role, she assisted Organic Avenue, a NYC healthy food + juice start-up, double in size as Head of Strategic Projects and Business Development. Christine holds an MBA from Wharton Business School and BA from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill.
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About Full Harvest: Full Harvest is the first B2B marketplace for ugly and surplus produce.
Cory Ondrejka
Co-Founder & CEO of Mori
Cory Ondrejka is the CEO and co-founder of mori, inc. (formerly Overlook Research), a stealth, venture-funded startup in Los Gatos, CA. Prior to mori, Ondrejka led the Mobile Product group at Facebook and was responsible for Facebook’s mobile turnaround and delivering Facebook to over a billion mobile customers worldwide. Ondrejka also led Facebook’s multi-billion dollar acquisition and integration of Oculus VR. Before Facebook, Ondrejka was the co-founder of Walletin, a startup focused on high-performance javascript and Web rendering acquired by Facebook in 2010. He was the Chief Technology Officer of Linden Lab, where he co-created the award-winning virtual world Second Life. He has served as Executive Vice President for Global Digital Marketing at EMI Music, and has been a visiting professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California where he gave classes on online communities. Ondrejka began his career in game development startups, shipping arcade and console video game titles. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in Weapons and Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and was an officer in the US Navy. Ondrejka also advises several early-state technology companies.
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About Mori: Mori is a branded food company with quality products.
Igino Cafiero
Founder, CEO of Bear Flag Robotics
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About Bear Flag Robotics: Bear Flag Robotics is an AgTech company developing autonomous technology for farm tractors to increase productivity and improve safety.
Aubrey Donnellan
Founder of Bear Flag Robotics
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About Bear Flag Robotics: Bear Flag Robotics is an AgTech company developing autonomous technology for farm tractors to increase productivity and improve safety.
Jason Coleman
Co-Founder | CEO of Yarden
Founder of PowerPlay.
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About Yarden: Yarden designs, installs, and maintains vegetable gardens
Samuel Bertram
CEO and Co-Founder of OnePointOne
Robotics Engineer
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About OnePointOne: OPO has developed a fully automated vertical farming system to improve the health of humanity through plant-based foods and medicines.
Todd Kaplan
CEO and Founder of Vertical Companies
Todd leads the Vertical team with 35+ years’ experience in healthcare services under his belt. He became involved in Cannabis five years ago after learning about the industry at a YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) function. He has been a long time active member of YPO, having served on several national and international boards and chairing events around the world.
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About Vertical Companies: Vertical Companies introduces an entirely new perspective on the global cannabis market.
Ruchit Garg
Founder & CEO of Harvesting Inc
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About Harvesting Inc, Shobhit University: Connecting finance with farmers
Marcus Urann
Founder of Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.
Lawyer and cranberry farmer Marcus L. Urann developed a recipe for a cranberry sauce that could be prepared in very large batches and canned, and organized the Ocean Spray Preserving Company to sell it beginning in 1912. Sales of the cranberry sauce greatly increased the market for the fruit, and in 1930 he engineered a merger with his two main competitors to form Cranberry Canners Inc., a cooperative that soon came to include cranberry growers in Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. The co-op was renamed National Cranberry Association in 1946, and after Urann’s retirement in 1955 it was renamed again to reflect its best-selling product, becoming Ocean Spray Cranberries. Urann, who died in 1963, also founded the honor society Phi Kappa Phi while he was an undergraduate at the University of Maine in 1897.
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About Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.: Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. is a group of people who harvest cranberries and grapefruit, and use them to create final products.
Philip Seifi
Co-Founder & CEO of Pona
Philip draws on his interdisciplinary background to align design, technology and business objectives. He also lends his time to Harvard Alumni for Global Development and has mentored entrepreneurs at UNDP, Techstars and startup events around the world.
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About Colabra, Pona: We connect families through food.
Ollie Capehorn
Co-Founder of Pona
Founder of Edulift.
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About Pona: We connect families through food.
H. David meyers
Chairman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AgriSmart
H. David Meyers, is an entrepreneur, attorney and businessman with many diverse talents. After graduating from the University of Miami, he earned his J.D. degree at George Washington University Law School. As an innovative and successful industrialist, he has created, developed and prospered in several companies that have been listed on the NYSE. He was chairman of the board for TimeSaver/Mastercard and Visa. Meyers is also a world-renowned oboist, performing extensively throughout America to critical acclaim in virtually every major concert venue, from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Kennedy Center, performing with the New York City Symphony Orchestra, New York City Center Opera, Miami Philharmonic, and the Virginia Chamber Orchestra to respectively name a few. H.David is a strong supporter with deep passion for the Wounded Warrior Trust Programs, thus beginning his own non-profit organizational branch as founder and Executive Director of Beethoven Found for Wounded Warriors.
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About AgriSmart: AgriSmart develops a sustainable agriculture technology designed to cultivate crops and other food products.
Anthony Zografos
Founder & CEO of Akorn Technology
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About Akorn Technology: Akorn uses upcycled, non-GMO corn by-products to manufacture edible coatings that makes the shelf life of fresh produce last.
Vincent Kimura
Lead Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Smart Yields
Vincent Kimura is lead founder and CEO of Smart Yields, a mobile and desktop app that is revolutionizing farming for both small- to medium-scale farms. Smart Yields uses sensors to analyze, predict, and alert farmers of environmental conditions to allow for greater crop protection and to increase yields. Vincent leads the strategic growth, gets his jeans dirty with future farm holder clients then switches mid-day to his business attire to pitch investors on Smart Yields’ vision. Prior to the launch of Smart Yields in October 2015, Kimura served for nearly a decade as the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Inovi Green, a company that helps businesses and organizations implement environmental strategies and innovations through clean energy and sustainable technology solutions. With more than 15 years of experience throughout the Asia-Pacific region, Kimura provides public and private entities with strategic sustainability management and tech consulting programs, and business development. A well-respected expert in sustainable solutions and innovations, Kimura received the 2016 Hawaii Venture Capital Association award for Clean Tech/Ag Entrepreneur of the year, the 2014 Commitment to Green Award from Pacific Edge Magazine, and was honored as one of Pacific Business News’ Forty Under Forty Class of 2016. In 2014, Inovi Green also won the Global Agriculture Innovation Challenge with its soil microbe’s project submission at the Asia Pacific Resilience Innovation Summit. Kimura is well-versed in a variety of industries including energy and environment, farming and agribusiness, non-profit, academia, IT, and government. Prior to founding Inovi Green, Kimura served as the Asia-Pacific Initiative Manager for The Institute for Triple Helix Innovation in Beijing and the Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the Pacific Basin Economic Council. He also held various management and consulting positions at BearingPoint and KPMG Consulting. Currently, Kimura serves on the Oregon State University Board of Advisors for the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and co-leads Thunderbird Global School of Management’s Hawaii Alumni Chapter. He is involved with several local organizations, including mentoring and judging the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Shidler College’s PACE Business Plan Competition, Hawaii STEM Week Awards and the annual Design Thinking Hawaii Stanford Design School Bootcamp. Born in Honolulu and raised in both Hawaii and Asia, Kimura holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from Oregon State University, an M.B.A. from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and certifications in HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and Government Cost Accounting from George Washington University, and SQF Practitioner (Food Safety Scheme) GFSI. Kimura currently lives in Honolulu, Hawaii with his wife Lisa and their three children.
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About Inovi Green, Smart Yields: Founded in 2015, Smart Yields connects farmers, researchers and their communities through real-time analytics from connected sensors.
Gonzalo Fuenzalida
Co-Founder and CEO of Andes
Gonzalo Fuenzalida is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Andes.
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About Andes: Andes empowers biology to enable positive action against climate change.
Shen Tong
Founder, Managing Partner of FoodFutureCo
Shen Tong is the Founder, Managing Partner of FoodFutureCo.
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About Food Future Fund, FoodFutureCo, sparks & honey: FoodFutureCo is the scale-up accelerator for established, purpose-driven food businesses.
Itai Kanot
COO & Co-Founder of BeeHero
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About BeeHero: BeeHero is a developer of beehive technology platform intended to maximize crop yields through pollination.
Aidan Mouat
CEO & Co-Founder of Hazel Technologies
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About Hazel Technologies: Hazel Technologies develops biotechnology for reducing waste in the agricultural supply chain.
Brian Dawson
Founder & CEO of HarvestPort
Brian P. Dawson is the Founding Partner of HPC, an AgTech-focused venture capital fund, the Founder and CEO of HarvestPort, a shared economy platform for seasonally used agriculture assets, and is the Executive Chairman of Full Cycle Bioplastics, a biotechnology company with a proprietary process to convert food and agricultural waste into biodegradable plastic. Mr. Dawson has an extensive entrepreneurial background encompassing agriculture, logistics, sustainable materials, and energy.In 2009 he co-founded Palogix International USA, now the largest renter of recyclable bins, totes, and harvesting containers to the agriculture industry in the United States. As the client-facing partner at Palogix. Mr. Dawson innovated the company’s aggregate pooling program, which allowed agribusinesses to monetize capitally intensive supply chain assets off-season. In 1998 Mr. Dawson co-founded PetroCal Incorporated, an energy company focused on increasing the production of mature oil and gas fields utilizing modern technology. Mr. Dawson is a graduate of Columbia University, and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.
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About Fifth Season Ventures, HarvestPort: HarvestPort is an innovation hub and marketplace for agricultural resources.
Timothy Koide
Founder of HarvestPort
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About HarvestPort: HarvestPort is an innovation hub and marketplace for agricultural resources.
Michael Hogan
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of PathogenDx
Michael Hogan, a cofounder of GenVault, has 27 years experience in the area of physical biochemistry. Michael Hogan has founded and co-founded five additional companies in the biotechnology and biopharma arena including Triplex Pharmaceutical (antisense and antigene oligonucleotide technology) and Genometrix (DNA microarray services & technology). He has published extensively and is a co-author of numerous patents and patent applications in the area of DNA based technologies for pharmaceutical discovery and genetic analysis. Michael Hogan previously held faculty positions at Princeton University and at Baylor College of Medicine and currently holds a faculty position at the University of Arizona. He is the inventor of 11 issued patents in DNA chips and therapeutics. Michael Hogan holds a B.S. in biology from Dartmouth College, a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University and received post-doctoral training at Stanford University.
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About Genomics USA, GenVault, PathogenDx: Arizona-based PathogenDx creates testing solutions that rapidly identify bacterial, fungal and viral threats—helping save money and lives.
Eric Lachance
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer of PathogenDx
Eric Lachance has 25+ years leading programs and companies. Recently, Eric served as COO for Metris LLC, a startup, and as a leadership/contracts consultant for multiple organizations serving both corporations and Federal and Local governments. Eric has extensive experience in organizational structure, contracts, negotiations, business strategy, business development, and supply chain management.
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About PathogenDx: Arizona-based PathogenDx creates testing solutions that rapidly identify bacterial, fungal and viral threats—helping save money and lives.
Ross Baird
Co-Founder of VilCap Investments
Ross developed the Village Capital concept in 2009, and has led the development of programs worldwide. Before launching Village Capital, he worked with First Light Ventures, a seed fund focused on impact investments. Prior to First Light, Ross worked on the development of four education-related start-up ventures: the Indian School Finance Company in Hyderabad, India, the National College Advising Corps in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and two ventures using technology to promote civic participation. He has a MPhil from the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a BA from the University of Virginia, where he was a Truman Scholar and a Jefferson Scholar. Contact: ross@vilcap.com
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About VilCap Investments, Village Capital: VilCap Investments deploys critical risk capital to early-stage companies peer-selected from Village Capital accelerator programs.
Denver Kitch
Founder and CEO of Stability Cannabis
Former professional baseball player Denver Kitch serves as chief executive officer of Stability Cannabis, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK.
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About Stability Cannabis: Stability Cannabis is an award winning medical marijuana and cannabis cultivator, processor and retailer.
Eric Haley
Co-Founder & Chief Financial Officer of Gotham Greens
Eric co-founded Gotham Greens in 2009 and oversees all financial operations as CFO. He has over 10 years of experience in finance specializing in M&A, capital raising, and strategic consulting. Prior to Gotham Greens, Eric spent time at Corporate Fuel Partners, a Manhattan-based investment bank and private equity fund and JP Morgan Chase. Eric earned his M.B.A from the University of Notre Dame and a B.S. from the University of Wyoming where he played Division I football. When Eric isn’t seeking the next great restaurant or hunting for the finest ingredients for his own kitchen, he can be found spending time with his family and dog, Beatrice.
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About Gotham Greens: Gotham Greens designs, builds, and operates commercial scale greenhouse facilities for fresh vegetable production.
Viraj Puri
Co-Founder and CEO of Gotham Greens
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About Gotham Greens: Gotham Greens designs, builds, and operates commercial scale greenhouse facilities for fresh vegetable production.
David Weitz
Co-Founder of Calyxia
David is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics & Applied Physics at Harvard University, where he is also the director of the Harvard Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and the co-director of the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard. David received his PhD from Harvard University in 1978 before joining Exxon Research and Engineering Company, where he worked for nearly 18 years. He then became a professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1995, followed by Harvard in 1999. David is also a co-founder of Raindance Technologies, GnuBio, Capsum, HiFiBio, BioMillenia, 1Cell-Bio, Spherebio, NextGen Forensic Sciences, TCRx and Dragon Drop Inn. In addition, he is a celebrated member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States.
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About Calyxia: Calyxia designs and industrially produces a new class of microcapsules that are transforming the way the world makes formulated products.
John Hartnett
CEO & Founder of SVG Ventures
Hartnett is a senior technology executive & investor based in Silicon Valley, California and a native of Limerick, Ireland. He is founder & CEO of SVG Partners LLC, a Silicon Valley Investment & Advisory firm. He is also founder and president of the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG), a network of global Irish technology leaders who’s main focus is to foster the links between Ireland and Silicon Valley in the areas of Innovation, Investment, Education & Entrepreneurship. Mr. Hartnett has over 25 years of executive level experience leading global sales, marketing, and operations. Previously he was Chief Executive Officer at G24 Innovations, a leading thin film solar company. He held the position of Senior Vice President of Global Markets at Palm, Inc., (Nasdaq: PALM), where he was responsible for worldwide sales, service and support. At Metacreations, (Nasdaq: MCRE), he was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing & Operations. He has also held senior management positions at Claris/Apple, Teradata, Digital Equipment (DEC) and Wang computers. Hartnett was recently appointed as independent non-executive director to the board of Aer Lingus, He also currently serves on the board of University of Limerick Foundation and as Executive Chairman of Daybreak Information Technologies, Chairman of Sisaf Ltd and director of Mcor Technologies. He served on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Northern Ireland Working Committee 2009 – 2011 and is currently leading the Global Diaspora innovation initiative with the US State Department. He is a member of the Irish Government’s Global Irish Network advisory group and the Global Irish Economic Forum. Hartnett is a graduate of the Marketing Institute of Ireland and holds a post-graduate diploma in Finance from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He has completed the executive management program at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.
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About SVG Ventures: SVG Ventures|THRIVE is an investment firm that invests in early-stage ag-tech and food tech companies.
Octavio Gutierrez
Co-Founder & Chief Development Officer of urban-gro, Inc.
Mr. Arias de la Parra Octavio Gutierrez, also known as Tavo, is Co-Founder of urban-gro, Inc. and has been its Chief Development Officer since August 03, 2017. Mr. Gutierrez serves as Secretary and Director of urban-gro, Inc. He leads the engineering and product development teams in the research and development, product design and engineering, and deployment of new products. With over 15 years of experience in the lighting industry, in addition to ensuring that the products that the company distributes are manufactured to the highest level of quality, Mr. Gutierrez’s passion for creating new products has led to the addition of multiple new offerings. He holds a Bachelor Degree in International Business.
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About urban-gro, Inc.: urban-gro provides integrated architectural, engineering & cultivation systems integration for Controlled Environment Agriculture facilities
Adam Wolf
Founder & Chief Scientist of Arable
Founder and CEO Arable • Postdoc @Princeton University • PhD @Stanford • NASA Fellow • US State Dept Fellow (Russia) • Agronomy @UCDavis
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About Arable: Arable is a developer of a software for agriculture that helps digitize and optimize decisions from seed breeding to food production.
Ben Siegfried
Co-Founder of Arable
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About Arable: Arable is a developer of a software for agriculture that helps digitize and optimize decisions from seed breeding to food production.
Kelly Caylor
Director, Co-Founder of Arable
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About Arable: Arable is a developer of a software for agriculture that helps digitize and optimize decisions from seed breeding to food production.
Rory Aronson
Founder of FarmBot
Rory Aronson is the CEO at FarmBot Inc.
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About FarmBot, OpenFarm: FarmBot is a design and engineer & hardware kits and software services.
Peter Grubstein
Managing Director & Founder of NGEN Partners
Peter Grubstein is a founder and Managing Director of NGEN Partners. Peter has over 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur, operating executive, venture and financial investor. He founded NGEN in 2001 out of a deep conviction that resource scarcity and energy efficiency would be drivers of technology innovation in the 21st century; and that those innovations could be built into successful portfolio companies addressing environmental challenges that we face today. He has grown the firm from one of the earliest to invest in clean technologies, to a three-fund family with over $500 million under management. Prior to NGEN, Mr. Grubstein made diverse private investments, ranging from leveraged buyouts and leveraged recapitalizations to early venture investments in materials science. Peter has had successful investment exits in Renaissance Lighting, Textronics, U.S. Labs, AnaServe, Carolina Steel, Premiere Video and Kenfil. He gained early career experience as an executive in a global manufacturing firm, working in Germany as well as the United States. Mr. Grubstein is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Renewable Funding, eIQ Energy and Hycrete. He maintains a close relationship with the Materials Science Department at UC Santa Barbara, and was instrumental in bringing Nobel Prize winner Alan J. Heeger and other noted scientists as Venture Partners to NGEN. Grubstein is a graduate of Yale University and the Phillips Exeter Academy. He is an avid outdoorsman, and maintains homes in California and Connecticut.
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About NGEN Partners: NGEN Partners is an active venture investor committed to backing world class entrepreneurs.
Peter Sand
Founder of Modular Science
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About Modular Science: Modular Science aims to automate ninety nine percent of the processes involved in vegetable farming with modular machines for agriculture.
Jeff Dangl
Co-Founder of AgBiome
Jeff Dangl is currently John N. Couch Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as an HHMI investigator. Dangl earned his BAS in Biological Sciences and English (Modern Literature), MS in Biological Sciences, and Ph.D. in Genetics from Stanford University. As a graduate student at Stanford, Dangl studied antibody structure-function correlates of chimeric monoclonal antibodies in mice, earning his degree in genetics and immunology. Those fields fueled his scientific curiosity when he moved to the Max Planck Institute in Cologne, Germany, on a National Science Foundation postdoctoral program aimed at attracting scientists trained outside the field of plant molecular biology to move into it. During nine years in Germany, including six as a group leader at the Max Delbrück Laboratory, he developed Arabidopsis into a model for studying plant–pathogen defense.
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About AgBiome: AgBiome discovers and develops innovative biological and trait products for crop protection.
Paul Schulze-Lefert
Co-Founder of AgBiome
Paul Schulze-Lefert, born in 1958 in Münster, was trained in biochemistry and genetics at Marburg, Freiburg, and Cologne Universities, Germany. After a Ph.D. thesis on light regulation in plants, he became interested in molecular processes underlying plant-microbe interactions. Major research areas are the innate immune system of plants, mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis, and the plant microbiota. He worked from 1989 to 1990 as postdoctoral fellow on the development of DNA marker technologies in plant genomes. In 1991 he started his own research group at the RWTH Aachen, Germany, with a focus on plant disease resistance mechanisms to fungal pathogens. From 1995 to 2000 he held a senior research position on plant innate immunity in the Sainsbury Laboratory at the John Innes Centre, England. Since 2000 he is Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, and since 2003 Professor at Cologne University.
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About AgBiome: AgBiome discovers and develops innovative biological and trait products for crop protection.
