Victoria invests $1.3 million in AgTech growth

The Victorian government is attempting to stimulate the burgeoning agricultural tech sector with $1.3 million investment including the creation of the first dedicated angel investor group and grants for emerging entrepreneurs.

LaunchVic, the Victorian government’s startup arm is currently offering grants of $50,000 to 20 emerging AgTech entrepreneurs.

The startup fund's chief executive Dr Kate Cornick said these initiatives would supply equity-free working capital to Victorian AgTech innovators to fuel the next phase of growth.

As part of LaunchVic’s long term strategy to catalyse more early-stage investment in the sector, $300,000 has been allocated for investors to establish a dedicated AgTech angel network, the first of its kind in Victoria.

These latest initiatives provide post-accelerator support and are part of a $2.6 million commitment from Agriculture Victoria to 2024, with further initiatives to come later this year. 

The angel network is tasked to deploy crucial early capital to founders and provide a valuable network of mentors, talent and potential customers.

A group of Victorian startup advisors are also on board to provide mentoring and business development advice to grant recipients, with $5,000 of the grant directed to advisory and the remainder provided as an equity-free grant.

“With one of the world’s most modern and productive agricultural systems, Victoria is well placed to lead Australia as a powerhouse for AgTech innovation and entrepreneurship,” minister for agriculture Gayle Tierney said.

Victorian institutions such as Monash University are strongly tied to AgTech research.

A new study from Monash uses AI to track bees’ movement to help improve pollination and crop yield.

Researchers will be collaborating and working with the Australian Blueberry Growers Association, Costa Group’s berries division, CSIRO, Western Sydney University and University of New England.

The team is also exploring links to European insects via collaborations with the University of Trento, Italy and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research.  

The global AgTech market value is set to triple in size by 2026, with a forecast surge in growth from US$12.4 billion in 2020 to US$34.1 billion by 2026 according to BIS Research.

Currently, the US AgTech market is largest globally, valued at US$5.2 billion in 2021 and forecast to grow to US$14.3 billion by 2025 according to Juniper Research.

A recent LaunchVic report revealed that Victorian Angels are the second most active investors after VCs by number of rounds with a 2.3x increase since 2016 .

Since 2016 LaunchVic has funded the creation of nine new angel groups in Victoria.

The Victorian startup sector has accelerated from A$2.21 billion in 2018, $7 billion in 2020, $10.5 billion in 2021 to $23.6 billion in 2022, according to LaunchVic.