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THRIVE Africa Pitch Event to boost new solutions for global food challenges
Farm Foundation, Purdue University, THRIVE by SVG Ventures partner to help startups put ideas into action
OAK BROOK, Ill. (Oct. 15, 2021) – Innovation is needed to improve agriculture and food systems worldwide, and an effort between Farm Foundation, Purdue University and THRIVE Africa will help startup organizations put creative solutions into action.
Five finalists have been selected to participate in the THRIVE Africa Pitch Event, a collaboration between Farm Foundation, Purdue and THRIVE Africa by SVG Ventures, where applicants present to judges their ideas for how to spark innovation in systems that impact agricultural producers, supply chain actors and marketers throughout the food-system value chain.
“As an accelerator of practical solutions for agriculture, we are delighted to partner with Purdue University and SVG Ventures to accelerate digital solutions through this event,” said Shari Rogge-Fidler, President and CEO of Farm Foundation.
Danny O’Brien, Managing Director of EMEA at SVG Ventures | THRIVE, said “The agri-food value chain is being disrupted around the world, and we’re excited to shine a light on some of the best African startups who’s innovations will create a more sustainable future for all.”
The event will be held October 19 at 9 a.m. Central as part of the Global Agriculture Innovation Forum and is free of charge to attend, but event registration is required at: https://ag.purdue.edu/globalaginnovationforum/.
“We’re very pleased to partner with Farm Foundation and SVG Ventures in highlighting the inspiring stories of African entrepreneurs who are applying advances across the entire agri-food system in innovative ways,” said Peter Hirst, Professor and Assistant Director of International Programs in Agriculture at Purdue University.
There are five finalists for the THRIVE Africa Pitch Event:
Foodlocker supplies farm produce and consumer goods to large buyers by using data science and demand-matching technologies to enable smallholder farmers to produce against certain demand and to upscale their productivity.
Hydroponics Africa’s simplified hydroponic system enables farmers to produce both food crops and livestock fodder without the use of soil.
Mamlaka seeks to eliminate inefficiencies in the supply of fresh produce by leveraging end-to-end technology along the supply chain to ensure better quality produce and better pricing for farmers and consumers.
M-shamba supports smallholder farmers in the production of safe, quality food and matches the supply from the farms with demand from vendors and distributors thus creating a ready market for farmers.
3DIMO provides livestock biometric identification to track and trace health abnormalities in animals using IR imagery and AI.
Judges for the event are
- Danny O’Brien, Managing Director of EMEA at SVG Ventures | THRIVE
- Carin Gerhardt, Director of Corporate Innovation at SVG Ventures | THRIVE
- Kip Tom, Former US Ambassador and farmer
- Steve Coulter, SVP, Koch Agronomic Services
- Ranveer Chandra, Managing Director, Research for Industry, Microsoft
- John McMurdy, VP of Innovation & Development, CropLife International
The THRIVE Africa Pitch Event is part of the Global Agricultural Innovation Forum, a year-long series of themed, virtual events designed to create and support high-level agriculture bioscience and innovation dialogue. This enables a broad range of stakeholders and audiences to share knowledge, innovations, and opportunities related to agriculture and technology. The Forum is the result of a partnership between Purdue University and the Foreign Agricultural Service of USDA. The overarching purpose is to bring science, innovation and transformative solutions to the food system and to help fast-track the process of moving innovations into practice. Special emphasis is placed on innovations of relevance and likely to have significant impact on low and middle income countries.