Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Today marks the kick-off of a three-week sprint by seven start-ups in the latest edition of the “AgLaunch Virtual Bootcamp.”

Hosted by Memphis-based AgLaunch and three East Tennessee entrepreneurial support organizations – Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC), Sync Space (Kingsport) and The Biz Foundry (Cookeville), the seven participants will receive instruction on agricultural markets and the framework for organizing and communicating their ideas. They will also have access to best-in-class investors and mentors and the chance to apply for the “AgLaunch365 Accelerator.”

The “AgLaunch Virtual Bootcamp” programming will be offered from 1 to 3:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons starting today and ending July 22. Then, from 7 to 9 p.m. EDT/6 to 8 p.m. CDT on July 27, the teams will be unveiled to the public in a virtual pitch event. Those interested in learning more about the seven can register to attend the event at this link.

AgLaunch and KEC are partners in managing the agriculturally-focused mentor network, one of four funded by Launch Tennessee. They, along with Sync Space and The Biz Foundry, are part of Launch’s statewide network.

“I’m excited about the cohort we have this year; we’ve got a great mix of promising technologies and a talented group of founders,” said Jim Biggs, KEC Executive Director.  “Building on the long-standing partnership between AgLaunch, KEC, Sync Space and The Biz Foundry, our Bootcamp allows us to introduce these start-ups to a wide variety of resources and expertise. I’m looking forward to seeing the progress the companies make during the three-week program.”

This year’s teams include:

• Agreed which is accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture by taking the experimentation out of optimization through gamified digital twins. Agreed maps farmers to CPG brands to increase farmer profitability and guarantee sourcing for sustainability-marketed products.
• Agriwater Corp which is addressing environmental sustainability for farmers by monetizing off-grid wastewater treatment and pollution control.
• GrowinLocal that is a platform empowering and enabling users from all socio-economic backgrounds to grow, purchase and exchange locally grown produce, meats and house-hold necessities in a hyper local virtual marketplace.
• Hempitecture which manufactures and distributes hemp-based building materials including their batt insulation product, HempWool^®. These materials are safer, easier to use, and have a lower embodied carbon footprint than conventional building products.
• Innatrix that is developing eco-friendly biological products to control critical crop diseases, using a patented protein evolution platform.
• Open Agriculture Systems & Integrated Supply, Oasis for short, which is an accessible, open-source platform for precision agriculture and industrial automation.
• Susterre that is pioneering the use of ultra-high pressure fluid jet technology for row crop planting and seeding applications. The start-up’s technology promotes the adoption of no-till farming and cover crops, lowering the cost of farming while improving soil quality and preserving the earth’s natural resources.

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