AgFunder has opened their Third Annual AgFunder AgriFood Tech Innovation Awards, where they recognize the innovators and entrepreneurs driving the agrifood tech sector forward. Their nomination committee of experienced agrifood tech investors has selected a shortlist of startups for you–their network of 60,000+ subscribers–to vote on. The winners will be exclusively announced at the ReThink Agri-Food Innovation Week in San Francisco on March 20 at a special networking evening bridging the World Agri-Tech and the Future Food-Tech Summits.

Voting will close at 5 pm PT on February 28. Vote Here!

Included in the list of nominees are two AgriNovus Indiana partners: Solinftec, a new Indiana agbioscience company that developed an IoT farm operating system and THRIVE AgTech, an agrifood tech accelerator program that recently expanded to the Midwest to focus on animal health and support agriculture advancements. Solinftec is nominated for the “Most Innovative International Startup Series A and Beyond” and THRIVE is nominated for “Most valuable agrifood tech accelerator program.”

Click here to vote before February 28 and make your voice heard!

Here are the rest of the shortlisted candidates:

Farm Tech

Most Innovative US Startup Pre-Series A

1. Aker Technologies – regional and in-field pest & crop diagnostics
2. Augean Robotics – a collaborative robot that can follow you
3. Bear Flag Robotics – autonomous technology for farms
4. FieldIn – smart spray & harvest management for agriculture
5. Row7 – a seed company built by chefs and breeders

Most Innovative US Startup Series A and Beyond

1. Benson Hill Biosystems – computational crop trait discovery and gene editing for ag platform
2. Crop Enhancement – crop coating pest protection technology
3. Indigo – microbial crop inputs-cum-grain marketplace
4. Sentera – field sensor and AI technology startup
5. Sound Agriculture – sustainable crop technology using plant phenotyping, molecular biology and deep learning

Most Innovative International Startup Pre-Series A

1. RootWave (UK) – herbicide alternative using electricity
2. Seed-X (Israel) – machine vision technology to revolutionize seed breeding and production cycles.
3. Small Robot Company (UK) – robots to seed and care for individuals plants in a crop
4. Tarfin (Turkey) – fintech for farmers, and investors
5. WeedOUT (Israel) – exploiting sterility against resistant weeds

Supply Chain Tech

Most Innovative US Startup Pre-Series A

1. Athena Intelligence – uses satellite imagery, it automates compliance and sustainability reporting
2. Aromyx – a platform for the digital capture of scent and taste
3. Brightseed – discovers plant-based nutritional bioactives from commodity crops for everyday food products
4. Cambridge Crops – natural and edible solutions for extending freshness
5. SnapDNA – next generation DNA detection platform for food safety, traceability, and provenance

Most Innovative US Startup Series A and Beyond

1. FoodLogiQ – food safety and traceability software
2. Full Harvest – a B2B marketplace focused on reducing food waste
3. Hazel Technologies – food packaging inserts to extend shelf-life of produce
4. Phylagen – provides technology that monitors, maps, and manages microbiomes
5. Sustainable Bioproducts – a biotechnology company developing a new way to grow edible protein

Most Innovative International Startup Pre-Series A

1. AgreeMarket (Argentina) – the first global agri commodities marketplace
2. AgNext Technologies (India) – agrifood supply chain sensor technology
3. Amai Proteins (Israel) – a computational protein design biotech firm aimed at the food market
4. Escavox (Australia) – location and temperature tracking for the food supply chain
5. Inno-3B (Canada) – vertical farming systems developer

Most Innovative International Startup Series A and Beyond

1. CargoX (Brazil) – fleet optimization technology for freight companies
2. DeHaat (India) – agribusiness marketplace, connecting farmers with corporate buyers
3. IntelloLabs (India) – computer vision technology for farmers, traders, millers, retailers and consumers to communicate on product quality, infestation, plant health and more
4. Novolyze (France) – microorganisms to improve food safety validation
5. Nuritas (Ireland) – identifies peptides that have health benefits for food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and supplement ingredients

Retail & Consumer

Most Innovative US Startup Pre-Series A

1. Berkeley Brewing Science – engineering brewer’s yeast to do incredible things
2. Finless Foods – cultured fish developer
3. Planetarians– upcycling by-products into alternative protein at the price of flour
4. Prime Roots (formerly Terramino Foods) – fungi-based seafood and meat protein alternatives

Most Innovative US Startup Series A and Beyond

1. CafeX – robotic coffee bars
2. Impossible Foods – plant-based burger that bleeds
3. Label Insight – product transparency for retailers through cloud-based data engine
4. Ripple Foods – plant-based dairy products
5. Zume Pizza – robotic pizza delivery restaurant

Most Innovative International Startup Pre-Series A

1. Alchemy FoodTech (Singapore) – diabetes-fighting food ingredient
2. Aleph Farms (Israel) – cell-grown meat that resembles free-range meat
3. Farmy (Canada) – customized home gardening systems
4. Future Meat Technologies (Israel) – cell cultured meat
5. Mimica Lab (UK) – innovative milk labeling technology

Most Innovative International Startup Series A and Beyond

1. InFarm – vertical farming for retailers
2. Mosa Meat (Holland) – cell cultured meat
3. NotCo (Chile) – plant-based, animal-free food products
4. Simple Feast (Denmark) – organic food delivery
5. Ukko (Israel) – immunology, computational biology, and plant science to combat food allergies

Last year, AgFunder awarded 12 startups in 12 categories across Farm Tech, Supply Chain, and Retail & Consumer Innovation. Since then those winners have raised over $420 million, including a $114 million bridge round for Impossible Foods and a $13 million Series A for Trace Genomics, which AgFunder went on to invest in. This year, they’re following the same process as last, whereby they ask you to vote for the winner in each category. This shortlist was nominated by this year’s awards committee, a who’s who of agrifood tech venture capital.

The selection committee includes:

• Andrew Chung from 1955 Capital, the ex-Khosla exec’s venture fund focused on developing nation challenges.
• Dan Phillips from the most established agrifood tech-focused venture capital firm Cultivian Sandbox Ventures
• Niccolo Manzoni from European food tech VC Five Seasons Ventures
• Brian Mixer from early-stage tech investor Middleland Capital with a significant food and agriculture portfolio
• Gil Demeter from one of very few dedicated growth stage investors in agrifood tech Pontifax Agtech
• Sanjeev Krishnan from agrifood tech’s largest venture firm by AUM S2G Ventures
• Camila Petignat from the Argentina office of agtech accelerator group The Yield Lab

Click here to vote before February 28 and make your voice heard!