Available Funding
NOW OPEN - FTW VENTURES - 2020 INNOVATOR FELLOW (DUE August 14, 2020)
FTW Ventures is an early-stage venture fund investing in breakthrough hardware, software, and biotech and novel products for the worldwide food system. The fund seeks out exceptional startups leveraging responsible science and technology to improve the quality, access, and enjoyment of food. They advise founders along their entire startup journey- through fundraising, developing the initial product strategy, building their go-to-market plan, business development connections, and providing guidance on effective marketing.
FTW Ventures was founded by Brian Frank, a serial entrepreneur turned venture investor with prior operating and investing experience in the technology and food-tech sectors. In addition to serving as the General Partner of FTW, Brian also is the Food & Ag Tech Network Leader for Village Global, and a mentor to various accelerators and VC firms such as Techstars Farm-to-Fork Accelerator, the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, the World Food Programme, and AB InBev 100+ Sustainability Accelerator.
Applications are DUE Friday, August 14, 2020 – OR UNTIL FILLED. Click here to find out more.
NOW OPEN- RADICLE GROWTH - 2020 INNOVATOR FELLOW (DUE August 14, 2020)
Radicle Growth is an acceleration fund that applies a proprietary platform to discover and support emerging technologies in food and agriculture. They partner with entrepreneurs to turn ideas into game-changing technologies and thriving businesses. Radicle Growth provides early-stage companies with innovation capital, and surrounds start-ups with a robust global food and ag network of resources, partners and research institutions. Through additional operational services and strategic partnerships, food and ag tech companies gain the power to bring the latest technologies to market and transform the future of food.
Applications DUE Friday, August 14, 2020 – OR UNTIL FILLED. Click here to find out more.
Under Review - TECHACCEL - 2020 INNOVATOR FELLOW
TechAccel LLC was founded in 2014 as a first-of-its-kind technology and venture development organization in the agriculture, animal health & nutrition, and food technology sectors.
TechAccel sources, invests in and acquires early-stage innovations. Through collaborations with dozens of universities and research institutions, TechAccel conducts science advancement and de-risking research and development to ready technologies for commercialization. TechAccel is based in the greater Kansas City area and has offices in St. Louis at the Danforth Center for Plant Science.
Applications are due May 15, 2020 – or until filled. Click here to learn more.
Under Review - BETTER VENTURES - 2020 INNOVATOR FELLOW
Better Ventures is an Oakland venture capital firm that provides funding and support to companies creating scalable solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges, including re-tooling for a sustainable economy, tackling data-driven health care, and enabling an adaptive workforce. They invest in software, data science, and life sciences startups to deliver profitably and progressively toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Better Ventures believes that mission-driven companies will outperform the market. They back pre-seed stage startups and founders who leverage breakthrough innovations in science and technology to build a more sustainable and equitable economy in which both people and planet thrive.
Applications are due May 15, 2020 – or until filled. Click here to learn more.
Closed - THE MARCH FUND - 2019 INNOVATOR FELLOW
The March Fund is an early-late stage venture capital fund committed to supporting and investing in entrepreneurs and companies developing transformative biotechnologies, machine intelligence, and sustainable nutrition solutions for the evolving consumer landscape and agriculture-food supply chain. They aim to accelerate the emergence of Food 3.0 on a global scale, and create a healthier, more sustainable planet. The March Fund was founded by Christopher Lai, former investor at Horizon Ventures; Dr. Harold Schmitz, former Chief Science Officer of Mars, Incorporated, Life Member, Council on Foreign Relations and Senior Scholar at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management; and Wang Rui, former CEO of Red Bull Vitamin Drink Co., Ltd and current Founder & CEO of QiFeng. The fellowship provides opportunity for an exciting international residency in Hong Kong.
Applications are due Wednesday, October 23, 2019 – or until filled. Click here to learn more.
Closed - FOODSHOT GLOBAL - 2019 INNOVATOR FELLOW
FoodShot Global in New York empowers bold ideas and innovative companies to accelerate the transformation to a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system. It is a collaborative investment platform of innovators, investors, industry leaders and advocates working to solve our biggest food system challenges. By connecting knowledge, networks and funding across private and public sectors, FoodShot creates scalable, impactful, and inspired solutions – MoonShots for Better Food. FoodShot’s integrated capital continuum includes the $500,000+ GroundBreaker Prize for researchers, early stage entrepreneurs, and policy advocates, as well as up to $10 million in equity or debt investment for winning for-profit businesses. Along with post-investment resources, FoodShot’s blended capital model empowers best-in-class entrepreneurs, researchers and advocates to transform the most critical food system challenges into opportunities for collaborative investment and meaningful change. This year’s Protein Challenge focuses on solving the global protein gap. With the population growing to 10 billion and the rise of the global middle class, protein demand will increase exponentially. There is an intensifying urgency to radically innovate the entire protein supply chain — including crops, seafood, meat, and the emerging sectors of alternative proteins like algae, mushrooms, and cell-based meat.
Applications are due Wednesday, October 23, 2019 – or until filled. Click here to learn more.
Closed - THE PRODUCTION BOARD - 2019 INNOVATOR FELLOW
A technology incubator and investment holding company aiming to improve the efficiency and economics of global food and agriculture markets, The Production Board will host the Innovator Fellow in San Francisco. Click here to learn more.
Closed - FOOD FOR THOUGHT WORLDWIDE VENTURES - 2019 INNOVATOR FELLOW
An early-stage venture fund investing in breakthrough hardware, software and biotech solutions for the massive, worldwide food system, Food for Thought Worldwide (FTW) Ventures will host the Innovator Fellow in San Francisco. Click here to learn more.
Closed - BETTER FOOD VENTURES - 2019 INNOVATOR FELLOW
“Connecting people who are feeding the world with people who are changing the world through tech innovation.” International agrifood information and communications technology investors at Better Food Ventures will host a UC Davis graduate student fellow in Silicon Valley.
Better Food Ventures Fellow: Machine learning for precision epidemiology in response to livestock disease
Closed - TECHACCEL - 2019 INNOVATOR FELLOW
Technology and venture development organization TechAccel will host a UC Davis graduate student fellow at the Danforth Center for Plant Science in St Louis.
TechAccel Fellow: Leveraging natural maize metabolites to enhance crop resilience to fungal disease
Past Opportunities
Closed - 2019 Request for Innovators (Spring)
“Connecting people who are feeding the world with people who are changing the world through tech innovation.” International agrifood information and communications technology investors at Better Food Ventures will host a UC Davis graduate student fellow in Silicon Valley.
Better Food Ventures Fellow: Machine learning for precision epidemiology in response to livestock disease
Technology and venture development organization TechAccel will host a UC Davis graduate student fellow at the Danforth Center for Plant Science in St Louis.
TechAccel Fellow: Leveraging natural maize metabolites to enhance crop resilience to fungal disease
Closed - 2018 Request for Innovators
New investment platform, FoodShot Global (FSG), kicked off the program, by hosting a UC Davis graduate student in New York.
Inaugural Fellow: Mastering biochar for improved agricultural performance
Closed - 2017 Request for Innovation
Energy-Food Nexus
The Innovation Institute for Food & Health (IIFH) seeded projects in food, agriculture, health, engineering and technology. Having consulted with research and industry colleagues in 2015 and 2016, two interdisciplinary themes subsequently emerged as priorities— innovative solutions at the interface of energy and food.
An initial joint endeavor between the Energy Institute at Colorado State University (CSU) and the University of California at Davis (UCD) emphasized technologies and processes to address energy inefficiencies, food safety and nutritional content in food preservation. An illustrative area of interest includes, innovations to augment cold storage approaches, such as improving traditional drying practices used for tree nut, corn and rice preservation in the US. Instruments of change beyond food preservation technologies include advances in packaging, distribution, consumer education and behavior, as well as market and policy drivers.
Closed - 2016 Request for Innovation
Food, Ag and Health
The first innovation cycle was designed to foster uncommon interdisciplinary collaboration and generate transformational insights and real-world applications in the broad arenas of health, governance, knowledge, sustainability and values/behaviors.
Working with at least one UC Davis senate/federation member, innovation projects spearheaded novel and disruptive approaches to some of the key issues inherent in offering sustainable and equitable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for the world’s burgeoning population. Other members were invited from across broad disciplines, including local and international physical and life sciences, social sciences and humanities, non-profits, food industry, venture groups, farming and ranching, business leaders, and software and hardware developers.
Regional and global breakthroughs in our understanding of the physical/environmental, social/cultural and economic/governance contexts of food production, processing, distribution and waste can transform industry and society. Eight projects in food, ag and health led the way.