DiscoveryLab@AgSmart Meeting

Startups, new ventures and SMEs involved in agtech and agribusiness are welcome pitch a plan at this inaugural DiscoveryLab@AgSmart event.

Company leaders are invited to pitch their plan in front of a panel of investors, business advisors and industry experts and then respond to questions, they will receive feedback, scores, a video of their pitch, contacts and introductions.

Those with an interest in agtech and agbusiness that are seeking investment will be given priority, although all stages, locations and sectors are welcome to apply to pitch.

Summaries of business plan are shared with investors and advisors before the event to prepare them to evaluate and support the teams presenting.

Location

This DiscoveryLab event is being held at Werklund Lecture Theatre and Lobby on the Olds College of Agriculture & Technology. This state-of-the-art meeting space offers comfortable seating for 150 people, wifi and plenty of space to network and chat.

Agtech presenters:

Darren Wolchyn, Founder & CEO, Smart Paddock on location tracking and status monitoring system for livestock animals, assets and farms

Geoffrey Shmigelsky, CTO, OneCup AI deploying AI BETSY, a computer vision system that can identify and track animals uniquely

Mark Olson, President, Flokk Systems providing systems for herd management and traceability reporting.

Nafaa Haddou,co-Founder and CEO, Nu Terra Labs, developing control systems to meet the needs of farmers as well as FireSafe detection

Pankaj Purwar, Co-Founder, Farmer's Legacy Biotech, creating healthy and sustainable oil for Canadian consumers

Robert Saik, CEO, AGvisorPRO, mobile platform for connecting experts and companies and those seeking agriculture advice

Styn Nieuwenhuis, Founder, FeedXchange, transforming the livestock industry through a platform to source feed ingredients

Tayab Soomro, co-Founder and CEO, PathoScan developing in-field pathogen and disease testing devices for a variety of crop diseases

Presenters from all other sectors:

Mardin (Asghar) Fallah, Founder, RNA Y and Postdoctoral Fellow, Medical Genetics, University of Alberta

Mustafa Gül, CEO, City Scan Technologies, providing AI-powered cost-effective and scalable infrastructure assessment solutions

Sara Saeedi, Researcher, University of Calgary and Innovation Program Project Director, Open Geospatial Consortium

Schedule

The in-person agtech sessions will start on July 29 at 11 am, with a lunch break and coffee break in the afternoon. The sector-agnostic virtual session will start first thing in the morning.

Todd Ormann, Vice President Development, Olds College of Agriculture and Technology, will open our in-person event.

AgSmart Panel: From Idea to Impact: Building Startups with Purpose

Join us on July 31 from 3:00-3:45 pm for an engaging panel discussion where leading incubators and accelerators discuss their strategies for supporting high-growth agtech companies at the forefront of agricultural innovation.

This session will explore the unique challenges and opportunities within the agtech sector, highlighting success stories and the pivotal role these organizations play in nurturing the startups that are revolutionizing the agriculture industry.

Panelists will share insights into mentorship, funding, networking, and the essential resources they provide to help agtech companies thrive in a competitive market.

Format

In person pitch slots are 20 minutes long, with half for pitching and the rest for questions with the panel of business advisors, mentors and investors who receive the reports, feedback, plans, decks and videos. Virtual slots are 10 minutes, with half for pitching the rest for Q&A.

Networking and discussions continue over coffee breaks and lunch.

Presenters are welcome to bring team members after sending their emails and names to the organizer.

Confidential disclosure agreements are not provided, but information exchanged at this private event should be considered privileged and should not be shared publicly.

Evaluation forms for each pitch will be shared and collated anonymized scores and feedback will be shared with the presenters and registered investors and advisors.

Sponsors

We thank Olds College for providing wifi and venue as well as photographs of their venue, the Werklund Agriculture and Technology Centre.

This event is organized in partnership with AgSmart, CAAIN, CARIN, FCC, Flokk and Olds College.

Our sponsors including ADEPT, Bennett Jones, Edmonton Global, University of Alberta, Hermay Labs, Research Centre One, and Health Cities.

Testimonials:

"Our previous pitch connected us with three companies that are now pursuing collaborative work with us as well as accelerating our consumer testing lab at the University of Alberta. This is a major step forward as we engage customers and fine-tune our products to meet the needs of our users." -TM

"We had the pleasure of presenting at your Discovery Lab events, what a fantastic experience! A few highlights are meeting with new advisor and now we are working on a paid project with them. We also connected with folks from Edmonton Global and from there additional meetings lead to me introducing them to an Investor from Singapore who we are trying to attract to Edmonton. Now we have multiple efforts looking to bring at least part of their $100 million health fund to Alberta! " -JM

"Our DiscoveryLab presentation led to participation of 2 investors in our seed round, a strategic machine learning technology development partnership, a remote patient monitoring collaboration with a University, and this week’s announcement of an exciting product launch."

"Our project has picked up significantly since we last presented at DiscoveryLab. We have partnered to expand our program for the treatment of COVID-19 patients and we are now at 22 sites."

"The suggestions I got from the DiscoveryLab meeting were great. Thanks!"

"I would like to thank you for organizing the pitch event. We were very happy about the outcome of the pitch. We wanted some advice and that's what we got. We would love to pitch again."

“you did an admirable job of putting this together. From the quality of the participants/viewers to the administration of the process and the follow-up, I'm impressed. I have two meetings as a direct result of my presentation. Thanks for including me, and for inviting me to the next one; I fully intend to present at the next meeting.”- KH

“Thank you again for the opportunity to pitch. Actually, we are having a couple of followup calls with stakeholders from your region.” - HL

"I wanted to send a note to thank you very much for the opportunity to present yesterday. We enjoyed the experience and also were able to resolve an issue."

"My company got funding."

Organizer:

This event is being offered by DiscoveryLab in partnership with AgSmart and Olds College. For questions feel free to contact Michael Overduin (at michael at discoverylab.ca).

Fine print:

For clarity, DiscoveryLab does not recommend advisors or investors, but can make introductions. Each person and company has the responsibility of obtaining legal advice and performing due diligence before signing contracts or taking investments.