Kyle Welborn

Indoor farming has attracted over $6 billion in investments since 2019: It's a year-round method of crop production that optimizes space through its use of vertically stacked layers. It’s projected to grow (10% by 2032, reaching $96 billion*), yet many are struggling to deliver returns. Notably, AppHarvest recently filed for bankruptcy after reporting a net loss of $177 million, highlighting the challenges in achieving profitability in this sector. ⬆️On the up - Plenty® is one to watch - they are flush with funding from SoftBank and have formed a JV with Abu Dhabi-based Mawarid Holding Investment .They are building a network of indoor farms, likely starting with an indoor strawberry farm in Abu Dhabi. If successful, it would help elevate indoor farming as a more marketable proposition - particularly in locations that are too dry for traditional farms. Indoor farming has appeal for sure..but they an infrastructure-heavy, pricey endeavor that has proven incompatible with venture exit time frames. This begs the question around the sustainability of funding models in industries focused on longer-term growth. #VentureCapital #IndoorFarming #Investment #Sustainability #Agriculture *Statista

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Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for the Beanstalk AgTech Drought Venture Studio close this Friday July 12th. Since launching the venture studio the team have been engaging with researchers and AgriTech innovators, scouting for technologies that can be validated and commercialised. For those still considering the opportunity, here are a few details: - The Drought Venture Studio is specifically designed to support technology development and commercialisation at the earliest stage, including pre business incorporation. - Technologies can target drought resilience across a broad range of crop types and applications in the field and the back office. Examples include, water and soil management, pest and weed control, financial resilience and supply chain management systems. - Up to $250k in funding will be available for projects once validated, to support development as well as salary funding for co-founders in the early stages. - Need a co-founder? The venture studio will facilitate the process of bringing a co-founder or CEO into validated businesses. This recent webinar provides a great overview of the venture studio, the team and the process. All the EOI details can be found here 👇 - Applications: https://lnkd.in/gyqYB4ww - Webinar video: https://lnkd.in/g8RqXm9n Marcus Agnew, Jeremy Chan-Youker, Cal Archibald #agritech #sustainability #drought #BeanstalkVentureStudio #FutureDroughtFund

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I'm so excited to continue supporting Prolific Machines, Inc., and the incredible Deniz Kent, PhD ,Max Huisman, and Declan Jones. Today's cellular biology processes are incredibly expensive, inefficient, imprecise, and sometimes purely ineffective. These processes are used from everything from making antibodies to treat diseases, to fermentation used to make high-value nutritional proteins in baby formula, to whole cuts of cultured meat. Prolific has developed a biology platform that leverages light to guide cell behavior and optimize performance over time using AI. By combining light, bioengineering, hardware, and AI in fundamentally new ways, Prolific can help pharmaceutical, nutritional, and therapeutics companies get to market faster, less expensively, and more efficiently — ultimately in hopes of helping improve outcomes — a mission any of us can get behind. Mark Cuban Peter T. Frederick Blackford Cooper Rinzler David Adelman Darco Capital Breakthrough Energy Michael Schulson Kevin Love Tobias Harris Breyer Capital Charles Besser Brennan Besser Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants https://lnkd.in/ea2TqdQk

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In this video from Ball Tech On Demand, you're challenged to rethink Fall Pansy transplanting in an effort to produce your best crop ever. https://lnkd.in/g-q6DNdy Retired Ball Seed technical manager, Dr. Will Healy covers the stage when you receive plugs and transplant them into finished containers by focusing on greenhouse environment and crop culture. He starts with tips and strategies for receiving plugs in an effort to minimize risk with young plants. Then he moves into the processes to put in place prior to transplant, such as sanitation, temperature and RH management and nutrition. Next, he covers what your team needs to know immediately following transplant by digging deep into irrigation and nutrition. You’ll want to watch all the way to the end of this video and then share it with your production team. Your best bet is to make sure everyone is on the same page immediately before and after transplant. #greenhouse #horticulture #pansy #fallpansy #ballseed #balltechteam #techondemand #greenhousetechteam #transplant #sanitation #temperature #nutrition #irrigation

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In 2024, 736 AgTech startups raised a total of $5.7B. There were 37 AgTech exits last year, 36 M&A transactions and one IPO. This is up 32% from 2023. See all the data in my latest CropLife.com article.

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Last quarter, 161 AgTech startups raised a total of $1.5B. There were eight AgTech exits last quarter, all through M&A transactions. See all the details in my latest CropLife.com article.

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Last week, I had the pleasure of moderating a discussion on navigating FOAK in climate tech at the Greentown Labs Summit in Boston (which had >600 people!!). Here’s a quick rundown of what was shared by Katherine St. James of Spring Lane Capital, Paris Smalls, PhD of Eden GeoPower, and Hannah Friedman of Planeteer Capital: 🌱 What is the definition of FOAK? We discussed how the term can be controversial - it's almost too general because it doesn't identify what kind of "First" FOAK refers to - first team project? First geography? First of a technology in a sector? First time for the integration of a system? It's also too specific because it has the word "first" in it, which can be anathema to later stage / project finance investors. 💰 Partnerships for Funding FOAK Projects We discussed how important it is to build a blended capital stack & use off-balance sheet capital for a project so you're not using the most expensive equity dollars to fund an infrastructure project with low-ish IRR. We also talked through being creative about using corporate partners to provide in-kind services or ink some agreement (at least an LOI) to attract this funding. 🏛 Role of Government We talked about how government capital is seen by investors & how it can be catalytic for FOAK. Government capital can provide validation that a startup has passed a rigorous diligence process by a third party - and incentives like grants or credits can help improve returns for the first project- but it's important to be doing this in conjunction with getting customer validation and to be able to present line of sight to competitive economics without concessionary capital. 👥 Advice for FOAK startups The panelists offered some very specific pieces of advice for startups going through FOAK: how to get creative with things like revenue sharing agreements or convertible notes, getting smart with project development early on (like with DeveloperU), being careful about using FOAK too liberally with certain investor groups, getting the right commercialization / FOAK talent in and around you early Huge thanks to the panelists and the team at Greentown Labs (Jill Kirkpatrick, Julia Travaglini, Aisling Carlson, etc you rocked it!!) for hosting this discussion on bridging the FOAK gap. Also immensely enjoyed the rest of the agenda. Check out the full recap & videos here: https://lnkd.in/d9ApYe9Y #ClimateTech #FOAK #ClimateFinance #ProjectDevelopment #GreenTech #CleanEnergy

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Over the summer, The New York Times' David Wallace-Wells put out an urgent notice around the need for a "food transition" at the speed and scale we've seen implemented around the energy transition that could deliver "better nutrition more equitably and more affordably to more people, all without devastating ecosystems or polluting local environments or pushing the planet further into climate disarray." This food transition won't happen without heavy innovation and heavy investment (like we've seen in the energy transition). The statistics Wallace-Wells cites are shocking: - About three-quarters of all global agricultural land is vulnerable to substantial climate disruptions. - The effects of climate change have reduced the growth of overall global agricultural productivity by between 30 and 35 percent. The climate threats to come loom even larger. - According to the World Resources Institute, we may need to add almost two Indias to the world’s existing farmland to meet food needs in the second half of this century. — but adding that farmland means cutting down forests, which store carbon, in order to graze more animals, which produce carbon. -Over a 30-year time horizon, the insurer Lloyd’s recently estimated a 50 percent chance of what it called a “major” global food shock. If you are passionate about the opportunity to innovate within food systems to mitigate climate risk and you are in our hometown for #NYClimateWeek, please come by the event we are co-hosting with FoodxClimate on Wednesday at the C16 Biosciences HQ. Link to register below. Article: https://lnkd.in/eYQ_Hh9P

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#ObsessivelyEnthusiasticInvestor at REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund OUR INVESTMENT THESIS: REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund invests in early stage startups refashioning legacy industries through Data & AI, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing, & Next Generation Supply Chains; Defensible through economic moats. #IndustrialTransformation #SupplyChain #Innovation #Technology #Startups #VentureCapital

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What Learned This Week...... I saw no reason to watch debates this week. Instead, focusing on arbitrage in the AgTech venture market, renewable fuels, and improving rural healthcare. We are at a point in the investment cycle where the answer to the $1.9T in healthcare cost of poor nutrition will come from the farmers and entrepreneurs who figure out how to take the pressure from healthcare, Ozempic, and climate and turn it into a set of innovations that solve for all three. The innovations will likely come from the co-optimization of seed genetics, soil health, and food science. Combined with increased leadership from farmers and decreased market power of the processors. AI is the enabling force multiplier if it integrates with practical on-farm knowledge to co-create affordable nutrition. 1) Affordable nutrition will replace cheap calories. 2) The $53M investment by Andreessen Horowitz in Mark Hyman, MD Function Health is noteworthy. 3) Midwest farmers have an opportunity to tackle health in their local community. Increasing production of local fresh regenerative produce and collaborating with the rural health system to reduce diabetes. 4) Does anyone have any idea what to do with all the excess soybean meal from renewable diesel? 5) Both presidential candidates will support expansion into sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel because it is what farmers and export markets want. 6) If the Feds back out of 45z, blue states, foreign markets, climate billionaires, and corporations will fund the $5B to $10B in subsidy needed to close the business case. 7) Crop genetics and microbiome innovators need to develop technology that positively correlates crop energy and nutrient density—concurrently optimizing soil and genetics. 8) US fruit and vegetable production should move from California to the Mississippi Delta region. 9) CPGs know enough about regenerative agriculture to be dangerous. Farmers need to define best regenerative practices that work in their region. CPGs should shape the branding and food science. 10) Farmers working in a collective of 500k+ acres have the power to disrupt Co-Ops, Processors, nutrient density, and health. 11) To understand agriculture, Nestle, Unilever, BlackRock, JPM, etc need to hire FFA alumni as fast as possible. (Scott Stump) 12) South Asia and Southeast Asia (SASEA) are globalization's next frontier. Taking manufacturing from China. SADEA is a growing early adopter market for soy-based foods. 13) 10% of GHG is agriculture. If capital does not step in to fund recent venture shortfalls, we will lose 10 years of AgTech innovation required for affordable GHG mitigation. 14) H2 2024 and H1 2025 AgTech investments will likely be the best vintage year returns in decades. 15) My 2 cents on the Presidential debate is that a nutrient-dense diet rich in fresh vegetables improves golf handicaps in octogenarians. #foodishealth Brad Fruth Ellen Brown Clint Brauer Erin W. Martin Katie Stebbins Shari Rogge-Fidler

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Throw back Thursday! 😊Excited to look back at 2023 through the publication of our Catalyst Fund Impact Report! The report spotlights the hard work of our portfolio companies after a year of work with them, as they continue to build game-changing solutions from precision agriculture technologies to water access solutions or waste management tools. 👉 Dive into our portfolio companies' impact to date, our theory of change, and how we empower bold founders to build a climate-resilient future for millions of Africans. 👉 Learn about our gender lens investing approach, sustainability focus, and how our startups are driving green growth and positioning Africa as a leader in climate action. 👉 Explore spotlights on select portfolio companies and discover how Catalyst Fund's hands-on venture building accelerates the path to scale for early-stage climate tech in Africa 👉 See the recognition our fund has earned to date and join us in investing for a climate-resilient future on the continent. Sand to Green, Bekia inc, Visual and AI Solutions (VAIS), Assuraf | Insurance, Simply, Eight Medical | Techstars ‘23, Farmz2U, Farm to Feed, Octavia Carbon, PaddyCover, Agro Supply, NoorNation, Scrapays, THOLA, Earthbond, Zebra CropBank, Medikea, Keep IT Cool, Tolbi Link to download the report: https://lnkd.in/ejJjH6aD

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Check out my recent post on why President Trump is the forcing function for us to solve the “Missing Middle” and catch the industrial Tsunami of onshoring coming to the US!

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As we kick off our partnership conversation series over the coming weeks, we’d like to highlight the importance of choosing a hardware agnostic crop steering and crop analytics platform for CEA and commercial cultivation. Follow @grownetics to stay up to date with the latest innovations in #CEA, #indoorag and #cropsteering sensors. #agtech #doitforthehorticulture #grownwithgrownetics #automateoptimizeevolve

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DUAL USE. Proud of this. Farmers are inundated with data, but it often lack the insights needed for effective decision-making. Tesseract Ventures has developed an integrated platform that synthesizes data from a multitude of sources, including robots, in-field sensors, data sources, drones, imagery, and more. This comprehensive approach provides farmers with unprecedented insights into increasing profitability and efficiency of their operations, enabling them to optimize every aspect of their farms. We call it Tesseract Synthesis. We are learning, listening, testing and working carefully + methodically to create something very timely as well as a vision of a Future State. #Farmers #Synthesis #FarmTech #Sustainability #invention #Agriculture #drones #robotics #military #sbir Landus LANDWERX Kansas Department of Agriculture Kansas Department of Commerce #veterans #ussocom

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Over my past 7-8 years of focus on the insect and the aquaculture industries, I found many parallels. Both industries are highly innovative, investment heavy, requiring a savvy mix of engineering, biology and "livestock" management expertises, and while one has a head start, they are both at their beginning.  I found the below article to relay well the main conditions of success in insect farming, but also in aquaculture start-ups: - Gathering a complementary team. A gap in one of the expertise will make it complicated to either bring the animals to harvest size or to do it economically - Pivoting cultures: from "start-up energy" to "fine tune" mentality.  - Building in steps: there are always learnings from the previous versions built. Building in steps is a must to be ahead technologically and economically. Scale comes second. - It starts with the product: does it match and will continue to match the market's expectations (quality & price). In both industries, the smoke might now start to clear on the most financed projects of the past decade, and I have been impressed by Innovafeed's ability to make the right initial and growth choices. I look forward to hearing more about IF in 2025, 2026 and the many years to come! https://lnkd.in/ebhv32iB

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Congrats to Christopher Robson, Kurtis Broda and Kristen Cote at Wyvern on bringing on fantastic new investors Guy Filippelli, Dan Madden and Isaac Carp, CFA at Squadra Ventures. I'm a broken record at this point, but we're in the early innings of the Earth Observation market, and as we're seeing with Wyvern there is more demand for hyperspectral data than supply. As we will see in the coming years, there will be all kinds of problems that can be addressed by understanding our world beyond what our eyes can see. https://lnkd.in/gEzTjYks

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2025 - in with the new and out with the old. The #CBD industry has had a rough go the past several years. This has made it extremely difficult for seed producers, farmers, and extractors to remain profitable, let alone afloat throughout the storm. Those with lean business models, inputs, and a passionate team have made it possible to survive. We have liquidated most of the old seed stock stemming from seed production circa 2018-2020. It took 4-6 years to sell even though it retained solid germination, feminization, and potency numbers throughout this period. The negatives about these seed lots are phenotypic variation from a segregated seed progeny population. Here’s some of our amigos in #Ecuador cultivating our variety #Superwoman for a biomass crop. This is a low input cost grow that is part of Trilogene Seeds buyback program to GUARANTEE the sale of your hemp biomass. Our commitment to stand behind our product and support our farming customers by selling the crop to our network of US extractors. For Spring 2025, we will have fresh batches of #UltraPink #Triploids and our newest hybrid “Ultra Haze”. These lines push the boundaries of how much CBD can be maximized compliantly for a CBD biomass crop while remaining compliant. Farmers who have dialed their post harvest processing have pulled biomass as high as 16%!! When the market is at $0.20-$0.25 per CBD % per pound, every point matters! Are you interested in growing CBD biomass at scale this year with a guaranteed offtake agreement to sell it? Let’s have a conversation and see if we can support each other with good, old fashioned, sustainable business. Trilogene Seeds [email protected] 630-605-1707 #WinWinOnly #ItAllStartsFromSeed

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🌟 Spotlight on Innovation: S4S Technologies Featured! 🌟 We are proud to share insights from a compelling report featured on Mongabay, which underscores the critical issue of post-harvest food loss—a challenge that leads to significant economic and environmental repercussions. At S4S, our mission has always been to enhance the economic stability of farmers while promoting sustainable agricultural practices. By enhancing the efficiency of food preservation and reducing reliance on traditional methods that can be harmful and less effective, we are paving the way for a more sustainable and food-secure future🌞🍅 We encourage our community, partners, and all stakeholders in the agricultural and food sectors to read this compelling article. It's a testament to what we can achieve together through technology and collaboration. 👉 Dive into the full story here https://lnkd.in/depmXNSB #Agritech #Sustainability #WomenInAg #S4STechnologies

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CRISPR, and other biotechnological tools, are integral components of climate adaptation technology (CAT), enabling farmers to address challenges posed by climate change. These advancements facilitate the development of crop varieties that are more resilient to water scarcity, extreme heat, pests, and diseases. By enhancing crop resilience, CRISPR technology supports sustainable agricultural practices and contributes to global food security in the face of environmental stressors.

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