The government wants to encourage and highlight startups in the agricultural sector. Twenty companies will be included in the 1st edition of the French Tech Agri20 ranking, and will benefit from the same support as those in the French Tech 120 program.
Bringing together innovative players in the agricultural and food sectors
In August 2021, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Julien Denormandie, and the Secretary of State for Digital, Cédric O, presented "French AgriTech", a program to support startups specializing in agriculture and food combined with a €200 million investment package over 5 years.
French AgriTech was complemented in April 2022 by the French Tech Agri20 program, which selects startups offering disruptive innovations with a very high level of differentiation from existing solutions and the ability to deploy them on a large scale.
The solutions presented must meet the challenges identified in the France 2030 investment plan by focusing on :
- sustainable, health-promoting food,
- sustainable agricultural systems and equipment for the ecological transition,
- farms of the future,
- life science entrepreneurs,
- lumber,
- the bioeconomy for non-food uses of agriculture.
Support for innovation and industrialization processes
Startups joining the French Tech Agri20 program are selected each year by the Mission French Tech, which brings together experts from the Direction Générale des Entreprises (DGE) and the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty. Criteria examined include the eligibility of the company and the innovation, the ability of startups to position themselves in a high-potential market, as well as the deeptech public funding obtained, and the support structures through which the companies have passed.
The 20 startups chosen to integrate the French Tech Agri20 benefit from the support of the Mission French Tech, i.e.:
- enhanced visibility thanks to influence and communication campaigns in France and abroad,
- integration into economic diplomacy initiatives,
- specific services provided by the network of "French Tech correspondents" and support on regulatory issues in particular.
22 startups selected for the 1st French Tech Agri20 event
22 nuggets in the field of agriculture have been chosen as part of this new Mission French Tech program. Most of them propose improvements to agricultural systems, and are evolving in the areas of food and the living world.
These players include Algama, a startup that transforms algae into alternative ingredients to animal products, Dry4Good, a young industrial FoodTech for high-quality food dehydration, and Green Spot Technologies, which specializes in creating nutritious, natural and sustainable ingredients that address consumer concerns.
🌱 #Agri20 | The 22 winning start-ups of the 1st edition of French Tech Agri20 were announced this morning by Minister @jnbarrot and Mission French Tech. Congratulations to these future champions of the sector, who are already contributing to the #agricultural and #food transition. pic.twitter.com/ml3jzmSOeX
- La French Tech (@LaFrenchTech) July 13, 2022