Emerging companies from nine countries begin the newly extended nine-month startup program in Kansas' capital city

In collaboration with GO Topeka, the economic development group for Kansas' capital city, Plug and Play Topeka, a global industry-specific accelerator program, has selected 14 agtech startups and 11 animal health startups for the fall 2024 cohort. The program, which has extended from three months to nine months, includes companies from nine countries, such as the U.S., Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Israel.

The startups, chosen by the program's founding partners—including Cargill, Evergy, Bimini Pet Health, and Hill's Pet Nutrition—will participate in business development webinars and mentor sessions with industry experts. And for the first time, the program will include five in-person events and a series of themed virtual events featuring industry thought leaders and startup pitches.

"I'm excited about the potential this program can offer for the relationships between startups and our corporate partners and how the new aspects will allow us to increase our engagement with other ecosystem players," said Plug and Play Topeka Director Lindsay Lebahn.

The 25 startups selected for the program are:

Agarea (Barwang, Australia): Simplifying crop insurance and seasonal finance for farming businesses.
Atolla Tech (Round Rock, TX): Automating the integrated pest management process to increase crop quality.
Biome Makers (Sacramento, CA): Specializing in microbiome understanding to provide comprehensive analysis for agricultural and industrial processes.
Blomso (Columbus, OH): Soil sensing technology to reduce waste and boost crop yields.
Convergent Bio (Minneapolis, MN): Creating human medicine bio-delivery tech for plant health.
Excarta (San Francisco, CA): Using AI to reduce insurance losses caused by catastrophic weather.
Gripp(Indianapolis, IN): Providing the ultimate platform for farmers to track operations and centralizing on-farm communication.
Ground Truth Agriculture (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada): Automating grain grading from farm to destination.
KoraLabs (Zurich, Switzerland): The data platform for agricultural input manufacturers.
M4Life (Tucuman, Argentina): Developed the first microorganism training technology to boost and enhance biological inputs.
NAXSolutions (Alicante, Spain) Optimizing agricultural production through AI-driven precision agriculture, helping farmers increase yields and reduce costs.
Newwave Biotech (Adelaide, Australia): Powering plants microbiomes.
NutriSen (Straubing, Bavaria, Germany): Real-time nutrient-sensing for smart fertilization.
Upside Robotics (San Francisco, CA): AI scout and spray swarm system robots that eliminate the guesswork in nitrogen management.
AlgaeBioMas (Argentina): Culturing microalgae to improve human and animal health.
ControlPoint Inc. (Campbell, CA): Develops diagnostic tests to improve animal health.
Earthodic (Dover, DE): Creating sustainable, functional barrier coatings for paper-based packaging.
Hinalea Imaging (Emeryville, CA): Develops intelligent hyperspectral imaging solutions to enhance and automate complex agrifood inspection processes.
HT Vet (Tel Aviv, Israel): Rules out cancer in lumps and bumps, non-invasively within two minutes, and without taking an FNA or a biopsy.
Medipups (Los Angeles, CA): Science-backed pet supplements.
MicroHarvest GmbH (Hamburg, Germany, and Lisbon, Portugal): Delivering better protein ingredients to achieve resilient food systems.
Natáur (Baltimore, MD): Converting high-value sulfur synthetics to healthy biologicals.
ProPetDX Inc. (San Mateo, CA): Accessible, actionable tests for early cancer detection and other critical diseases.
Queva (Montreal, Quebec, Canada): Revolutionizing pet health with innovative wearable technology for preventive care.
SnapDNA (Broomfield, CO): Streamlined food supply chain, saving the US food industry $90 billion/year.
"All good things take time—and that includes relationships and innovation," said Plug and Play Topeka Director Lindsay Lebahn. "With this new program and the intentionality behind the structuring and the sourcing, I'm excited about the potential this program can offer for the relationships between startups and our corporate partners and how the new aspects will allow us to increase our engagement with other ecosystem players."

Topeka is centrally located within the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, the world's largest concentration of animal health companies and related industries. More than 300 animal health companies located between Manhattan, Kansas, and Columbia, Missouri, including four of the top 10 animal health companies in the world, generate 56% of the total animal health, diagnostics and pet food sold globally, totaling $21.5 billion in annual sales.

"GO Topeka and Plug and Play Topeka have been instrumental in fostering growth and innovation in the animal health and agtech sectors, which is propelling economic development in Topeka and the surrounding region," said SVP of Innovation for GO Topeka Stephanie Moran.

Since its start in the spring of 2021, over 100 startups have graduated from the Plug and Play Topeka accelerator program. Each year, the program will develop two accelerator groups comprising 10-15 animal health and ag-tech startups.

About GO Topeka
GO Topeka creates county-wide economic success for all companies and citizens through the implementation of an aggressive economic development strategy that capitalizes on the unique strengths of the community. GO Topeka operates under the Greater Topeka Partnership and is the leading economic development agency in the area. For more, visit GoTopeka.com.

About Plug and Play
Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform—connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 50+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies, including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com.