Participate in the award-winning THRIVE Agrifood Accelerator

THRIVE is selecting early-stage AgriFood and AgTech companies to be a part of the next award-winning THRIVE Accelerator cohort! Applications for THRIVE VI are currently open (until Oct. 31st) and we are reaching out to see if anyone in your network might be a good fit for the program as we get to the home stretch of the application process. Please feel free to distribute the following summary to anyone who might be relevant:

Ten companies will be selected to participate in our award winning four-month accelerator program, which will kick off in February 2020 and culminate at THRIVE’s Demo Day held at the Forbes AgTech Summit in Salinas in June 2020.

These ten companies will pitch live on stage at the THRIVE Forbes AgTech Summit and one lucky company will win the THRIVE Forbes Innovation Icon Award and global recognition on the Forbes platform. We are excited to begin looking for the next wave of growth-driven, high impact startups making a difference in the food and agriculture industry.

We are looking for seed to Series A companies with technologies focused in (but not limited to) the following technology areas:

• Big Data & Predictive Analytics
• Innovative Food
• Biotechnology
• Robotics & Automation
• Animal Health & Livestock
• Indoor Farming
• Supply Chain Management & Traceability
• Farm Management Software, Sensing, and IOT

Key Benefits of our program are outlined below:

• TRIALS: Connect with our extensive network of corporate partners and 1000’s of farmers who can provide field trials and product validation 
• INVESTMENT: $100K per company ($50K cash & $50K program value)
• MENTORSHIP: Top tier industry, technical and business experts on hand to guide and support your startup
• GLOBAL RECOGNITION: Demo Day at Forbes AgTech Summit and participation in THRIVE Innovation Showcase
• See some media coverage (100M+ impressions/hits around the world) from this year’s highly successful demo day on Forbes and KSBW
• VIRTUAL CURRICULUM: In-class and virtual workshops and webinars on everything from lean canvas to M&A strategy, perfecting the pitch, fundraising and growth strategy, marketing, and grower insights among other critical topics
• RESOURCES: Membership to Western Growers Innovation Center, legal services from Orrick, and subscriptions to AWS and HubSpot 

Please register on our website before October 31, 2019.

Samsung is looking for startups in the sustainability x tech space to feature at its upcoming 2019 Samsung CEO Summit (Nov 6, 2019 in San Francisco). Selected startups will each have a demo booth for the duration of the event attended by over 600 investors, corporate executives and entrepreneurs.

Submit your pitch deck or executive summary to be considered – email to Samantha.cardoso@ucop.edu and John.Martin@samsung.com (rolling acceptance, apply soon!)

UCSD Alumnus, Pavan Kumar, Co-Founder and CTO at Cocoon Cam was selected to demo at the 2018 Samsung CEO Summit. Hear what Pavan had to say about his experience.

About Samsung CEO Summit:
Each year, Samsung hosts the exclusive invite-only CEO Summit that brings together the tech industry’s thinkers, innovators, entrepreneurs and investors to focus on the technologies that will have the greatest impact on our lives and our future. The Samsung CEO Summit provides a platform for the kinds of insightful discussions, probing questions, and far-reaching collaboration that can spark new ideas, partnerships, and projects. With more than 600 entrepreneurs, investors and partners, the Samsung CEO Summit synthesizes inspirational speakers, lively networking sessions, and exhibits showcasing startups’ and researchers’ latest breakthroughs.