Connecting Innovators, Investors, Industry Professionals and Early Adopter Customers
From improvements in nutritional
Gone are the days when big, industry-shaping innovations came out of corporate R&D departments. With the recent mega-mergers in agriculture, the market has changed to allow entrepreneurship to set the pace for food and agricultural innovation.
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“Given the overall AgTech entrepreneurial activity in the region, and the large number of multinational players, the American Heartland can be a powerful influence in driving the objectives of the AgTech revolution. Taken together, these resources indicate a regional competitive advantage in AgTech, similar to what the Silicon Valley cluster has provided for the IT industry.”
“AgTech: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Growth”, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, April 2014
iSelect Portfolio Companies
iSelect focuses on early-stage food and agriculture companies that are poised to help push the next agricultural revolution forward. We deliberately invest in companies that can make a positive impact on our society, as well as on the bottom line.
Vestaron, Inc.
Vestaron is developing new products in the crop protection industry that address the growing concerns of resistance, high costs of R&D, and safety/environmental externalities. Learn more… 
Benson Hill Biosystems, Inc.
Benson Hill is a crop improvement company that empowers innovators with a revolutionary platform to tap the natural genetic diversity of plants and develop healthier and more sustainable food choices. Learn more…
Artemis
Agrilyst, Inc. is a SaaS platform that tracks and analyzes farm data, helping indoor farms optimize plant performance and reduce operating expenses. From 2016 to 2023, the global indoor farming market is projected to grow at a 24% CAGR, reaching $6.4 billion in size by 2023. On average, profitable indoor farms have been operating for at least 7 years. This is driven largely by an inability to understand, measure, and monitor the key cost drivers of production. Agrilyst’s SaaS system allows indoor farmers of all sizes to focus on the linkage all the way from sales forecasting to production planning, enabling them to reduce costs and increase profitability. Learn more…
OneClickship, Inc.
TradeLanes is a Techstars backed company that is redefining global trade. The Company offers a SaaS-based trade execution and automation platform that eliminates the manual tasks needed to ship ocean containers. With an easy-to-use web interface that accesses real-time data about shipments, destinations, and clients, TradeLanes simplifies the export/import process by driving efficiencies, improving visibility, and reducing errors in the process. Learn more…
Harvest CROO, LLC
HarvestCROO is building the premier automation and robotics solution to solve the labor shortage crisis in specialty agriculture, starting with strawberries. Learn more…
Sentera, Inc.
Sentera is a UAV and crop analytics company delivering the most comprehensive suite of value-added hardware and software solutions available today to growers & agronomists. Learn more…
Mercaris
Mercaris is a market data service and trading platform for organic, non-GMO, and other Identity Preserved (IP) agricultural commodities. Learn more…
PlantResponse Biotech
PlantResponse Biotech is a Madrid, Spain and Raleigh, NC based company that is developing and commercializing biologically related products that improve plant health and protect yield potential. Learn more…
Plastomics, Inc.
Plastomics has developed a proprietary genetic engineering model that can produce high performing crops through editing the chloroplast. Learn more…
Geltor, Inc.
Geltor produces customized non-animal proteins for numerous applications. Learn more…
HerdDogg, Inc.
HerdDogg’s patented animal wearable technologies provide animal tracking and aid in the identification of missed heats, illness, and dystocia (difficult births) for the 2.5 billion herd animals worldwide. Learn more…
Bonumose
Bonumose is commercializing low-glycemic index, natural sugars through a proprietary, cost-effective enzymatic process. Learn more…
Agrible, Inc.
Agrible sells software that connects the agricultural supply chain from field-to-market, providing critical sustainability,agronomic, and yield data. Learn more…
ProteoSense LLC
ProteoSense is building a biosensing platform for rapid, cheap and highly sensitive food safety testing. Learn more…
Holganix, LLC
Holganix produces organic plant probiotics that make soils and plants healthier, more resilient, and more productive. Learn more…
Kultevat, Inc.
Kultevat combines genetic breeding and chemical process engineering to produce natural rubber from the Russian dandelion in North America. Learn more…
Meet Our Selection Committee
Our Food and Agriculture Selection Committee consists of industry and subject matter experts who help guide iSelect’s investment decisions. With firsthand experience and a true pulse on the industry, we consider these individuals key to our success in finding and investing in food and ag innovation.
Bill Northcott is the Chief Innovation Officer at Agrible. He works on developing and researching the science and feasibility of new products. Bill is a sixth generation farmer and currently manages a 500 acre corn/soybean operation in East Central Ill …
Chris Harbourt, Ph.D., co-founder of Agrible, Inc., is a world-class scientist and engineer with an eye on innovation and growth. Chris brings over 25 years of agricultural experience to Agrible and is heavily involved in every aspect of the business, …
Mr. Tom Willis serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Conestoga Energy Partners LLC. Mr. Willis is responsible for all aspects of the business. He joined Conestoga in November 2006. He possesses widespread knowledge in the ethanol industry. He has ov …
Todd is a recognized expert in functional genomics, bioinformatics, and plant systems biology, and is focused on accelerating discovery and development by more accurately predicting plant performance. He has built capabilities and toolsets that manipul …
Tim is Vice President of G.M. Lawerence and Company, with a demonstrated history of working in the farming industry. He is skilled in management, agricultural production, precision agriculture, agribusiness, and strategic planning. Tim graduated with a …
Mr. Steve Barr is a Co-Founder of Osborn & Barr Communications, Inc. and served as its Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Barr has more than 35 years of marketing and communications planning experience. He is a Co-founder of Farmergy, Inc. and serves as its …
Dr. DiNicola has over 20 years of experience in the agri-food industry and a decade of experience in sustainability and agriculture development. Through DiNicola LLC, she consults for established and emerging companies and public institutions across th …
Kevin has over 20 years experience in the grain and livestock industry. He is the publisher of The Van Trump Report, a daily agricultural newsletter that contains some of the best and most comprehensive agricultural information in the world from some o …
Eric is the Chief Executive at Pipeline Foods. Eric started his career at The Pillsbury Company where he received his classic commodity merchandising training and became the Manager of Market Development for their Speciality Commodities Group. In 1988, …
Dr. Bruce German is a Professor and Chemist of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis and researches the role of fats and other components in the diet. He develops ways to assess health and metabolism in response to foods. M …
Alex is the Co-founder of Geltor and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Prior to co-founding Geltor, Alex obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, where his research led him to launch the Company. In addition, Alex holds a …
Charles R. (Chas) Eggert has 40 years of experience in the specialty chemicals industry with a proven track record of creating value for startups and large global businesses. Chas is an operating partner focused on specialty chemical investments with A …
Andy Daniels is a seasoned business executive and successful entrepreneur, an active angel investor, and serves on multiple governing boards with companies in the areas of venture capital, wealth management, agriculture, healthcare, technology innovati …
Rachel is a Senior Associate at The Context Network, a business management and strategy consulting firm providing services to the world’s leading agriculture, biotechnology and food companies. She was previously an International Sales & Project Manager …
The founding president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri where he served as Emeritus President and Director for 10 years. Roger is currently Executive Director at World Food Center at University of California, Davis and …
Tom Adamitis is Managing Director at Yield Lab. He formerly served as the Global Vice President of Raw Materials and Energy Procurement for Anheuser-Busch InBev, one of the world’s largest consumer product companies. He supported ABI’s global brewery f …
Chris is the president of Eckert’s Inc., a family farm in southern Illinois. The Eckert’s farm has been in the family for seven generations. They farm 600 acres of fruit and vegetable crops as well as run a 400-seat restaurant and a 20,000 square foot …
Before joining OTMIR in 2016, Brian Buntaine worked for more than 15 years in the life sciences industry. He began his career as a lab manager at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2003, Brian joined Sigma-Aldrich where he worked as a research and …
Dr. Brendan A. Niemira is the Research Leader of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research Unit. He leads a team of 30+ scientists, engineers, technicians, postdocs and students in Wyndmoor, PA in developing too …
Dr. Bob Whitaker joined Produce Marketing Association (PMA) in 2008 as Chief Science & Technology Officer, responsible for food safety, technology, supply chain management and sustainability. Bob has served on the Center for Produce Safety (CPS) Bo …
Berwick Settle is a Dairy Farm Management Specialist, managing a large scale dairy operation in Beijing, China.
Barry Goldman is the Vice President and Head of Discovery at Indigo. Using novel computational, sequencing and laboratory technologies, he is responsible for identifying the microbes that enable Indigo’s first generation of products. Barry brings more …
Glenn Swanson serves as the President of Daniels Trading. He brings a well-rounded commodity and foreign exchange background to the firm’s day-to-day operations. Glenn has an in-depth knowledge of trading technology and the order execution process that …
Braden Hudye is a managing partner of The Hudye Group, a 3rd generation family owned company involved in Agriculture, Commercial Real Estate, Multi Family Residential Real Estate, Development Property, as well as other equity investments in both the Un …
Ron is a biotech consultant primarily focused on agricultural biotechnology with knowledge of pharmaceutical product development. He has extensive, successful experience in product characterization of products improved through modern biotechnology Able …
Engage With Our Food and Ag Network
Join Our Food & Agriculture Innovation Network.
Join the over 5,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and industry professionals driving the future of food and agriculture.
Resources and News
What the Borden Bankruptcy Tells Us About the Future of Food
As a sailor, I learned a long time ago, it is always darkest before the dawn. Borden is bankrupt. And the dawn is coming.
System C: The Convergence of Food and Health
We’re here to talk about food system innovation. When we first started this conference, we talked about agtech, and as investors we also focus on healthcare and the convergence of healthcare and agriculture. Innovation is now being discussed as food system innovation. And, so we’ve invited you all and eager to have you participate in the conversation about how we make food improve health and life.
Creating a Food System That Works (for Everyone)
Innovation is what drives prices down. That's why we have TVs and computers that are both incredibly powerful and affordable, and why we have healthcare that is incredibly unaffordable. If food prices had risen at the same rate over the last 20 years that health care...
Why Bioavailability is Becoming the Next Buzzword in Agriculture
iSelect hosts a Deep Dive webinar on a novel innovation topic on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 9 a.m. central. Our most recent session focused on bioavailability. By improving the bioavailability of the food we eat and our bodies' abilities to absorb...
Is Nutrient Reuse the Future of Sanitation?
What if the waste products we throw away every day could do more for us? What if it were possible to take organic waste, such as food scraps, and recycle it into fuel and fertilizer? We recently sat down with Dan Spracklin, CEO of SoMax Bioenergy, a company that is...
Recycling Nutrients for More Sustainable Agriculture and Animal Production
When it comes to sustainability in agriculture, there’s more to chicken waste than you might think. We recently sat down with Michael Lynch, CEO of Chonex, a nutrient recycling company focused on poultry manure, to talk about the technology his company is developing and how it all might change the way that the agriculture industry thinks about waste products.
Induction Food Systems: Industrial Heating That’s Precise, Efficient and On-Demand
Induction Food Systems helps food and beverage manufacturers improve efficiency and expand production with on-demand precision heating equipment. The company has harnessed electromagnetic energy to create the first scalable, precise, and efficient in-line heating...
Nutritious, Natural Sugars: A Conversation with Bonumose Founder Ed Rogers
iSelect managing director Mark McCall recently participated in a panel discussion at the Family Office Impact Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Hosted by Gitterman Wealth Management, Family Office Insights and 5th Element Group, the event was a...
How Digital Product Development is Reshaping the Food We Eat
iSelect hosts a Deep Dive webinar on a novel innovation topic on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 9 a.m. central. Our most recent session focused on how many food producers are now using digital technology to stay ahead of the curve and bring innovative new products to market faster than ever before. We spoke with iSelect venture associate, David Yocom, about what this all means for the foods we eat and the companies that make it all.
AgroSpheres: A New Approach to Pesticide Application that is Controlled, Targeted and Optimized
AgroSpheres is an agriculture technology startup in Virginia that is revolutionizing crop protection through environmentally friendly delivery platforms.
What’s the Future of Nutrition? Addiction
The modern world has a serious problem with sugar. The average American consumes more than 129 pounds of the stuff each year, according to the USDA, more than double what we ate two generations ago. And, unlike in previous decades when most sweeteners came from cane...
It’s 2019, Where’s the Exit?
Once your big idea has come to life as a successful start-up, what’s next? How do you achieve a steady ascent that makes your small company and your investors happy? Getting the exit right can mean everything for a start-up— but what does that look like for food and...
