After 12 weeks of dedicated effort, the long-awaited moment arrived. We proudly hosted the 4th Demo Day in our headquarters. This year's Demo Day for Batch 4 brought together various stakeholders. Gathering a diverse audience that spanned from local startups and investors to corporate representatives, the event placed a spotlight on the values of innovation, collaboration, and the potential for cross-industry synergy. This event was organized in collaboration with esteemed partners like K+S, KWS, hannoverimpuls, GAFS, DLG, NBank, and Startup Niedersachsen. 

For Batch#3 we got 250 applications from 58 countries worldwide! We are extremely grateful for your interest in our program and the choice was definitely not easy for us.
Together with our partners, we have selected seven promising startups. The business ideas are driven by innovative technologies with a major impact on the agricultural industry. In the coming months our mentors, corporate partners and industry experts will work with the startups on many different topics as part of our acceleration program.

Let's have a look on RootCamp Batch#3 👇

AgriCircle

AgriCircle makes sustainable food production measurable and delivers application maps for resource efficient fertilization via API. Together with farmers and food processors they fight for more soil vitality, biodiversity and a more efficient and sustainable use of resources in agriculture. The startup from Switzerland provides automated and outcome based measures for regenerative agriculture. Their solutions deliver highly accurate and economically viable measures to quantify sustainability and to improve productivity in one go.

Bialtec SAS

The biotech startup comes from Colombia. Bialtec SAS designs and produces microencapsulated precision microbiomes capable of reconfiguring the intestinal microbiome into a more efficient and healthy one. With an office in the Netherlands, will seek to position itself in Europe.

Biorefic

They are developing a next-generation biorefinery technology platform for advanced prebiotic ingredients and microbial Omega-3 fatty acids while enhancing food security by upcycling agri-residues into animal feed. Their prebiotic is the ultimate gut microbiota enhancing ingredient that improves the health, immunity and boosts the performance of animals. The algal omega-3 lipids are a sustainable replacement to fish oil, essential to avoid depleting marine resources. They come from Latvia. 

Climate Farmers

Based in Berlin the startups mission is reversing climate change through regenerative agriculture. Climate Farmers enables an effective carbon market for agriculture through the development of soil carbon monitoring systems to enable farmers to transition to regenerative practices. The technology at the core of Climate Farmers allows for remote, continuous and low-cost monitoring. Satellite data is processed based on scientific algorithmic models and machine learning, enabling continuously higher quality results with growing data sets and lower costs. This builds trust in the reliability of agricultural soil as carbon sinks and allows to funnel a larger margin of profit to farmers directly.

Cynomys srl

We are the promoters of conscious, sustainable and animal welfare-oriented livestock farming with our patented IoT solution for environmental impact monitoring in animal farms: the Cynomys Livestock System. Cynomys srl are the sole company to provide full, comprehensive monitoring of environmental parameters and energy and water consumption in animal housing with a single, self-contained IOT device. The devices are specifically conceived for long time measurements and all their features are designed and built for that very purpose.

Seqana

Seqana is a Berlin-based startup that enables global climate action through satellite-powered insights & monitoring solutions for Soil Organic Carbon. They enable a hands-off approach to MRV (monitor reporting verification), cutting expenses from $5-$10/hectare to $0.05-$1/hectare, and expediting the pathway to credible SOC stocks anywhere on earth. The technology is powered by Earth Observation (public and private) which offers a 10x reduction in cost as compared to current established services. Beyond the MRV bottleneck, their solution can be applied to reduce the time and effort needed to scout new projects by offering a large-scale analysis of state or countrywide SOC levels to help direct new project resources most efficiently.

VetVise

VetVise from beautiful Hanover improves animal welfare and farm efficiency in pig and poultry production by 24/7 video monitoring and real-time Machine-Learning analyzing. They care for the animal from birth to slaughter. AI analysis and linking with other data, such as slaughter data, optimises the entire value chain by giving actionable feedback. They combine usually independent domains in order to achieve more through diversity: Science with Commercialisation, Veterinary/Agricultural Science with Cutting-edge Machine Learning and Theoretical Physics. Using low-cost, off-the-shelf low tech hardware as a basis for high tech algorithms to perform real-time animal behaviour tracking on edge computing to automate and objectify the stable management of the future.

About RootCamp

RootCamp is a multi-partner innovation-hub for technology-oriented startups and intrapreneurs from the agri-food tech and bioeconomy sector. RootCamp is part of the SpinLab Family based in Leipzig and was initiated by K+S AG. It maintains a vibrant ecosystem and can count as partners on KWS, SKW, hannoverimpuls as well as Agritechnica.

We offer different startup programs which run up to twelve months and startups are supported by a grant of up to 50K EUR per team. A fundamental part of the programs is the collaboration between startups and corporate partners to develop new ideas and implement suitable solutions, in the form of pilot projects. The “Acceleration Program” addresses young startups and provides assistance as well as a network of mentors, industry experts and investors. Established startups are taking advantage of the “Fast Track” to rapidly enter collaboration projects with our partners.

The deadline to apply for batch #4 ends on 23rd August!

Young startups face many questions at the beginning of their journey in building a successful business. Uncertainties regarding their business idea, the company presentation to potential investors, product management and employee recruiting determine the everyday life of young founders. Therefore, it is highly recommended to seek the advice of external industry experts in the early stages.

RootCamp supports startups who want to accelerate their paths to market and have a positive impact in the Agritech sector with disruptive solutions. We provide an acceleration curriculum for early stage and fuel later stage startups. We connect you with great hands-on mentors with experience in your industry. Our mentors are well-known experts who support you strategically during the program and help you to solve concrete technical or managerial problems.

Today we want to introduce you to RootCamp mentor Alexandra Vázquez Bea from our network.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Alexandra Vázquez Bea. I hold the position of COO / CFO at Oetker Digital and previous Executive Board member for Finance, Investor Relations, Human Resources and IT at Veganz Group AG. I have over 15 years of professional and leadership experience in the finance and startup fields. Not only that, but I worked in Corporate Finance at NORD/LB for almost seven years before becoming a restructuring consultant at FTI Andersch AG. In this role, I advised on complex restructuring and refinancing projects across Europe. In 2016, I started my own company, LENCHEN – Der Lebkuchen, and led the startup to become a well-established name in the delicatessen pastry sector. Since July 2021, I have been working for Veganz Group AG as the Executive Board member responsible for Finance, IR, Human Resources and IT. Along with my entry came the official kick-off of the company's IPO, which was successfully closed in just under 4.5 months in November 2021. I am an active mentor in the startup scene.

How did you get into the AgriFood Tech industry?

My first contact with the AgriFood Tech industry was through my own startup in the delicacies business. Here I learned a lot about this industry. From the right use of raw materials over product development to the distribution and proper marketing of food products. During this time I was able to build up a good network in the food/agritech startup industry. This ultimately led to my contact with my current employer, Veganz Group AG, and I have remained loyal to the industry within my current position.

What does mentoring mean to you personally?

I have experienced the ups and downs, the ambition, but also the challenges that one is confronted with during the early startup phase myself and have learned lots of lessons during this process. I often recognize my own experiences in the situations of the startups. Furthermore, I am glad to be able to pass on my experience and knowledge to young founders. And I also do learn a lot within a mentoring process. This is a two-way street, and I appreciate the ambition and dedication of the founders to a great extent.

Why did you decide to support RootCamp startups as a mentor?

I think it's great to be able to actively support startups in developing and establishing a working business model. Through my professional experience, I know the food and AgriFood tech industry well. Therefore, RootCamp is a perfect match. Furthermore, RootCamps approach differs a lot from other accelerator programs and with its focus on mentoring gives the right impulses to the startups.

Alexandra has provided great support for our startups, especially in the area of financing.

What requirements do startups need for a successful mentoring relationship?

For a successful mentoring relationship, it is important that the people behind have confidence in their business, in themselves and in the mentoring. They have to be open-minded and willing to closely work together to identify challenges and find solutions. To get it going, of course, a certain enthusiasm and commitment must be present.

➡️ We are constantly looking for individuals willing to support founders that bring a range of skill sets to the table. If you’re interested in being a RootCamp mentor, just shoot a message to Gaia Amatteis.

Regularly, we want to present you the startups that are part of the RootCamp program. In the interview series we introduce you to the founders, their innovative technology and how RootCamp has taken the startup to the next level. Get to know wiCow of batch #2.

Regularly, we want to present you the startups that are part of the RootCamp program. In the interview series we introduce you to the founders, their innovative technology and how RootCamp has taken the startup to the next level. This time we want to introduce you FibriTech who are part of RootCamp batch #2.

The RootCamp Demo Day is designed as an exchange platform for the agrifood tech scene in which corporations, investors and startups can discuss current topics like sustainability, circular economy, green packaging, digitalization of agriculture, and soil improvement techniques. Let’s see what happened this year and how we celebrated the Batch #2. 

Regularly, we want to present you the startups that are part of the RootCamp program. In this interview series we introduce you to the founders, their innovative technology and how RootCamp has taken the startup to the next level. Get to know Contagra of RootCamp batch #2.

Regularly, we want to present you the startups that are part of the RootCamp program. In this interview series we introduce you to the founders, their innovative technology and how RootCamp has taken the startup to the next level. Get to know DigiFarm of RootCamp batch #2 and its co-founder Nils Helset. 

Regularly, we want to present you the startups that are part of the RootCamp program. In this interview series we introduce you to the founders, their innovative technology and how RootCamp has taken the startup to the next level. Get to know the robotics startup E-Terry of batch #2.

Regularly, we want to present you the startups that are part of the RootCamp program. In the interview series we introduce you to the founders, their innovative technology and how RootCamp has taken the startup to the next level. Let's start with GeoPard from Cologne (Germany) of batch #2.