The Valley Ventures Accelerator at Fresno State announced its fall cohort of start-up companies that will receive venture capital direction and support in the water, agriculture and energy technology industries.
The three-month program will provide professional guidance on growing sales, company value and profitability for 11 emerging companies from primarily California, as well as Brazil, Chile and Malaysia.
“The fall cohort will represent a diverse range of technology and entrepreneurial talent in the water, energy and agriculture industry and represents a collective revenue of $2 million annually and $3.5 million in equity funding,” said program coordinator Benjamin Francis. “We believe each company that has been selected exemplifies extraordinary potential to scale and accomplish great things in the Central Valley.”
The companies are:
- AQUAOSO — water rights management buyer and seller trading platform
- Avsonic — automated cattle soaker system
- BovControl — analytics platform for cattle operations
- Deep Root Irrigation — irrigation products for landscape and agricultural usage
- Drought Diet Products — sub-irrigation zone pipe for greywater and rainwater catch and release
- DSPii — soil moisture sensing through aerial application
- ECO2Mix — carbon dioxide-based water pH control system for irrigation units
- Fluid Pulse — wireless irrigation valve controls for use on existing water pipelines
- GroGuru — precision soil moisture, salinity and temperature monitoring system
- Nanomass — unit converting biomass into powdered fuel to be used in coal plants
- REDtrac — online agricultural well, water and soil efficiency monitoring system
Companies accepted into the program demonstrated the potential to have an economic impact in the region and the ability to improve the efficient use of scarce resources. Other evaluation criteria included company scalability, potential return, environmental impact, fundability, commercial value, personnel skills and leadership.
Participants will take part in exercises and learning modules led by Central Valley professionals, investors, industry and technical experts, successful entrepreneurs and target consumers.
The program also offers companies access to Fresno State research staff and facilities, as well as product testing through the Water, Energy and Technology (WET) Center, Center for Irrigation Technology and 1,000-acre University Agricultural Laboratory.
The three-year accelerator program is coordinated by the International Center for Water Technology at Fresno State. Program funding was made possible by a $500,000 federal grant through the Regional Innovation Strategies i6 Challenge and Seed Fund Support Grants competition and the BlueTechValley innovation cluster funded by the California Energy Commission.
For more information, visit www.valleyventures.org or contact Benjamin Francis at 559.270.7121 or bfrancis@mail.fresnostate.edu.
Related Links:
www.eda.gov/archives/2016/news/press-releases/2016/11/15/ris.htm
