AGTECH ACCELERATOR Cohort 5 Kick-off Week

We launched our fifth cohort of the AGTECH ACCELERATOR, April 12th through April 16th!

This year, we welcomed 14 standout agtech companies from across Canada and the UK to Regina, continuing to build on Saskatchewan’s reputation as a global leader in agtech innovation. Each company brought fresh ideas, bold ambition, and a shared drive to shape the future of agriculture.

Throughout Kick-off Week, our Cohort 5 founders took part in a dynamic lineup of workshops, mentorship sessions, and opportunities to connect with peers and industry leaders. The week sparked new thinking, meaningful conversations, and clear next steps – setting the tone for what’s ahead.

Early in the week, our Cohort 5 founders came together wearing Let’s Grow Canada scarves from FCC — a national movement celebrating the food, land, and people growing Canada’s future.

Take a look at some of the highlights from Kick-off Week and see what these founders got up to!

Farm Tour

We kicked things off by welcoming our founders to Regina before heading out to Be-Ver Farms in Sedley. It was a great opportunity to get everyone on a Saskatchewan farm – asking questions, seeing operations up close, and exploring how the local ag landscape connects to their own work. The conversations were thoughtful and engaging, and it set the tone for the week ahead with a strong sense of context.

A huge thank you to Be-Ver Farms for their continued hospitality—this is a visit we look forward to every year, and their team is always exceptional to work with. We also want to thank Taylor Phillips from Maverick Ag for guiding the tour and sharing his insights, especially given his previous experience working on the farm.

After the farm visit, we made our way back into Regina with a stop at Leopold’s Tavern, a local go-to! Mentorship is a new addition to the AGTECH ACCELERATOR program this year. We were thrilled to have a distinguished collective of mentors who are top-tier ag industry professionals and we were fortunate they joined us in person for Kickoff week. We spent the evening bringing founders together with their program mentors. Each company was thoughtfully matched with a mentor aligned to their business and expertise, creating a strong foundation of support for the program ahead. As a new addition to the AGTECH ACCELERATOR program this year, we were thrilled to have our mentors join us in person. It was a great night of camaraderie and introductions, giving everyone the chance to connect and get to know one another ahead of a full week.

We kept the evening relaxed, giving everyone time to rest, adjust to the time difference, and get ready for what’s ahead. 

Day 1

We kicked off Day 1 with a welcome and introductions, giving each founder the chance to share who they are and what they’re building – setting the tone for a strong week of connection and collaborations.

From there, we jumped into a marketing session led by Ken Wong,  a distinguished Professor of Marketing at Queen’s University. Ken is known for shaping marketing education in Canada and beyond, including launching the country’s first full-time, government subsidized independent MBA program.

This year, he guided founders through Diffusion and Chasm Theories and Segmentation – breaking down how ideas move through markets and how to better identify and target the right customer groups. The session sparked strong engagement, with founders walking away with practical insights that they’ll now work to apply to their own businesses.

After Ken’s session, founders connected over lunch before heading into the afternoon’s Industry Mentor Madness. Each founder participated in a series of 1:1 meetings with mentors—carefully matched based on their business, market, and areas of focus.

The room was full of energy as founders moved between conversations, bringing forward real challenges, ideas, and next-step questions. Mentors offered candid feedback, shared lived experience, and and helped refine and strengthen thinking in a way that was both supportive and direct.

It was a high-impact afternoon that created space for deeper clarity, fresh perspective, and practical advice founders could immediately apply as they continue building.

AG5 Mentorship

We wrapped up the first full day, where we hosted a Prairie Mixer in the AGT Lounge at Mosaic Stadium. Following a busy day of mentorship, the evening shifted into a more relaxed, networking-style event – bringing together founders, partners, mentors, and the broader agtech community. The night featured casual connections, meaningful conversations, and a series of founder pitches that gave each company the opportunity to share what they’re building.

Our ask to our guests was simple: we’re in the heart of agriculture, and this is an opportunity to open doors. Listen to what these founders are building, make connections, and help expand their networks.

We were honoured to have the Honourable David Marit, Minister of Agriculture, join us to offer greetings and welcome everyone to the evening, helping us close out Day 1 on a high note.

Day 2

Day 2 began back with Ken Wong, who returned to continue working with founders – this time focusing on customer profiling and how to assess product-market fit within a clearly defined target market. The session pushed founders to get more precise about who they’re building for, and how to validate alignment between their solution and real market needs.

The afternoon featured two insightful sessions focused on founder experience and investment readiness.

We first heard from Bethany Wilkie, Founder and CEO of SomaDetect, who shared her journey as a founder – covering everything from fundraising, navigating IP, and practical lessons from scaling. Her session gave founders and honest and valuable look at what it takes to bring innovative technology into the ag space.

Following Bethany, we welcomed Erin Trapp, Partner, Emmertech, who spoke about investor readiness and the current state of the venture capital landscape. Erin provided valuable context on what investors are looking for right now and how founders can better position themselves when approaching capital.

After a full day of learning, we wrapped up Day 2 with a casual dinner at Liberty Kitchen, giving founders a chance to step away from sessions, unwind, and connect over good food in a more relaxed setting.

From there, we headed over to Activate, where the group got to switch gears completely, having some fun, moving around, and getting to know each other in a more playful, high-energy and competitive environment.

Day 3

Day 3 kicked off with Mentor Madness, where our producer mentors showed up in a big way – some even making the drive from Alberta – to connect with founders and share their insights. The morning was fully dedicated to these conversations, creating space for real, on-the-ground perspectives.

After lunch, founders dove into a Strategy and Goal Setting workshop with Marty Yaskowich of Lawrence & Co., getting clear on priorities and refining how they move their businesses forward. Those working with livestock were then invited to stay for a session with Canadian Western Agribition, where they learned more about the show and the opportunities available to them.

We wrapped the day with our Community Social at Hotel Saskatchewan, where founders showcased their innovative solutions. The evening also served as a sneak peek for the upcoming Demo Day at Ag in Motion Demo Day, giving the community a chance to hear from the founders before they take the big stage.

Day 4

Day 4 brought it all together. We kicked things off with Chris Bardos, CCO and Head of Product at Product Hackers who walked founders through his journey from idea to go-to-market, sharing the realities of building and scaling along the way.

After lunch, Ryan Furtas and Patience Palmer from Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) led a session on non-dilutive funding, breaking down what’s available and how founders can tap into it. Then a session with Craig Klemmer, economist, manager thought leadership at FCC, unlocking Canada’s agriculture opportunity.

We then shifted into a fireside chat with ag legends Art Froehlich and Fred Wall, who shared lessons from decades of investing in and supporting founders—real talk, hard-earned insights, and plenty to take away. Art spent the entire week in Regina alongside the cohort, showing up, leaning in, and generously sharing his time and perspective—we’re incredibly grateful for his support and the role he played throughout the week.

Saying goodbye to our founders at the end of the week never gets easier. After a few days of stepping outside their day-to-day and digging into the bigger picture, there’s a noticeable shift—new clarity, fresh perspective, and a lot of momentum heading back into their businesses.

And this is just the beginning. Next up, we’re moving into virtual programming, mentorship, and two needle-moving sprints designed to keep momentum building and founders progressing toward their goals.

Then comes Finale Week, set for July 19–23, where the cohort will come back together at Ag in Motion. Founders will be on site July 22 to showcase how far they’ve come, and what’s ahead.

Between now and then, we’ll continue building on this momentum through virtual sessions and ongoing mentorship, staying connected and supporting each founder as they keep pushing forward.

A huge thank you to our partners for making this experience possible. And a special shoutout to Innovate UK for their continued partnership and for bringing a delegation of UK companies into the cohort and to Regina! Seeing Canadian and UK founders connect, collaborate, and challenge each other has been a highlight—and we’re looking forward to watching these companies continue to grow!

An additional thank you to the following members of our community who took the kickoff experience to another level:

LEARN MORE ABOUT COHORT 5 COMPANIES FOLLOW COHORT 5 ON THEIR PROGRAM JOURNEY

Back to News