Meet the UK companies who were selected for our Agtech Accelerator Cohort 1

📍 North Yorkshire, England
www.raftsolutions.co.uk

RAFT is an innovative veterinary-led, close-to-the-market sustainable food research organization. RAFT brings together a team of highly experienced vets representing key opinion leaders within the livestock industry and additional technical support staff through its shareholder practice Bishopton Veterinary Group, Yorkshire. RAFT provides defined services in R&D including clinical field trials, advanced breeding technologies, food futures consultancy, and training farmers in key livestock skills and animal health and welfare developments to deliver its core mission of innovation in sustainable food production.

Harriet is RAFT’s Operations Director and manages RAFT’s experienced Operations Team. She previously worked for a pharmaceutical contract research organization where she gained experience of coordinating studies and working in a GCP/GLP regulated environment. Harriet also sits on the FarmSkills Steering Group, the Askham Bryan College’s Research Committee, and is an external key opinion leader of the Institute of Sustainable Health and Welfare (InSHAW).

📍 London, England
https://agrolabs.io/

Agrolabs.io is a data and tech company that helps protected agriculture farmers avoid crop failure, increase yields, and save time. Its first solution helps manage bumblebee pollination. It is a combination of sensors tracking bumblebee activity with automated hive door controls and cloud-based analytics software. A single day of no pollination can cost a grower over $5,000/day per hectare in lost crop yield and when the problem is spotted on the plant it’s often too late. With Agrolabs, growers can identify any deviations in pollination early as well as protect bumblebees from pesticides, light, and other adverse environmental effects. Its solution is already used by prominent growers including Driscoll’s, AppHarvest, and many more. 

Mykhailo Lazarenko is the CEO and Co-founder at Agrolabs. Mykhailo Lazarenko has previously built and scaled hardware startups in the UK and US. He holds a degree in Management from the London School of Economics.

📍 London, England
www.smallrobotcompany.com

Small Robot Company is on a mission to help farmers feed the world while regenerating the planet. Using robotics and AI, it has created a new model to make farming more efficient, more sustainable, and more profitable. It calls this “Per Plant Farming”. Its robots Tom, Dick, and Harry monitor, treat, and plant crops autonomously. Guided by its AI, the robots know where every plant is and understand its needs for optimal performance. With this intelligence, farmers can act only when it’s required, or only target weeds that are a problem. The benefits include exponentially cutting chemicals, emissions and improving biodiversity.

Ben Scott-Robinson is an accomplished digital entrepreneur focused on geospatial and mobility technologies. Ben co-founded Small Robot Company in 2017 with a vision to transform food production with accurate, smart, lightweight robots. His background is next-generation geolocation technology and user experience design, shaping Ordnance Survey‘s digital transformation and starting the first agency UX capability in Europe. A winner of Experience Innovator of the Year, Ben is an experienced technology entrepreneur and was an early mobile technology innovator, who created a phone for those who are visually impaired.

📍 Lincolnshire, England
www.cropintellect.co.uk

Crop Intellect Ltd creates and patents disruptive technologies to increase crop productivity sustainably. Most prominently, Crop Intellect developed a concept where a photocatalyst is able to capture excess nitrogen in the air and convert it into plant feed for crops.

Dr. Apostolos Papadopoulos has a wealth of academic knowledge in crop and soil science and has developed innovative technologies to improve crop productivity, soil sustainability; reduce inputs, and increase outputs whilst making a significant positive impact on the environment.

📍 Cambridge, England
www.smartbell.io

Smartbell’s vision is to enhance animal health and productivity through unique data insights. Smartbell’s precision technology solution empowers livestock farmers and the supply chain to achieve their productivity, profitability, and sustainability goals through timely and actionable information.

Veena Adityan is the founder of Smartbell. She is a gifted computer scientist, with an MBA from the University of Cambridge. She started Smartbell keen to bring her software and business skills to help the farming industry improve its attractiveness to the younger generation through improved profitability and use of technology. Prior to Smartbell, she worked for 10 years with Amazon.com in San Francisco, on big data, cloud infrastructure, and automation systems.

📍 Salford, UK
Fotenix.tech

FOTENIX combines cameras, deploying colours of light, with machine learning to monitor crop health. The protected key technology is three-dimensional multispectral imaging which allows laboratory analysis at an economic cost, ensuring data-driven decisions. The FOTENIX supported machinery offers producers the next step in data-driven agriculture, while the cloud platform provides agronomic insights that compound with each use, and connects directly to agronomy providers. As a bridge between crops and the machinery used to cultivate them, the company focuses on building diagnostic capabilities across the industry and supporting original equipment manufacturers.

Charles Veys is the co-founder and managing director of FOTONIX. He is focused on evolving precision farm sensing to optimize production. Charles is passionate about applying skills and experience in problem-solving to make an impact on sustainable development.