evoke^AG. 2022 Startup Program cohort announced

* Editor’s note: After the publication of this article we made the difficult decision to cancel evoke^AG. 2022 Sydney. But planning for 2023 is well under way and we are excited to be heading to Adelaide, South Australia for evoke^AG. 2023. Each of the startups selected for Innovation Station have been given the opportunity to exhibit at the 2023 event. While the evoke^AG. Investor Dinner Pitch has been rescheduled to mid-2022 with details to be confirmed shortly.

“Connecting innovation to investment and industry is the goal for the evoke^AG. Startup Program,” said AgriFutures Australia General Manager for Communications and Capacity Building, Belinda Allitt.

“Put simply, we are looking for capital and we are looking for new customers for the evoke^AG. startups and scaleups.”

2022 evoke^AG. Investor Dinner Pitch participants:

• Zetifi
• SwarmFarm
• Escavox
• FarmLab
• Onside Technology

CEO of Escavox, Luke Wood, is one of five investment-ready founders invited to pitch to the evoke^AG. 2022 Investor Dinner.

The event is an investor invite-only event and provides the opportunity to facilitate conversations and connections between international and local investors and agrifood tech leaders.

RELATED: evoke^AG. 2022 Investor Dinner brings global agrifood capital together

Heading into a Series B funding round worth $5 million, it’s an opportunity that’s priceless for Escavox. Luke explained, “Escavox’s ideal investor is tech-savvy and familiar with food production and global supply chains.”

“They believe in our values to give food producers data that will help them improve their supply chains and their quality offering to consumer, and they’ll be committed to continuing their investment as Escavox continues to scale and deliver growth.”

Escavox was founded in 2018 with the goal to provide the best solutions for identifying and managing issues that affect the value of fresh food supply chains.

The agrifood startup featured in the evoke^AG. 2020 Startup Alley which Luke Wood said offered the business direct connection to industry stakeholders, investors and clients.

“These connections have enabled Escavox to develop and refine its offering to the market during the early stages of its evolution, and this professional ecosystem of stakeholders, investors and clients has supported Escavox to deliver on its international growth plans,” he said.

Supporting agrifood tech startups: Startup Alley to Innovation Station

AgriFutures’ Belinda Allitt (pictured below) said, like Escavox, some of the investment-ready scale-ups attending the event are return evoke^AG. devotees.

“Some were starting out as relatively early stage at evoke^AG. 2019 and 2020 and it’s that journey – from an early-stage startup, to attracting the funding needed to scale globally – that the evoke^AG. Startup Program is all about,” she said.

Innovation Station is the new look Startup Alley at evoke^AG. 2022 that will be set in the heart of the evoke^AG. event. A platform for both startups and scale-ups to showcase their agrifood technology to delegates via an exhibition style booth, ten founders have successfully been chosen to be featured.

2022 evoke^AG. Innovation Station participants: 

• iTRAK
• Bee Innovative
• SWAN Systems
• Optiweigh
• PPB Technology
• Onside
• TruckTracker
• Agronomeye
• Pairtree
• Hillridge Technology

Founder of Armidale-based agritech startup Optiweigh, Bill Mitchell, is one of the successful applicants who will exhibit within Innovation Station.

New to the evoke^AG cohort, Bill said the opportunity to highlight the in-paddock livestock weighing system is an important step in Optiweigh being recognised in the agrifood innovation community.

RELATED: Optiweigh takes the guesswork out of livestock weight monitoring

“The opportunity to be part of the Startup Program will give us exposure and that in turn helps us to communicate to the market that we are providing a solution that’s delivering tangible benefits to farmers,” he said.

“We are hoping to connect with potential customers as well as with other participants in the agrifood community who we can pursue opportunities for growth through partnerships across the various areas of manufacturing, product development, marketing, licencing, distribution and the capture and use of the data.

“We are experiencing significant growth in demand, so we are looking forward to building our production capabilities in 2022 and being able to add value to more and more cattle operations around Australia. In addition, we have a sheep unit in development and a couple of interesting export opportunities on the go.”

Belinda said the interest in the new evoke^AG. Innovation Station was significant.

“There was more talent than we could physically fit into the venue, and as such, we’ve got a number of startups who applied that we will be working with in the lead up to evoke^AG. 2023 by getting them ready for customers and investors,” she explained.

“There is so much talent in the Australian agrifood tech community, connecting this talent to the people that can invest, mentor, scale and ultimately drive better farming outcomes and market access, sustainably, is what it’s all about.”

evoke^AG. has launched the Global Solutions Demo Day – a unique opportunity for international startups to pitch their ready-to-scale solutions to one of Australia’s six industry challenges — and apply to pitch at the Demo Day, to be held Wednesday, 30 March 2022. Applications are now open and close Friday, 18 February 2022 at 11.59pm AEDT. Apply here.

Enjoyed this story? Want to learn more about the Asia Pacific region’s innovative agrifood tech ecosystem? Sign up for our newsletter here and receive fresh stories about global leaders, farmers, startups and innovators driving collaborative change.