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HomePosts Tagged "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation"
Agribusiness, Agrotech, Company News, Dairy, Finance, Funding, India

The round saw participation from existing investors (Blume Ventures, Omnivore, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IDH Farmfit Fund, 500 Startups & Blue Ashva Capital), and new investor Miledeep Capital.

Dairy tech startup Stellapps Technologies announced that company has raised $26 million in its Series C funding round in equity & debt to accelerate its mooMark business. The round saw participation from existing investors (Blume Ventures, Omnivore, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IDH Farmfit Fund, 500 Startups & Blue Ashva Capital), and new investor Miledeep Capital, with debt funding provided by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

mooMark is focused on contract manufacturing and private labelled dairy business of high-quality value-added dairy products, that are both sustainable and traceable. Incubated at IIT Madras, Stellapps started as a Dairy IoT solutions provider, and has now ventured into contract manufacturing and private labelling of value-added dairy products under the “‘mooMark’” brand. The company utilises a “low-capex and tech-powered approach” to deliver these products to Indian and global customers.  Stellapps’ dairy-tech is deployed in over 42,000 villages, enabling the movement of more than 14 million liters of milk every day.

“We are excited to receive continued commitment from our existing investors and welcome aboard new investors as part of our Series C round. This capital will help mooMark scale its value-added dairy product offering to its customers across India in a sustainable manner and strengthen its export segment going forward,” said Ranjith Mukundan, CEO of Stellapps.

The round saw participation from existing investors

Climate, Company News, Environment, India, Interaction, Sustainability

The summit brought together experts and practitioners to explore partnerships, programmes, and practical technologies for enhancing climate resilience in the agricultural sector.

Arya.ag, India’s largest integrated grain commerce platform, in strategic partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, successfully hosted the second edition of the Rith Summit on 3rd October 2024 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.

Rith Summit 2.0: Building Climate Resilience Together brought together leading agribusinesses, technology providers, international experts, and development institutions to explore partnerships, programmes, and practical technologies that can enhance climate resilience within the agricultural sector. The summit provided a platform for experts to connect, share knowledge, and discover innovative solutions to help secure a sustainable future for farming communities.

The summit featured three insightful panel discussions, covering topics such as bridging corporate objectives with practical realities, key learnings from early adopters of sustainable practices, and maximising impact through technical assistance. The panels were moderated by esteemed industry leaders and featured panellists from renowned organisations, including Khedut, Bayer, Olam, LD, BMGF, IDH, UNDP India, Rainmatter Foundation, IFC, Omnivore, responsAbility, Rabo Foundation, and Tata Trusts.

The summit commenced with a welcome note from Anand Chandra, Arya.ag’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, who emphasised the importance of a market-led model that benefits every stakeholder to make agriculture climate-resilient.

Chattanathan Devarajan, Co-Founder of Arya.ag, shared the significant progress made on the actionable points from Rith 1.0, including establishing Public-Private Partnerships to reduce food loss, fostering multi-stakeholder collaborations for climate action, and developing a digital platform for sustainable sourcing. “In the backdrop of Rith 1.0, we enabled Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models in collaboration with the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Assam to contribute to climate action. These initiatives have reduced food loss by 7%, enabled the conservation of 12 million litres of water, and saved 48,000 kgs of fertilisers,” he shared.

Siddharth Chaturvedi from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation highlighted Arya’s proactive approach to action, stating, “Reflection and action are crucial, and gatherings like Rith are essential. Adaptation is constant and applies universally, especially in the context of climate change—it is at the core of Arya’s ethos. The language of adaptation must shift from beneficiaries to encompass business people who are both producers and consumers.”

Raman Wadhwa, Director of DAY-NRLM at the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, emphasised the importance of collaboration in driving climate action. “Collaboration is key to making our efforts more climate-resilient. No one can tackle this alone; we need multi stakeholder partnerships to drive climate action. The climate crisis is an urgent threat, and the economic cost will be enormous if we don’t act. However, we can turn this challenge into an opportunity,” he said.

Sangeeta Dawar from Bayer Crop Science stressed the need for substantial funding to drive large-scale market transformation.  Subhadeep Sanyal from Omnivore highlighted the urgency of implementing new solutions in the

The summit brought together experts and practitioners

Agrotech, Australia, China, Finance, India, Japan, Start ups

India briefly overtook China in agrifoodtech investment, while Southeast Asia demonstrated significant potential with $1.7 billion in funding.

As the world’s largest region in both geography and population, with a vast network of smallholder farmers combined with dense urban settings and food sovereignty concerns, Asia-Pacific is a hotbed of opportunity for food and agriculture technology startups.

But in 2023, downstream food delivery and restaurant startups, once the darling of the region’s agrifoodtech ecosystem, fueling tens of billions of dollars of investment, are no longer so attractive to investors.

The new star of the ecosystem is upstream innovation, reveals a new report from leading agrifoodtech venture firm and research platform AgFunder, in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omnivore and AgriFutures Australia.

While total funding to the farm-to-fork agrifoodtech ecosystem dropped 58 per cent year-over-year (YoY) to $6.5 billion in 2022 from the record-breaking $15.2 billion raised in 2021, investment in startups operating upstream increased 24 per cent YoY. This increase appears to be continuing in 2023, according to preliminary data on 2023 funding flows.

This is good news for the 450 million smallholder farmers producing about 80 per cent of the region’s food. For the first time in years, upstream funding, which provides technologies to farmers and primary food producers, overtook downstream investment. The former raised $3.2 billion in 2022 versus the latter’s $2.7 million, according to the report.

The Ag Biotechnology category was particularly buoyant in the Asia-Pacific region in 2022, bringing in $813 million in funding, nearly half the amount raised globally in this category in 2022. While a couple of very large deals contributed to these totals, there was also greater deal activity in this segment, which includes on-farm inputs for crop & animal agriculture,” confirming investors’ growing interest in this space.

Innovative Food – the category housing the alternative protein industry – bucked the global decline in funding to the segment, with investment actually increasing year-over-year to $527 million, albeit over fewer deals.

Similarly, Farm Management Software, Sensing & IoT ($334m), Farm Robotics ($252m) and Novel Farming Systems startups ($254m), which include indoor farming and aquaculture and insect farming, brought in more funding across fewer deals.

China, meanwhile, lost its lead to India as the country attracting the most funding in 2022, likely due to the loss of downstream mega-deals that propped up China’s agrifoodtech investment in 2021. India’s lead looks to be short lived, however; in H1 2023, China grabbed the top spot back, raising $861 million.

The report includes deep dive sections on investment to startups in Australia, China, India, Indonesia and Southeast Asia. And spotlights on startups Zetifi, Integriculture, Eratani and Tablepointer.

India briefly overtook China in agrifoodtech investment,

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, Foodgrains, Start ups, Sustainability

The program is focused on the Indo Gangetic region of India, which grows rice for over a half a billion people.

BioLumic™, an agricultural biotech startup, announced grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to use the company’s proprietary ultraviolet (UV) light seed treatment technology to enhance the crop performance of rice – specifically Direct Dry Seeded Rice (DDSR), rice grown using sustainable practices.

Rice stands as a vital staple crop for more than half of the world’s population, primarily grown by smallholder farms. In India, a nation accounting for nearly one-fourth of global rice production, water-intensive flooded rice cultivation presents an increasing environmental and economic burden, contributing to groundwater depletion, methane emission, air pollution from straw and residue burning, yield limits and labor unsustainability. The program is focused on the Indo Gangetic region of India, which grows rice for over a half a billion people. The project will begin this year and continue through mid-2026.

Increased transition to DDSR, where rice seeds are planted directly into the soil rather than grown as seedlings and transplanted into flooded fields, would substantially improve the environmental impact and profitability of global rice production.

However, the risk of poor crop establishment, increased weed management and reduced crop performance has jeopardized farmer adoption of DDSR. To solve these challenges, BioLumic’s UV light activation approach will be deployed to rapidly unlock essential plant traits, including uniform and early rice seedling growth, weed competitiveness and drought tolerance. The treatment process takes only minutes to complete and is easily scalable.

″BioLumic’s light treatment technology supercharges rice seeds for DDSR production by activating the plant growth traits that smallholder farmers need to transition away from water-intensive rice cultivation without risking crop failure, ″ said Steve Sibulkin, CEO of BioLumic. ″Thanks to the forward thinking and generous grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BioLumic can help tip the scales in favor of sustainable rice cultivation with a global impact on food security, climate risk mitigation and subsistence gains for smallholder farmers. ″

Direct Dry Seeded Rice seedlings in BioLumic lab testing productivity gains after treating seeds with UV light exposure. Backed by two decades of scientific research and field validation, BioLumic’s UV Light Signal Recipe™ platform utilizes precisely targeted light spectrum exposure to regulate genetic expression in seeds and young plants without resorting to genetic modification, chemical inputs or time-intensive breeding. BioLumic’s light treatments have demonstrated heightened plant resilience, enriched root growth, enhanced crop quality and the potential for large double-digit yield gains, including reaching yield increases of 15% in corn and 12% in soybeans in U.S. trials.

″Biolumic’s light treatment science is the first of its kind in the world, ″ said Jason Wargent, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer and Founder of BioLumic. ″By giving seeds precise ‘programs’ of light, we can biologically activate processes in plants that can dramatically upregulate crop performance. Through this breakthrough biology, we can instruct plants to be productive in ways that has never been possible before, with the potential for transformative impact on global food production. ″

The program is focused on the Indo

Agrotech, Animal Health, Company News, Live Stock, World

This rigorous feasibility phase demonstrated that a future Friendly cattle tick solution could deliver highly effective R. micro plus population suppression

Oxitec Ltd, the leading developer of insect-based biological solutions to control pests that transmit disease, destroy crops and harm livestock, announced the launch of the development of a targeted, biologically Friendly solution for the world’s most devastating cattle pest, the Asian blue tick, or Rhipicephalus microplus.

In a feasibility project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxitec’s team validated the key methods for developing a Friendly R. microplus and found that, for managing this dangerous tick, this biological approach is anticipated to provide a highly effective alternative to chemical pesticides. The Foundation has now committed $4.8 million to an early development phase to start to build the Friendly R. micro plus solution, Oxitec’s first targeting a non-insect pest.

Launched in 2021, Oxitec’s cattle tick program has conducted in-depth assessments of tick biology and genetics, assessed methods for the development of a Friendly tick solution, artificial production methods, cattle management practices in regions threatened by R. microplus, and modelled the impact of future implementation on target tick populations. This rigorous feasibility phase demonstrated that a future Friendly cattle tick solution could deliver highly effective R. micro plus population suppression and that it represents a promising biological alternative to chemical pesticides. This ground-breaking program will be conducted in collaboration with leading experts at one of the world’s foremost livestock research organisations, the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The R. microplus tick blood-feeds on cattle, causing major losses in productivity and animal death by spreading deadly diseases such as babesiosis. Originally native to Asia, the invasive R. microplus is now widely distributed across Africa and Southern and Central America. R. microplus is widely regarded as the world’s most important arthropod pest of cattle, costing the livestock industry and farmers billions of dollars each year. In Brazil alone, this tick costs an estimated $3.2 billion in losses and management costs. Management of R. microplus is highly reliant on chemical acaricides (pesticides), to which the tick is widely resistant. New, sustainable tick management solutions are urgently needed.

Grey Frandsen, Oxitec’s CEO, commented, “Oxitec is committed to delivering solutions that enable sustainable food production for a growing population on this changing planet, which is needed now more than ever to protect global food security. This new program is a significant milestone for Oxitec, enabling us to start building our first Friendly™ product targeting a non-insect pest. The Rhipicephalus microplus tick is a dangerous pest of cattle that threatens livelihoods across the world, and it’s still spreading. More chemical pesticides aren’t the answer. We’re focused on stopping it in its tracks by translating Oxitec’s proven, biological technology platform into a Friendly solution that offers a new level of impact against this tick, without harming the environment.”

This rigorous feasibility phase demonstrated that a

North America, Supply Chain, Sustainability

Additional field tests of these transgenic soyabean plants are being conducted this year, with results expected in early 2023

For the first time, Realising Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) researchers have proven that multi-gene bioengineering of photosynthesis increases the yield of a major food crop in field trials. After more than a decade of working toward this goal, a collaborative team led by the University of Illinois has transgenically altered soyabean plants to increase the efficiency of photosynthesis, resulting in greater yields without loss of quality.

Results of this magnitude couldn’t come at a more crucial time. The most recent UN report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022, found that in 2021 nearly 10 per cent of the world population was hungry, a situation that has been steadily worsening over the last few years and eclipsing all other threats to global health in scale. According to UNICEF, by 2030, more than 660 million people are expected to face food scarcity and malnutrition. Two of the major causes of this are inefficient food supply chains (access to food) and harsher growing conditions for crops due to climate change. Improving access to food and improving the sustainability of food crops in impoverished areas are the key goals of this study and the RIPE project.

RIPE, is an international research project that aims to increase global food production by improving photosynthetic efficiency in food crops for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, and U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

“The number of people affected by food insufficiency continues to grow, and projections clearly show that there needs to be a change at the food supply level to change the trajectory,” said Amanda De Souza, RIPE project research scientist, and lead author. “Our research shows an effective way to contribute to food security for the people who need it most while avoiding more land being put into production. Improving photosynthesis is a major opportunity to gain the needed jump in yield potential.”

Additional field tests of these transgenic soyabean plants are being conducted this year, with results expected in early 2023.

Additional field tests of these transgenic soyabean

Live Stock, Sustainability

To invest $1.4 billion to help smallholder farmers 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation echoed African Leaders Call for countries to rapidly scale-up finance for climate adaptation and pledged to invest $1.4 billion to help smallholder farmers address the immediate and long-term impacts of climate change. The announcement was made by Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).

“The effects of climate change have already been devastating, and every moment the world delays action, more people suffer, and the solutions become more complex and costly,” said Suzman. “Our commitment will help smallholder farmers adapt today and build resilience for the future. It is essential for this climate summit to produce bold commitments that address immediate and long-term needs. Leaders must listen to the voices of African farmers and governments to understand their priorities and respond with urgency.”

The foundation’s commitment will fund immediate action and long-term initiatives over four years to help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia build resilience and food security. Funding will focus on spurring African-led innovation to build a pipeline of climate-smart agriculture projects, new applications of digital technologies, climate-smart innovations for smallholder livestock farming, and support for women smallholder farmers to capitalise on their untapped potential.

“Women in rural Africa are the backbone of their food systems, but they have never had equal access to the resources they need to reach their full potential or build resilience to looming climate threats,” said Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “As the climate crisis accelerates, women’s vital role in their economies is too important to overlook. With the right financing and marketing support, women smallholder farmers could earn more in a day than they currently earn in a month, ultimately transforming these regional food systems and unlocking a healthier, more sustainable, and more prosperous future for families and communities across the continent.”

“The climate crisis is causing enormous harm every day as it jeopardises entire regions of people and economies,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “More funding is necessary to ensure agricultural and technological innovations are widely available to vulnerable communities, helping them to adapt to climate change, save lives and increase economic growth.”

To invest $1.4 billion to help smallholder

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Finance, Live Stock

$100 million will be used to reform agriculture and help alleviate the food crisis disproportionately impacting communities in Africa and South Asia.

During United Nations General Assembly week, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—alongside governments, philanthropies, the private sector, NGOs, and global and community leaders announced commitments totalling $1.27 billion to improve and save millions of lives.

Out of the total amount, $100 million will be used to reform agriculture and help alleviate the food crisis disproportionately impacting communities in Africa and South Asia. It will be given to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) to support national governments in rebuilding resilient, sustainable local food systems. The other beneficiary will be the African Fertiliser and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) to make fertilisers affordable and accessible for smallholder farmers.

The amount will be used by the CGIAR’s Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture research center to accelerate work that is already supplying farmers with improved and new varieties of crops, such as beans high in iron; sweet potatoes naturally rich in vitamin A; and naturally hardy cassava, millet, and sorghum. The funding will also facilitate working with partners to supply sustainable feed and fodder to African families that depend on livestock as a critical source of income and nutrient-dense food. It will also be utilised to strengthen local food systems by empowering women farmers with the tools and resources they need to succeed and support their communities

“This week has underscored the urgency of the challenges we face, and the promise of sustainable solutions that save and improve lives,” said Mark Suzman, Gates Foundation CEO. “We can get back on track toward the SDGs, but it’s going to take a new level of collaboration and investment from every sector. That’s why our foundation is significantly stepping up our commitment to help confront crises now and ensure long-term impact across critical determinants of health and development,” he further added.

$100 million will be used to reform