Top Investors and Industry Leaders Validate Promising
Soil and Nutrient-Focused Innovations With Global
Trials

PALO ALTO, CA and Palmerston North,
New Zealand – Finistere
Ventures and Innovation
Endeavors today revealed the first five companies
selected for the Farm2050
Nutrient Technology Trialing Platform, a dual-hemisphere
agritech testing and validation platform. The Farm2050
Nutrient Trialing Platform aims to identify, validate and
demonstrate at scale promising technologies in nutrient
management and water contamination reduction across broad
acre crops, horticulture and pasture-based dairy in
collaboration with agritech investors, farmers, researchers
and startup companies around the globe.

The
innovators chosen for the first wave of trials in New
Zealand include:

– ClimateAi,
which uses AI to tackle climate risk across the food supply
chain

– CropX,
an established farm management platform with soil sensing
and nitrogen monitoring solutions

– Eko360,
a sustainable fertilizer startup providing
controlled-release nitrogen solutions

– Pastoral
Robotics, focused on reducing nitrate leaching and
greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farming with precision
infield nitrogen treatments

– Phospholutions
Solutions, which provides controlled-release phosphorus
technology solutions

– Watch this videoto
learn more about the selected companies

“The future
of sustainable agriculture is rooted in our soil, and we
need solutions that effectively manage nutrients and
mitigate the environmental issues associated with nutrient
leaching. All five of the companies we’ve selected
demonstrated remarkable promise as critical nutrient
management technologies that will ease the transition to
productive and profitable food production systems with low
environmental impact,” noted Michael Pereira, chief
agronomist for Finistere Ventures. “We are optimistic that
their technology can improve nutrient usage and reduce
nutrient loss out in the field, under real environmental
pressures within current farming systems and practices.
Leveraging our country-specific strongholds around the
globe, we look forward to helping these companies build
high-fidelity proof points for environmental, sustainability
and economic value.”

While global investment in
agrifood tech companies in 2020 surged to $22.3 billion
according to Finistere
Ventures 2020 Agrifood Tech Investment Review, more
innovation focused on nutrient analysis and delivery,
efficient uptake and environmental impact mitigation is
essential for the continued health of our soil and the
security of our food system. The first five companies
selected stood out from dozens of other applicants based on
the strength of their technology, existing data and proof
points, global relevance, and trial and commercial
readiness.

Finistere Ventures will lead the first wave
of trials for these five technologies in New Zealand across
pastoral/grazing dairy farms, high-value horticultural crops
and broad acre farming efforts with support from Agritech
NZ, Callaghan
Innovation and Plant
& Food Research, taking full advantage of the
Southern Hemisphere’s critical growing season. Through the
Farm2050 ecosystem, the CEOs will also have the opportunity
to showcase their innovations and trial results to a global
panel of high-profile industry leaders including Bayer,
Landus Cooperative, The Mosaic Company, Nutrien, Syngenta,
and Western Growers Association. With an open enrollment and
evaluation process in place, Farm2050 anticipates extending
the program to the U.S. in 2022 to capture year-round
insights across diverse ecologies and farming
systems.

About Farm 2050

The Farm 2050 global
initiative was launched in 2014 to solve the challenges of
feeding a global population of 10 billion people with deep
technology solutions that create greater sustainability and
nutrition outcomes.Led by a partnership between venture
firms Finistere Ventures and Innovation Endeavors, Farm 2050
is a “coalition of the willing”, spanning industry
leading corporates, country partners and the burgeoning
ecosystem of startups utilizing technology to tackle
productivity, sustainability and food access.

About
Finistere Ventures

Finistere Ventures is a leading
global agrifood technology and life sciences venture capital
investor with offices in Palo Alto, San Diego, Ireland,
Israel and New Zealand. Its team has developed and invested
in some of the most successful agrifood tech companies of
the last 20 years—building and backing companies worth
more than $5 billion. Visit Finistere.com.

About
Innovation Endeavors

Innovation Endeavors is an
early-stage venture capital firm that invests in visionary
founders, transformational technologies and emergent
ecosystems. The firm’s central investment thesis, the
Super Evolution, combines data, leading-edge computation,
and advanced engineering to transform industries, from
agriculture and logistics to life sciences, transportation
and more. Its investments include: AlphaSense, Astra, Color,
Blue River Technology, Eikon Therapeutics, Fabric, Formlabs,
Freenome, Planet, Rebellion, Replica, SoFi, Uber, Upstart,
Vicarious Surgical, and more. For more information, visit www.InnovationEndeavors.com.

© Scoop Media