T-Hub is partnering with American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware Stanley Black & Decker to launch an accelerator program for AgriTech startups called ‘Agro Innovation on The Periphery with Stanley Black & Decker’.
The idea of the program is to identify product-ready startups whose Agri-Technologies can plug into Stanley Black & Decker’s ‘Solar Agricultural Platform’ and compliment their core innovation, leveraging Clean Technology to efficiently bring groundwater to millions of farmers across the world.
The areas of challenge are Digital Farming, which is sensors For Precision Farming, IoT and data driven farming and supply chain integration. Then there is off grid energy, micro irrigation, grid tied solar, distributed solar cold storage and micro payments for farmers.
Startups that get shortlisted will get to work with the Agri and Clean Technology Product teams of Stanley Black & Decker to be able to identify areas of synergy either from a technology or a business standpoint to plug into the Stanley Black & Decker’s focused core area of innovation.
Once these areas of synergy are identified, the shortlisted startups will be required to pitch in front of a Jury on how this synergy can potentially create opportunities that can be jointly be addressed.
“Through this program, ‘Innovating On The Periphery’, we aim to seek out smart Agri Startups across the world, and identify areas of innovation that can be integrated into our Solar Agricultural Platform. Our vision to use this platform to create widespread social impact, to over 300 million farmers in India. We are excited to collaborate with T HUB in bringing this program to the Agri StartUp Ecosystem across the world,” Jaime Ramirez, President, Global Emerging Markets, Stanley Black & Decker said.
The top two startups that get selected will win a prize money. Additionally, they will be able to work closely not just with Stanley Black & Decker, but also with a team of AgriTech experts to develop strategies, plug their innovations on the periphery into the core platform, to promote their technologies, and offer sustainable solutions along the agricultural value chain. Startups can also potentially have technology collaborations with SBD.
T-Hub, on its part, will provide access to T-Hub’s network of mentors, industry experts, investors, service providers, and community/ecosystem.
"240 Million Indians have no access to electricity and a majority of these people are from the rural parts of India, depending on agriculture for their livelihood. Through this partnership we will identify startups working in the Agritech space to work with Black and Decker to deploy an affordable “Solar Agricultural Platform” that brings together numerous innovative technologies enabling marginal farmers to make intelligent decisions for higher crop yield, higher income, and ultimately improved livelihood," said Jay Krishnan, CEO of T-Hub.
The ultimate goal of this program is to deploy an affordable “Solar Agricultural Platform” that brings together numerous innovative technologies enabling marginal farmers to make intelligent decisions for higher crop yield, higher income, and ultimately improved livelihood.
Applications for the accelerator are now open and will close on April 15. Selected startups will be notified on May 15 and the final pitch day will be on June 1.