VC-as-a-Service offers new avenues to commercialise agritech
We know the agricultural community is an innovative bunch. So it should come as no surprise that R&D organisations in the sector are turning to new investment models; partnering with venture capital (VC) firms to bring startups to market as quickly as possible.
The Hort Innovation team at their stand, at evokeAG. 2025. Left to right: Susanna Truasheim, Eduardo Barbosa, Maxie Juang, Jesse Reader, Dion Santamaria.
Research and Development Corporations (RDCs), as the name suggests, focus on strategic and collaborative R&D to improve productivity, efficiency, safety and profitability within their given industries.
In agriculture, they’re typically funded by levies from farmers or growers, alongside support from the Commonwealth government. Largely, their purpose is to spark, locate and nurture innovation, to ensure their specific area of agriculture has access to cutting-edge tech; and to ensure it is sustainable long into the future.
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Venture capital offers another avenue to do just that. Quite literally, it’s one more way to invest in the future of Aussie agritech.
Venture Capital-as-a-Service
Through its VC-as-a-Service offering, Australian investment firm Artesian acts as a fund manager for GRDC’s GrainInnovate fund, GrainCorp’s Ventures fund, and the new Hort Innovation Venture Fund, which was announced in November last year.
As well as being financial vehicles, these funds are strategic, explains Victoria Prowse, Senior Manager for Agrifood at Artesian.
“The VCaaS model has allowed our funds to engage with the innovation ecosystem for financial and strategic returns. Utilising their broad networks of farmers and growers to support scale and commercialisation of technologies” she says.
Speakers on evokeAG. session: VC tailored for industry: A brave new world for RDCs. Left to right: Victoria Prowse, Dr Ron Osmand, Jordan Jeffery, Anthony Kachenko.
These are organisations; government and corporates, with deep industry expertise and broad networks in their specific industries. They know which products and technologies are likely to have the biggest impact, and they have the networks to get them there.
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“RDC’s and corporates, when they have a laser focused early-stage investment mandate, can be a strategic partner, helping a startup commercialise and scale rapidly, while still seeking financial results.”
Industry heavyweights investing in startups
GRDC
Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has been operating its GrainInnovate VC fund since 2019 and has invested in 24 startups to date.
Fernando Felquer, Head of Business Development at GRDC, explains the organisation is committed to supporting emerging innovation that has the potential to deliver major gains for the grains industry. Traditional research agreements, however, didn’t always fit the startup model.
“Startups have different drivers and different motivations,” he explains. “Startups are not intrinsically better or worse than any other kind of innovators in terms of delivering solutions to growers. They’re just a different and very important part of the innovation ecosystem.”
GrainInnovate’s focus is on creating impact for Australian grain growers, Fernando explains. The fund provides capital allowing businesses to iterate and grow their innovation, creating impact over time. It is the right vehicle for the right type of innovator.
The Graincorp team at evokeAG. 2025 in Brisbane. Left to right: Head of Investments Jordan Jeffery; Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and Group General Counsel Stephanie Belton; Deputy General Counsel & Company Secretary Annerly Squires; and Nutrition & Energy Research & Development Manager Sara Labaf.
Hort Innovation
Hort Innovation’s Venture Fund is one part of a broader mandate to help bring early-stage startups to market, with a focus on horticulture.
According to Jesse Reader, Head of Investment, Growth and Commercial, Hort Innovation has worked closely with the industry to where it can add more value.
“Our core focus is on distributed R&D. So how do you diversify your investments and blend your capital across multiple investment pathways?”
Hort Innovation works with 37 industries within horticulture, each of which has its own challenges, desires and initiatives. So, the fund is taking a holistic approach, Jesse says.
“We believe looking at core technologies that will impact a spectrum of industries is part of the strategy,” Jesse says. “By keeping them close to our industry we can make sure they understand the challenges, and the opportunities of horticulture, so the solutions they’re developing are well placed for adoption in Australia.”
GrainCorp
In contrast to Hort Innovation and GRDC, GrainCorp is not an RDC, but rather an ASX-listed agribusiness focused on the storage, handling and processing of grain and oilseeds.
GrainCorp Ventures, therefore, is aligned to the core strategy of the business, while also striving to add value throughout the supply chain, and the industry as a whole.
“We’re focused on identifying and accelerating the next generation of technologies, to help build a sustainable future for the Australian agriculture industry,” says Head of Investments Jordan Jeffery.
The fund provides startups with capital, but also access to networks, growers and supply-chain partners, Jordan explains, ultimately helping businesses get to market more quickly.
“GrainCorp is uniquely positioned to nurture startups as our diversified business provides early-stage companies access to domestic and global markets, which is where we really see the value add.”
“The more resilient we can make Australian agriculture and the growers we work with, the better outcomes for everyone.”
The best of both worlds for VC in agritech
The VC-as-a-Service model gives these funds control over their investment mandates, while Artesian takes care of the ‘fund-specific’ activities outside of their expertise.
This means everyone gets the best of both worlds.
As Hort Innovation’s Jesse explains it: “We have deep data and insights. We have strong domain knowledge, within our business and within our member base and advisory network. We have strong relationships throughout the value chain.
“When you think about connectivity and how to plug a business into the horticultural sector, we think there’s nobody better placed than Hort Innovation.”
“Financial management, due diligence, scouting, pipeline filling, and the governance required to ensure we are really robust with our investment selection – that is a set of specific, core skills, and that’s what Artesian brings – amongst other things.”
The strength comes from bringing those skill sets together to support early-stage businesses in the most effective way possible.
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“That’s our response to a diversified investment approach,” Jesse says.
“It’s an acceptance that we need to be clear on where we add value and where others are better placed to add value. The partnership will ensure that this creates impact to industry.”
A new model for startups
This model is a shift from ‘traditional’ VC investing to something that works for agritech in particular. Agritech startups tend to be capital intensive, either because they’re building hardware, or because the journey to reach their end customer is lengthy and complex.
Without early-stage capital, Victoria says, many wouldn’t get to the point of commercialisation at all.
Strategic, industry-focused funds provide access to producers, growers and end-buyers in a way traditional VCs may not be able to.
“These companies need to be able to scale. They need access to capital to increase production; to increase their internal capabilities with staffing; to be able to go from ideation to commercialisation,” she explains. “This way, not only are they receiving capital, they’re receiving access to that organisation’s broad capabilities across the market.”
A new frontier for VC in agritech
However we get there, Jordan says that investing in early stage agritech startups is “absolutely critical.”
The ecosystem is constantly evolving, he explains. Supporting startups – whether that’s through funding, connecting them with customers or facilitating commercial trials – means more tech will be ready for widespread adoption sooner.
“The shorter we can get some of those cycles, the faster we can get them to work, and the faster we can bring some of those new products and services to market – the more benefit we can bring in the near term,” he says.
GrainCorp, GRDC and Hort Innovation are all running very specialised VC operations, from a unique perspective, ingrained in their respective agricultural niches.
Their investment decisions are informed not only by their in-house expertise, but by their huge networks – their connections with the people on the ground who understand the challenges facing their industries; the people who live those challenges every day.
They’re accelerating adoption of tech that’s genuinely fit for purpose in Australia.
GRDC was a first mover in this space, launching GrainInnovate in 2019, and Fernando says it was always the hope that others would follow. “Agriculture is very innovative, and VC is a viable vehicle for investing in technology that’s aligned with the purpose and strategy of RDCs,” he says.
“We can cultivate real solutions that will get adopted in the industry. I’ve seen in practice the rigour we bring to the decision-making for these investments, and we are proud of that.”
Catch up on the other conversations about VC in agritech, sustainability, climate resilience and more here.