Hot summer in Canada matches warm welcome at GAAP

As summer in Saskatchewan, Canada hits its peak, the agricultural community is in full swing.

“This week is +35c and in addition to applying fungicides and insecticides, growers are busy cutting hay and thinking about preparing for harvest,” says Jay Robinson, CEO of the Global Agri-Food Advancement Partnership (GAAP), a venture fund based in Saskatoon, Canada.

GAAP has partnered with organisations Ag-West Bio and SREDA together with Agri-TechE to plan the VOYAGE mission. This industry-led programme provides personalized introductions for early-stage companies to the ecosystem in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Two Agri-TechE members, DroneAG and Fotenix, have been selected for the programme along with three companies from Australia.

We asked Jay about the new programme and what it can offer Agri-TechE members who meet the criteria.

Creating a pipeline of opportunities

VOYAGE is a programme unique to GAAP that is focused on advancing innovation through to commercialisation. It offers a tailored and customised agenda to meet the needs of each individual participating company.

“GAAP believes that advancing innovation takes years and not months,” says Jay. “GAAP provides its portfolio companies with up to four years’ access to nearly 14,000sqft of laboratories, greenhouses and office space, all stacked full of state-of-the-art equipment and complemented by tailored training, mentorship and market access programs.”

By partnering with Ag-West Bio and SREDA, the consortium has been able to provide a truly compelling offering to companies with interest in establishing a presence in Canada. Unlike Harvest and other short-term cohort-based models, Voyage offers the potential for a longer-term incubation with individualised planning.

“The five companies we have selected for VOYAGE are all so different that we are building a personalized agenda. We ask the companies a bunch of questions, understand what they want, and then together we build a schedule.

“For example, if they would like to meet growers, farmers and crop producers, there’s no point in coming over during harvest when growers don’t have the time to meet. Whereas another group may want to explore our ecosystem’s fermentation capabilities or meet researchers or livestock producers, so that is more flexible. We narrow down the best time of year to come based on who they want to meet.

“Adaptability and flexibility are key to success in all areas of business, but particularly within agriculture and food, so we don’t have fixed application dates. For the most part, GAAP is always open. We are looking to working with the best teams, developing the most promising technologies, so we are always open to new applications”.

VOYAGE is industry-led

VOYAGE is a relationship between SREDA (the development authority for Saskatoon), Ag-West Bio (a non-profit ag- and bio-industry based organisation), and GAAP (a non-government private investment fund).

The partnership between the collaborating organizations ensures the programme works for all stakeholders, as Jay explains:

“Ag-West Bio leads some of the heavy lifting on the programming, bringing people together, while SREDA provides some of the financing support and extended networking.

“Our ultimate aim at GAAP is that VOYAGE showcases the opportunities in Canada and North America. Ideally, at the end of the programme participants will come to the decision that it makes sense for them to expand into these territories under the GAAP umbrella.

“Part of our role is to broker introductions with organisations that we think will be a good fit. We can identify potential manufacturers, regulatory people, and distribution partners. Time with lawyers and accountants is invaluable – they will look at the corporate structure and recommend how to open a registry in North America. We will also introduce the organisations to potential scale-up partners or other research groups at the university.”

Ag-bio needs longer timescales

GAAP’s focus is ag-bio, and although the companies may use data, AI or robotics as part of the development or the solution, the core application is in agriculture or food.

Jay explains that this sector needs a longer timescale: “To date, the majority of accelerators and incubators work on a Silicon Valley model, which provides participating companies with three months of programming and 25 – 50 thousand dollars.

“This may work for data companies that can scale up very quickly without a lot of capital expenditure, but not for the companies we support. If you’re looking to create a high protein chickpea, you have to do field trials and need several years to get it approved.

“GAAP can invest anywhere up to $1.5M and we can house them for up to four years, we provide access to labs, greenhouses, world class equipment mentorship and field trials, all within our own facilities. GAAP helps validate the technology and give what we call market traction in other jurisdictions. Traction doesn’t necessarily mean revenue; it may mean interest from end-users or distribution partners.”

VOYAGE is about people

GAAP invests in people so the fit needs to be right.

“It’s sort of like dating; the companies get to see if the GAAP team is full of hot air or if we can deliver – and for us, people invest in people, so we get to see the people in charge and the team behind them.

“We will ask, do we like them? What kind of investment are they going to attract in addition to our investment?

“If you have good people and you’re innovative and you can market, the rest of the things sort themselves out. If you don’t do those things you’ve failed, no matter how good the technology is.

“For us the technology is already de-risked. If you look at Charles Veys and his team at Fotenix, they’ve already raised some capital, they’ve developed prototypes and have them deployed, and are generating a bit of revenue. These milestones provide additional confidence in the team’s ability to perform and get concept through to something tangible.

“We want our portfolio companies to spend their money on what makes them maximum returns on investment, which for us is people and Innovation.”

For more information on GAAP see the website: www.gaapvc.com